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121-519: The Lonesome West is a play by British-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh , part of his Connemara trilogy, which includes The Beauty Queen of Leenane and A Skull in Connemara . All three plays depict the murderous occurrences in the western Irish town of Leenane . The Lonesome West features the constantly arguing brothers Coleman and Valene, whose father has just died in a shotgun 'accident.' Valene

242-470: A "confessions" scene ensues, in which the brothers take turns to admit the wrongs that they had secretly done to each other in the past, and to forgive each other's "sins." Coleman loses his temper when Valene admits to shoving a pencil down the throat of Coleman's old girlfriend, causing her to then fall in love with the doctor that removed it. Valene says "Try and top that one for yourself." Coleman delivers an even more terrible confession, revealing that he cut

363-564: A believer; just the opposite, he has explained that he is not a believer—in order to illuminate faith negatively. Kierkegaard provides an example in Fear and Trembling (1843), which was published under the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio . In the story of Abraham in the Book of Genesis , Abraham is told by God to kill his son Isaac . Just as Abraham is about to kill Isaac, an angel stops Abraham from doing so. Kierkegaard believes that through virtue of

484-589: A cat, has been killed. The play was produced Off-Broadway in February 2006 by the Atlantic Theater Company. It transferred to Broadway in May 2006 and received a 2006 Tony Award nomination for Best Play. The Banshees of Inisheer , the third play of the trilogy, was not produced. It is unclear how close the 2022 McDonagh-directed film The Banshees of Inisherin comes to the original material. The film's screenplay

605-534: A child. The first is set in Leenane , a small village on the west coast of Ireland, and consists of The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996), A Skull in Connemara (1997) and The Lonesome West (1997). His second trilogy is set across the Aran Islands , off the coast of County Galway, and consists of The Cripple of Inishmaan (1996), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001), and The Banshees of Inisheer . The third play

726-486: A conflict, discrepancy, or collision between two things. Opinions differ on what these two things are. For example, it is traditionally identified as the confrontation of rational man with an irrational world or as the attempt to grasp something based on reasons even though it is beyond the limits of rationality. Similar definitions see the discrepancy between intention and outcome, between aspiration and reality , or between subjective assessment and objective worth as

847-571: A couple of film scripts that are ready to go. I'm not going to do anything with them for a couple of years, until I've travelled and had some fun. But there's one called Seven Psychopaths ; if I do another film, that'll be it. I hope you like it." The production of the film was confirmed in May 2011 and it was eventually released in North America on 12 October 2012. Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell , Woody Harrelson , Christopher Walken, and Tom Waits star in

968-414: A discrepancy between how seriously we take our lives and the lives of others on the one hand, and how arbitrary they and the world at large seem to be on the other hand. This can be understood in terms of importance and caring: it is absurd that people continue to care about these matters even though they seem to lack importance on an objective level. The collision between these two sides can be defined as

1089-467: A form of epistemic humbleness. The impression that life is absurd may in some cases have serious psychological consequences like triggering an existential crisis. In this regard, an awareness both of absurdism itself and the possible responses to it can be central to avoiding or resolving such consequences. ... in spite of or in defiance of the whole of existence he wills to be himself with it, to take it along, almost defying his torment. For to hope in

1210-489: A justification external to them. Another argument proceeds indirectly by pointing out how various great thinkers have obvious irrational elements in their systems of thought. These purported mistakes of reason are then taken as signs of absurdism that were meant to hide or avoid it. From this perspective, the tendency to posit the existence of a benevolent God may be seen as a form of defense mechanism or wishful thinking to avoid an unsettling and inconvenient truth. This

1331-565: A limited theatrical release on 21 October 2022. McDonagh was awarded Best Original Screenplay at the 80th Golden Globe Awards , where the film also won Best Comedy/Musical. McDonagh received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture , Best Director , and Best Original Screenplay . McDonagh lives in East London. He holds both Irish and British citizenship and spent a major part of his childhood in County Galway. Since 2017, he has been in

