In this essay I defend a skeptical thesis about the meaning of life: I argue that a meaningful life is impossible. I begin by examining the attempts of several philosophers to dismiss questions of the possibility of a meaningful life as either senseless or having an affirmative answer so obvious that serious philosophical scrutiny is rendered pointless. These philosophers, I argue, offer no conclusive arguments. I proceed to consider some skeptical arguments about the meaning of life. Although these arguments are suggestive, I maintain that they are undeveloped at crucial points, and thus unconvincing. To defend my skeptical thesis, I develop an account of a necessary condition for a meaningful life. I argue that in order for a person to have a meaningful life, he must be engaged in some activity of sufficient importance so that failure in that activity would constitute a good reason for feeling a painful retrospective attitude which I call remorse. I argue that one is justified in feeling remorse, in my sense, only when one fails in the attempt to realize some desire for a categorical good, that is, a desire for something which is good independently of how one happens to feel about it. I argue that we lack good reason for thinking that such justification exists. It follows that we lack good reason for feeling what I call remorse and thus for believing we might have a meaningful life.

Thesis (Ph.D. )--Duquesne University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-197).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 276-282.

Thesis--Université de Rennes II, 1975. / Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (p. 379-399).

The Theatre of the Absurd often has been considered the reflection of a deconstructionist gesture, a negation of the existent theatrical norms, therefore an end in itself without any prospect of possible alternatives or remedies. While this may be partially true, the entropy inherent to the absurd does not adhere to a mechanically formal posture; rather, the "purposeless wandering", in Eugène Ionesco's case, points, through humor (Ce formidable bordel), toward a longing for meaning, deeply rooted in the human being. This very longing is the crux of Ionesco's humanism. For him suffering (Le Roi se meurt), as the offshoot of the human being's finite condition and the affect that bonds the community, is intertwined with an unexplained feeling of wonderment--an opening to contemplation of the infinite. The merging of suffering and wonderment that suffuses Ionesco's textual and visual works presents the field in which his vision of a metaphysical humanism must find form. Art, in Ionesco's perspective, as the expression of being and the witness of its time (Rhinocéros), can be understood as a redemptive medium, a hope for humanism. Through the interplay of text (plays, reflections and short stories), image (drawings, gouaches and lithographs) and performance, this dissertation explores themes, imagery and structures that reflect Ionesco's paradoxical view on humanism. Thus, in light of interdisciplinary readings, I identify archetypal images recurrent in Ionesco's works and his subversive interpretation of these images as revelatory of the author-painter's inner search for meaning. This quest, which is the unifying principle throughout Ionesco's work, is revealed in themes spanning from the entropy of language (La Cantatrice chauve, Les Chaises) to the sacrificial act of substituting for the other (Maximilien Kolbe). In this ultimate act of testimony, Ionesco depicts Emmanuel Lévinas' ethics wherein the self becomes a "hostage" of the other, vulnerable at the encounter with the other. My analysis of Ionesco's humanism continues beyond his works with a reading of the historicized absurd and humanism in the works of two contemporary diasporic playwrights: Matéi Visniec and Saviana Stanescu.

Despite the fact that they are both known as leading figures of existentialism, the relationship between 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard and 20th century French philosopher and novelist Albert Camus has largely gone unexplored in secondary scholarship. In the few times that their relationship is discussed, focus is heavily placed on the most obvious difference between the two thinkers: their religious orientations, which tends to prevent any further analysis or discussion. Furthermore, popular conceptions of each thinker-largely informed by their most popular works, arguably Fear and Trembling and The Myth of Sisyphus, respectively-tend to depict them as pessimistic and individualistic figures, the former basing his philosophy on an irrational leap of faith and the latter basing his own on the world's meaninglessness and absurdity. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an alternative, or rather a corrective, to these aforementioned views on the two thinkers. Through literary and philosophical analyses, I will attempt to demonstrate not only that there is a concrete, fecund relationship between Kierkegaard and Camus, but furthermore that this relationship is grounded in a practical, duty-based philosophy of love. The thesis will look at three concepts that play a key role in both philosophies: the absurd, love, and aesthetic creation. As the analysis progresses, it is repeatedly shown that the thinkers' opposing views on theology do not prevent us from finding similar conceptions and practical manifestations of selfhood, neighborly and romantic love, and the social role of the artist. Thus, I shall argue that they are most properly understood as philosophers of love who saw themselves as social critics whose main goal was to help eradicate the corrupting and dangerous nihilism of their respective eras rather than as traditional philosophers.

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This Master's thesis is dedicated to the analysis of Tom Stoppard's plays. It analyses their main themes, protagonists and modern and postmodern literary devices that Stoppard used when creating his plays. The theoretical part briefly introduces postmodernism and some of its major characteristics. It further focuses on the theatre of the absurd. In the practical part, Tom Stoppard's plays are then analysed from different angles. The major areas constitute mainly Stoppard's modern and postmodern literary devices, the themes of his plays and their division. The part of this thesis dedicated to themes also discusses the characters of the plays. Key Words: Stoppard, postmodernism, theatre of the absurd, plays

Choose Your End! is a short story collection that examines what it means to live in a world with containers at every corner. Containers like houses and studio apartments and Tupperware and blenders, and containers like the social constraints of domesticity and womanhood and the physical body. There are limitations in this world both out of and within our control. Both voluntary and involuntary. These stories delve into the ways in which we are affected by our surroundings, our technology, our relationships, our bodies, and our minds and the ways that individuals affect those in turn. Moreover, these stories attempt to pull apart how self-awareness works with regard to these affects alongside how conscious and subconscious delusion pairs with or overshadows that awareness. The world is weird. Mundane things that people accept as normal ways of life are really strange. This collection shifts into and out of the absurd to clash the mundane with the bizarre in an attempt to examine just how weird our world is. And also, because sometimes the traditional ways of examining the world and human existence within it do not feel nearly sufficient enough.