Rethinking the absurdity of life: A metaexistential inquiry

Hamer, Thom 2025. Rethinking the absurdity of life: A metaexistential inquiry. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

What do we mean when we say that life is absurd? This monograph pioneers a "metaexistential" approach, focusing on the conceptual features of existential absurdity regardless of any one source of absurdity. Whether it is death, meaninglessness, cosmic indifference, or something altogether different that renders life absurd—the absurdity of life consists in a fundamental discrepancy between demand and reality. Contrary to the phlegmatic response so popular in analytic assessments of existential absurdity, I argue that it would be a lamentable fact of life if it was in fact absurd. This does not mean, however, that there is nothing we can do to make our absurdity more bearable. We can regard the absurdity of life from a disinterested perspective, laugh at it, and to some extent avoid awareness of it, though these are only a handful of ways in which we could manage the feeling of the absurd. The metaexistential insights offered here are valuable in their own right, but they gain special significance when I proceed to argue, on a first-order ontological level, that life is in fact absurd. This has to do, I submit, with the fact that the choice of a life-project tends to be incredibly hard, because we are generally not in a position to know which path would be best.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > English, Communication and Philosophy
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) P Language and Literature > PE English
Funders:	Arts and Humanities Research Council, South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	23 January 2026
Last Modified:	23 Jan 2026 17:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/184106

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