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1452-473: A more optimistic attitude toward the possibility of finding or creating meaning in one's life. Absurdism and nihilism share the belief that life is meaningless, but absurdists do not treat this as an isolated fact and are instead interested in the conflict between the human desire for meaning and the world's lack thereof. Being confronted with this conflict may trigger an existential crisis, in which unpleasant experiences like anxiety or depression may push

1573-419: A murder of the self, and you don't have the opportunity to repent for it afterwards. Girleen, a young lady who briefly appears earlier in the story to sell poteen to Valene, and who was deeply attached to Father Welsh, is devastated by his suicide, and delivers the letter to the brothers, before going away for the rest of the play. When Coleman and Valene read his letter, they attempt to reconcile themselves, and

1694-712: A play can completely inspire a person as much as a film...[but] theatre isn't something that's connected to me, from a personal point of view, I can't appreciate what I'm doing. In an interview in 2005, the New York Times writer observed that McDonagh "now seems more comfortably resigned to the storytelling powers of drama, if still dismissive of its inherent elitism. 'It's kind of weird working in an art form that's not, well ...,' he stops and starts again. 'It's strange to be working in an art form that costs $ 100 to participate in. ' " In an interview with Sean O'Hagan of The Guardian , McDonagh said theatre "is never going to be edgy in

1815-575: A problem since there is a strong desire for meaning and purpose even though they seem to be absent. In this sense, the conflict responsible for the absurd often either constitutes or is accompanied by an existential crisis . An important component of the absurd on the practical level concerns the seriousness people bring toward life. This seriousness is reflected in many different attitudes and areas, for example, concerning fame, pleasure , justice , knowledge, or survival, both in regard to ourselves as well as in regard to others. But there seems to be

1936-601: A problematic job. Released in the US in 2008, the film features Colin Farrell , Ralph Fiennes and Brendan Gleeson. In Bruges was the Opening Night film for the 2008 Sundance Festival and the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival , and McDonagh received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 81st Academy Awards . In a 2008 interview with Stop Smiling magazine, McDonagh said, "I've got

2057-785: A quarter of a century. The play opened on Broadway in March 2010. The play was nominated for the 2010 Drama League award, Distinguished Production of a Play. Hangmen A play following Harry Wade, England's second-best hangman, after the abolition of hanging in Great Britain in 1965 . The play premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September 2015. The play was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2016. In 2020, Hangmen briefly premiered on Broadway at

2178-400: A relationship with the actress and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge . He is a vegetarian . Film Short film Executive producer Directed Oscar-nominated performances Absurdism Various components of the absurd are discussed in the academic literature and different theorists frequently concentrate their definition and research on different components. On the practical level,

2299-787: A role in Man of Aran . The play opened in 1997 at the Royal National Theatre (Cottesloe) in London. It opened in April 1998 Off-Broadway at the Joseph Papp Public Theater , with Ruaidhri Conroy in the title role on both occasions. Also in 1998, Frederick Koehler played the title role in the Geffen Playhouse production in Los Angeles, California. In December 2008, The Cripple of Inishmaan

2420-531: A spinster and her domineering mother, during the course of which the former faces her last chance at love, and the latter faces a rather grim end. The play was well received on its opening night in Galway in 1996 and was next produced off-Broadway by the Atlantic Theater Company in 1998. The play transferred to Broadway in April 1998 and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play . The second part of

2541-772: A townhouse in Copenhagen that reveals the dark source of the tales of children's author Hans Christian Andersen , as well as of the writer Charles Dickens . It premiered at the Bridge Theatre, London in October 2018. McDonagh has stated that he prefers writing films to plays, as he holds a "respect for the whole history of films and a slight disrespect for theatre." In a 1998 conversation with Irish drama critic Fintan O'Toole in BOMB magazine, McDonagh further explained, It's not that I don't respect theatre. I'm intelligent enough to know that

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2662-427: A whole but that, if one seriously tried to do so anyway, its ungrounded circularity might collapse and lead to madness. An important disagreement within the academic literature about the nature of absurdism and the absurd focuses specifically on whether the components responsible for the conflict are internal or external. According to the traditional position, the absurd has both internal and external components: it

