A hyporeflective response to the absurd

Hamer, Thom 2026. A hyporeflective response to the absurd. Ratio: An international journal of analytic philosophy 39 (2) , pp. 82-89. 10.1111/rati.70021

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Abstract

If life is absurd in that we cannot help but desire the unattainable, then there is prima facie reason to lament the absurd whenever we are confronted with it. This is an intuitive idea: it is fitting to be disappointed by what is essentially disappointing. But if there is nothing we can do about the absurdity of life, we may have reason to minimize awareness of it. My paper explores this hyporeflective response. I present an initial case for hyporeflectivism—what I call the argument from irremediability. I proceed to argue that the hyporeflectivist can overcome three difficulties (the unavoidability objection, the involuntarist objection, and the truthfulness objection). They are hard‐pressed, however, to overcome the pyrrhic objection: in avoiding the negatively evaluative feelings associated with a desire for the unattainable, we may lose more than we gain.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > English, Communication and Philosophy
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0034-0006
Funders:	AHRC
Projects:	AH/R012776/1
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	23 February 2026
Date of Acceptance:	11 February 2026
Last Modified:	02 Jun 2026 11:52
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/185100

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