Living Beyond Nihilism: Value Creation, Absurd Rebellion, and the Ethics of a Meaningless World

Nihilism and Absurdism are not merely intellectual positions to be examined and set aside. For many people they are live questions: How do you maintain ethical commitments when you believe moral values have no objective foundation? How do you stay engaged with life and with others when you genuinely believe the universe is indifferent? How do you avoid either the paralysis of pure nihilism or the dishonesty of convenient illusion? This course develops a sustained, philosophically rigorous engagement with these practical questions across the full arc of a life. By the end of this course you will be able to articulate Nietzsche's concept of value creation as a response to nihilism and evaluate its adequacy, describe Camus's ethics of revolt and solidarity as a positive moral framework, engage with contemporary philosophical responses to nihilism including pragmatist and anti-nihilist positions, and construct a personal account of value and meaning that is honest about the absence of cosmic grounding. What you will learn: - Nietzsche's life-affirmation: amor fati (love of fate) as a sustained practical stance - The Nietzschean critique of pity and asceticism: what Nietzsche opposes in conventional morality and why - Camus's ethics of revolt: how rebellion against meaninglessness generates solidarity and moral commitment - The Plague as ethical allegory: Tarrou and Rieux as models of Absurdist moral seriousness - Contemporary anti-nihilism: Susan Wolf on meaning in life without meaning of life - Philosophical pessimism as an alternative: Schopenhauer and Ligotti on accepting rather than resisting meaninglessness - The psychological dimension: how nihilist conviction can be either liberating or depressive, and the factors involved - Constructing a personal value framework: practical exercises in identifying and testing your own commitments The course draws on primary texts in translation, secondary philosophical readings, literary works (Camus's The Plague, Nietzsche's notebooks), and contemporary philosophical essays. Units alternate between analytical engagement with philosophical positions and structured reflection exercises that bring the questions into contact with your own life, commitments, and values. A concluding unit provides a structured framework for articulating your own position on meaning, value, and how to live — a position that is honest about the absence of objective grounding while remaining ethically serious. This course is designed for readers who have engaged seriously with nihilism or Absurdism and want to move beyond diagnosis to the question of how to live. It is suitable for those who have completed an introductory course or have equivalent background from serious independent reading. Prior familiarity with Nietzsche and Camus is assumed.