2783-664: A whole is absurd would be a good candidate for the more important facts. Absurdism has its origins in the work of the 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard , who chose to confront the crisis that humans face with the Absurd by developing his own existentialist philosophy . Absurdism as a belief system was born of the European existentialist movement that ensued, specifically when Camus rejected certain aspects of that philosophical line of thought and published his essay The Myth of Sisyphus . The aftermath of World War II provided

2904-427: A whole. There is a general agreement that people are often confronted with absurd situations in everyday life. They often arise when there is a serious mismatch between one's intentions and reality. For example, a person struggling to break down a heavy front door is absurd if the house they are trying to break into lacks a back wall and could easily be entered on this route. But the philosophical thesis of absurdism

3025-766: Is a British-Irish playwright and filmmaker. He is known for his absurdist dark humour which often challenges the modern theatre aesthetic. He has won numerous accolades including an Academy Award , six BAFTA Awards , two Golden Globe Awards , and three Olivier Awards in addition to five nominations for Tony Awards . His plays, many of which have been produced on the West End and on Broadway , include The Beauty Queen of Leenane , The Cripple of Inishmaan (both 1996), The Lonesome West (1997), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001), The Pillowman (2003), A Behanding in Spokane (2010), and Hangmen (2015). McDonagh won

3146-451: Is a category, and the most developed thought is required to define the Christian absurd accurately and with conceptual correctness. The absurd is a category, the negative criterion, of the divine or of the relationship to the divine. When the believer has faith, the absurd is not the absurd—faith transforms it, but in every weak moment it is again more or less absurd to him. The passion of faith

3267-402: Is a lack, not just of a higher purpose in life, but also of moral values. These two sides can be linked by the idea that without a higher purpose, nothing is worth pursuing that could give one's life meaning. This worthlessness seems to apply to morally relevant actions equally as to other issues. In this sense, "[b]elief in the meaning of life always implies a scale of values" while "[b]elief in

3388-407: Is applied to the world as a whole including God, it is bound to fail its search for a reason or an explanation, no matter what the world is like. In this sense, absurdity arises from the conflict between features of ourselves: "our capacity to recognize the arbitrariness of our ultimate concerns and our simultaneous incapacity to relinquish our commitment to them". This view has the side-effect that

3509-501: Is based on the attempt of assessing standards of what matters and why it matters. It has been argued that the only way to answer such a question is in reference to these standards themselves. This means that, in the end, it depends only on us, that "what seems to us important or serious or valuable would not seem so if we were differently constituted". The circularity and groundlessness of these standards themselves are then used to argue for absurdism. The most common criticism of absurdism

3630-445: Is closely related to the idea that humans have an inborn desire for meaning and purpose, which is dwarfed by a meaningless and indifferent universe. For example, René Descartes aims to build a philosophical system based on the absolute certainty of the " I think, therefore I am " just to introduce without a proper justification the existence of a benevolent and non-deceiving God in a later step in order to ensure that we can know about

3751-542: Is convinced that he has done nothing wrong. Throughout the story, he desperately tries to discover what crimes he is accused of and how to defend himself. But in the end, he lets go of his futile attempts and submits to his execution without ever finding out what he was accused of. The absurd nature of the world is exemplified by the mysterious and impenetrable functioning of the judicial system, which seems indifferent to Josef K. and resists all of his attempts of making sense of it. Philosophers of absurdism often complain that

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3872-423: Is due to the discrepancy between man's internal desire to lead a meaningful life and the external meaninglessness of the world. On this view, humans have among their desires some transcendent aspirations that seek a higher form of meaning in life. The absurd arises since these aspirations are ignored by the world, which is indifferent to our "need for validation of the importance of our concerns". This implies that

3993-427: Is expressed in the relational aspect of the absurd in that it constitutes a conflict between two sides. Various components of the absurd have been suggested and different researchers often focus their definition and inquiry on one of these components. Some accounts emphasize the practical components concerned with the individual seeking meaning while others stress the theoretical components about being unable to know

4114-600: Is linked to a Greek myth ( Sisyphus , Prometheus , Nemesis ) and explores specific themes and objects; the common thread remaining the solitude and despair of the human, constantly driven by the tireless search for the meaning of the world and of life. I had a precise plan when I started my work: I wanted to first express negation. In three forms. Romanesque: it was The Stranger . Drama: Caligula and The Misunderstanding . Ideological: The Myth of Sisyphus . I wouldn't have been able to talk about it if I hadn't experienced it; I have no imagination. But for me it was, if you like,

4235-460: Is meaningful, which in its turn has meaning only because it is related to yet another meaningful thing, and so on. This infinite chain and the corresponding absurdity could be avoided if some things had intrinsic or ultimate meaning, i.e. if their meaning did not depend on the meaning of something else. For example, if things on the large scale, like God or fighting poverty, had meaning, then our everyday engagements could be meaningful by standing in

4356-419: Is meaningful. For example, a word is meaningful because of its relation to a language or someone's life could be meaningful because this person dedicates their efforts to a higher meaningful project, like serving God or fighting poverty. An important consequence of this characterization of meaning is that it threatens to lead to an infinite regress : at each step, something is meaningful because something else

4477-450: Is much more wide-reaching since it is not restricted to individual situations, persons, or phases in life. Instead, it asserts that life, or the world as a whole, is absurd. The claim that the absurd has such a global extension is controversial, in contrast to the weaker claim that some situations are absurd. The perspective of absurdism usually comes into view when the agent takes a step back from their individual everyday engagements with

4598-477: Is often treated as a key example of the absurd. In it, Zeus punishes King Sisyphus by compelling him to roll a massive boulder up a hill. Whenever the boulder reaches the top, it rolls down again, thereby forcing Sisyphus to repeat the same task all over again throughout eternity. This story may be seen as an absurdist parable for the hopelessness and futility of human life in general: just like Sisyphus, humans in general are condemned to toil day in and day out in

4719-413: Is only interested in his religious ornaments and drinking poteen . Coleman is only interested in eating, and attends funerals to collect free sausage rolls and vol au vents . Valene goes out to help drag the body of Garda Thomas Hanlon (character in "A Skull in Connemara") out of the lake with Father Welsh. Hanlon had just killed himself. Coleman pretends to follow, delaying to tie his shoelace, despite

4840-411: Is possible. Other theorists hold that a proper response to the absurd may neither be possible nor necessary, that it just remains one of the basic aspects of life no matter how it is confronted. This lack of response may be justified through the thesis of absurdism itself: if nothing really matters on the grand scale, then this applies equally to human responses toward this fact. From this perspective,

4961-456: Is pre-Socratic paganism and from the Jewish point of view is idolatry. How can this absurdity be held or believed? Kierkegaard says: I gladly undertake, by way of brief repetition, to emphasize what other pseudonyms have emphasized. The absurd is not the absurd or absurdities without any distinction (wherefore Johannes de Silentio: "How many of our age understand what the absurd is?"). The absurd

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5082-419: Is said to destroy all our hard-earned achievements like career, wealth, or knowledge. This argument is mitigated to some extent by the fact that we may have positive or negative effects on the lives of other people as well. But this does not fully solve the issue since the same problem, i.e. the lack of an ultimate end, applies to their lives as well. Thomas Nagel has objected to these lines of argument based on

5203-597: Is set in a fictitious totalitarian state and premiered at the Royal National Theatre in 2003, after a reading at the Finborough Theatre in 1995. A Behanding in Spokane is McDonagh's first play that is set in the United States and it premiered on Broadway in March 2010. Lead actor Christopher Walken was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as a killer looking for

5324-480: Is some higher ultimate purpose in which the individual may participate, like service to society, progress of history, or God's glory. While the individual may only play a small part in the realization of this overarching purpose, it may still act as a source of meaning. This way, the individual may find meaning and thereby escape the absurd. One serious issue with this approach is that the problem of absurdity applies to this alleged higher purpose as well. So just like

5445-444: Is the only philosophically coherent response to the absurd. While these three responses are the most prominent ones in the traditional absurdist literature, various other responses have also been suggested. Instead of rebellion, for example, absurdism may also lead to a form of irony . This irony is not sufficient to escape the absurdity of life altogether, but it may mitigate it to some extent by distancing oneself to some degree from

5566-415: Is the only thing which masters the absurd—if not, then faith is not faith in the strictest sense, but a kind of knowledge. The absurd terminates negatively before the sphere of faith, which is a sphere by itself. To a third person the believer relates himself by virtue of the absurd; so must a third person judge, for a third person does not have the passion of faith. Johannes de Silentio has never claimed to be

5687-649: Is to argue that life in fact has meaning. Supernaturalist arguments to this effect are based on the claim that God exists and acts as the source of meaning. Naturalist arguments, on the other hand, contend that various sources of meaning can be found in the natural world without recourse to a supernatural realm. Some of them hold that meaning is subjective. On this view, whether a given thing is meaningful varies from person to person based on their subjective attitude toward this thing. Others find meaning in external values, for example, in morality , knowledge, or beauty . All these different positions have in common that they affirm

5808-481: The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Six Shooter in and has received nominations for six other Academy Awards for his work on In Bruges (2007), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and The Banshees of Inisherin (2022). He directed the black comedy film Seven Psychopaths (2012) and was executive producer on The Second Death (2000) and The Guard (2011). McDonagh

5929-1162: The Druid Theatre Company in Galway , at the Town Hall Theatre in a co-production with the Royal Court Theatre . The play transferred to the Royal Court Theatre, London on 26 July 1997. The play premiered on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on 27 April 1999. The same four actors who had appeared in the Galway and London productions also appeared in the Broadway production: Brían F. O'Byrne played Valene, Maelíosa Stafford played Coleman, David Ganly played Father Welsh, and Dawn Bradfield played Girleen. Garry Hynes directed all three productions. The play closed on 13 June 1999 after 55 performances and 9 previews. Martin McDonagh Martin Faranan McDonagh ( / m ə k ˈ d ɒ n ə / ; born 26 March 1970)

6050-557: The John Golden Theatre starring Mark Addy and Dan Stevens before being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The play returned on Broadway in 2022 this time with David Threlfall and Alfie Allen . The play received critical acclaim from critics including from The New York Times theatre critic Jesse Green who wrote, "[ Hangmen ] feels like a perfect fit for our unjust times". A Very Very Very Dark Matter A play set in

6171-401: The epistemological problem of the human limitations of knowing the world. This includes the thesis that the world is in critical ways ungraspable to humans, both in relation to what to believe and how to act. This is reflected in the chaos and irrationality of the universe, which acts according to its own laws in a manner indifferent to human concerns and aspirations. It is closely related to

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6292-518: The is-ought fallacy : absurdism presents itself as a descriptive claim about the existence and nature of the absurd but then goes on to posit various normative claims. Another defense of absurdism consists in weakening the claims about how one should respond to the absurd and which virtues such a response should exemplify. On this view, absurdism may be understood as a form of self-help that merely provides prudential advice. Such prudential advice may be helpful to certain people without pretending to have

6413-538: The Gramercy Theatre, produced by the Roundabout Theatre . The final part is titled The Lonesome West , a play involving two brothers bickering in the aftermath of the supposedly accidental fatal shooting of their father. The play ran on Broadway in 1999 and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play in 1999. The Cripple of Inishmaan is a dark comedy in which a crippled teenager schemes to attain

6534-435: The absurd "is not in man ... nor in the world, but in their presence together". This position has been rejected by some later theorists, who hold that the absurd is purely internal because it "derives not from a collision between our expectations and the world, but from a collision within ourselves". The distinction is important since, on the latter view, the absurd is built into human nature and would prevail no matter what

6655-404: The absurd ... teaches the contrary". Various objections to such a position have been presented, for example, that it violates common sense or that it leads to numerous radical consequences, like that no one is ever guilty of any blameworthy behavior or that there are no ethical rules. But this negative attitude toward moral values is not always consistently maintained by absurdists and some of

6776-662: The absurd depends on the fact that the affected person recognizes it. For example, people who fail to apprehend the arbitrariness or the conflict would not be affected. According to some researchers, a central aspect of the absurd is that the agent is aware of the existence of the corresponding conflict. This means that the person is conscious both of the seriousness they invest and of how it seems misplaced in an arbitrary world. It also implies that other entities that lack this form of consciousness, like non-organic matter or lower life forms, are not absurd and are not faced with this particular problem. Some theorists also emphasize that

6897-520: The absurd, Abraham, defying all reason and ethical duties ("you cannot act"), got back his son and reaffirmed his faith ("where I have to act"). Another instance of absurdist themes in Kierkegaard's work appears in The Sickness Unto Death , which Kierkegaard signed with pseudonym Anti-Climacus . Exploring the forms of despair, Kierkegaard examines the type of despair known as defiance. In

7018-616: The absurd, is to act upon faith ... I must act, but reflection has closed the road so I take one of the possibilities and say: This is what I do, I cannot do otherwise because I am brought to a standstill by my powers of reflection. Here is another example of the Absurd from his writings: What, then, is the absurd? The absurd is that the eternal truth has come into existence in time, that God has come into existence, has been born, has grown up. etc., has come into existence exactly as an individual human being, indistinguishable from any other human being, in as much as all immediate recognizability

7139-477: The absurd, they recommend that we should face it directly, i.e. not escape from it by retreating into the illusion of false hope or by ending one's life. In this sense, accepting the reality of the absurd means rejecting any hopes for a happy afterlife free of those contradictions. Instead, the individual should acknowledge the absurd and engage in a rebellion against it. Such a revolt usually exemplifies certain virtues closely related to existentialism , like

7260-418: The absurd. Later researchers have suggested more ways of responding to absurdism. A very blunt and simple response, though quite radical, is to commit suicide. According to Camus, for example, the problem of suicide is the only "really serious philosophical problem". It consists in seeking an answer to the question "Should I kill myself?". This response is motivated by the insight that, no matter how hard

7381-473: The absurd. This is perhaps best exemplified when the agent is seriously engaged in choosing between arbitrary options, none of which truly matters. Some theorists characterize the ethical sides of absurdism and nihilism in the same way as the view that it does not matter how we act or that "everything is permitted". On this view, an important aspect of the absurd is that whatever higher end or purpose we choose to pursue, it can also be put into doubt since, in

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7502-427: The absurdity of the world. In his journals, Kierkegaard writes about the absurd: What is the Absurd? It is, as may quite easily be seen, that I, a rational being, must act in a case where my reason, my powers of reflection, tell me: you can just as well do the one thing as the other, that is to say where my reason and reflection say: you cannot act and yet here is where I have to act... The Absurd, or to act by virtue of

7623-407: The absurdity of these enterprises. Another aspect lies in creativity , i.e. that the agent sees themselves as and acts as the creator of their own works and paths in life. This constitutes a form of rebellion in the sense that the agent remains aware of the absurdity of the world and their part in it but keeps on opposing it instead of resigning and admitting defeat. But this response does not solve

7744-572: The affected to find a response for dealing with the conflict. Recognizing the absence of objective meaning, however, does not preclude the conscious thinker from finding subjective meaning in arbitrary places. Absurdism is the philosophical thesis that life, or the world in general, is absurd. There is wide agreement that the term "absurd" implies a lack of meaning or purpose but there is also significant dispute concerning its exact definition and various versions have been suggested. The choice of one's definition has important implications for whether

7865-460: The affirmation of one's freedom in the face of adversity as well as accepting responsibility and defining one's own essence . An important aspect of this lifestyle is that life is lived passionately and intensely by inviting and seeking new experiences . Such a lifestyle might be exemplified by an actor , a conqueror, or a seduction artist who is constantly on the lookout for new roles, conquests, or attractive people despite their awareness of

7986-489: The agent faces the absurdity of their situation and that the response should exemplify these virtues. This aspect is particularly prominent in the idea that the agent should rebel against the absurd and live their life authentically as a form of passionate revolt. Some see the latter position as inconsistent with the idea that there is no meaning in life: if nothing matters then it should also not matter how we respond to this fact. So absurdists seem to be committed both to

8107-416: The agent tries, they may never reach their goal of leading a meaningful life, which can then justify the rejection of continuing to live at all. Most researchers acknowledge that this is one form of response to the absurd but reject it due to its radical and irreversible nature and argue instead for a different approach. One such alternative response to the apparent absurdity of life is to assume that there

8228-407: The aims of a single individual life can be put into doubt, this applies equally to a larger purpose shared by many. And if this purpose is itself absurd, it fails to act as a source of meaning for the individual participating in it. Camus identifies this response as a form of suicide as well, pertaining not to the physical but to the philosophical level. It is a philosophical suicide in the sense that

8349-521: The attempt to fulfill pointless tasks, which will be replaced by new pointless tasks once they are completed. It has been argued that a central aspect of Sisyphus' situation is not just the futility of his labor but also his awareness of the futility. Another example of the absurdist aspect of the human condition is given in Franz Kafka 's The Trial . In it, the protagonist Josef K. is arrested and prosecuted by an inaccessible authority even though he

8470-485: The basic conflict posed by the absurd cannot be truly resolved. This means that any attempt to do so is bound to fail even though their protagonists may not be aware of their failure. On this view, there are still several possible responses, some better than others, but none able to solve the fundamental conflict. Traditional absurdism, as exemplified by Albert Camus , holds that there are three possible responses to absurdism: suicide , religious belief , or revolting against

8591-422: The claim that moral values exist and that they do not exist. Defenders of absurdism have tried to resist this line of argument by contending that, in contrast to other responses, it remains true to the basic insight of absurdism and the "logic of the absurd" by acknowledging the existence of the absurd instead of denying it. But this defense is not always accepted. One of its shortcomings seems to be that it commits

8712-447: The claim that they are circular: they assume rather than establish that life is absurd. For example, the claim that our actions today will not matter in a million years does not directly imply that they do not matter today. And similarly, the fact that a process does not reach a meaningful ultimate goal does not entail that the process as a whole is worthless since some parts of the process may contain their justification without depending on

8833-466: The conflict remains despite the individual's awareness of it, i.e. that the individual continues to care about their everyday concerns despite their impression that, on the large scale, these concerns are meaningless. Defenders of the metacognitive component have argued that it manages to explain why absurdity is primarily ascribed to human aspirations but not to lower animals: because they lack this metacognitive awareness. However, other researchers reject

8954-415: The conflict underlying the absurd is characterized by the individual's struggle to find meaning in a meaningless world. The theoretical component, on the other hand, emphasizes more the epistemic inability of reason to penetrate and understand reality . Traditionally, the conflict is characterized as a collision between an internal component, belonging to human nature, and an external component, belonging to

9075-414: The conflicting elements would cease to exist, i.e. if the individual would stop caring about things, as some Eastern religions seem to suggest, or if one could find something that possesses a non-arbitrary meaning that merits the concern. For theorists who give importance to the consciousness of this conflict for the absurd, a further option presents itself: to remain ignorant of it to the extent that this

9196-540: The ears off Valene's dog two years previously, presenting the evidence of the severed dog's ears in a brown paper bag. In shock, Valene attempts to murder Coleman with a kitchen knife, but Coleman in turn destroys Valene's stove with multiple shot gun blasts, and smashes his new collection of ceramic religious figurines. After a standoff, they calm down and Coleman apologises sincerely; they concede that "Maybe Father Welsh's soul'll be all right so." The play premiered in June 1997 at

9317-464: The existence of meaning, in contrast to absurdism. Another criticism of absurdism focuses on its negative attitude toward moral values. In the absurdist literature, the moral dimension is sometimes outright denied, for example, by holding that value judgments are to be discarded or that the rejection of God implies the rejection of moral values. On this view, absurdism brings with it a highly controversial form of moral nihilism . This means that there

9438-431: The external world. A similar problematic step is taken by John Locke , who accepts the existence of a God beyond sensory experience , despite his strict empiricism , which demands that all knowledge be based on sensory experience. Other theorists argue in favor of absurdism based on the claim that meaning is relational . In this sense, for something to be meaningful, it has to stand in relation to something else that

9559-510: The fact that he was wearing loafers. While alone in the house, he destroys all of Valene's plastic figurines, by placing them in Valene's new stove. Only Father Welsh, the alcoholic parish priest, attempts to fix their relationship, but his advice mostly goes unheard. It is revealed later in the play that Coleman had shot his father because he insulted Coleman's new haircut. Valene agreed to provide an alibi for Coleman, stating that their father's death

9680-740: The film. McDonagh wrote and directed his drama-dark film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), starring Frances McDormand , Woody Harrelson , and Sam Rockwell , which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 4 September and won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival on 17 September 2017. Three Billboards won four awards at the 2017 Golden Globes , including Best Screenplay for McDonagh. McDonagh received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for

9801-457: The film. Production of McDonagh's next film project was announced in 2020, titled The Banshees of Inisherin , with Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell in the lead roles. Production was delayed by COVID-19 , with shooting ultimately beginning in August 2021 and wrapping on 23 October 2021. The movie held its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2022 and had

9922-473: The future by pointing out that nothing we do today will matter in a million years. A similar line of argument points to the fact that our lives are insignificant because of how small they are in relation to the universe as a whole, both concerning their spatial and their temporal dimensions. The thesis of absurdism is also sometimes based on the problem of death , i.e. that there is no final end for us to pursue since we are all going to die. In this sense, death

10043-520: The hand he lost in his youth. McDonagh also penned two prize-winning radio plays, one of which is The Tale of the Wolf and the Woodcutter . In February 2010, an announcement revealed that McDonagh was working on a new stage musical with composer Tom Waits and director Robert Wilson . The trilogy starts off with The Beauty Queen of Leenane , which is the story of the dysfunctional relationship between

10164-405: The hatred between the brothers, and with a low self-esteem, writes a letter begging the brothers to get along, asserting that he will stake his soul on it. Father Welsh then proceeds to drown himself in the lake. This act is significant, as there has already been a lengthy discussion about suicide in the play. The characters believe that damnation follows suicide for the victims, as it is technically

10285-402: The human cognitive faculties themselves. Some theorists also link this problem to the circularity of human reason, which is very skilled at producing chains of justification linking one thing to another while trying and failing to do the same for the chain of justification as a whole when taking a reflective step backward. This implies that human reason is not just too limited to grasp life as

10406-418: The human insignificance in the universe, on the role of death , or on the implausibility or irrationality of positing an ultimate purpose. Objections to absurdism often contend that life is in fact meaningful or point out certain problematic consequences or inconsistencies of absurdism. Defenders of absurdism often complain that it does not receive the attention of professional philosophers it merits in virtue of

10527-478: The human response toward this fact does not matter either. The term "absurdism" is most closely associated with the philosophy of Albert Camus . However, important precursors and discussions of the absurd are also found in the works of Søren Kierkegaard . Absurdism is intimately related to various other concepts and theories. Its basic outlook is inspired by existentialist philosophy. However, existentialism includes additional theoretical commitments and often takes

10648-429: The idea that the world remains silent when we ask why things are the way they are. This silence arises from the impression that, on the most fundamental level, all things exist without a reason: they are simply there. An important aspect of these limitations to knowing the world is that they are essential to human cognition , i.e. they are not due to following false principles or accidental weaknesses but are inherent in

10769-414: The individual just assumes that the chosen higher purpose is meaningful and thereby fails to reflect on its absurdity. Traditional absurdists usually reject both physical and philosophical suicide as the recommended response to the absurd, usually with the argument that both these responses constitute some form of escape that fails to face the absurd for what it is. Despite the gravity and inevitability of

10890-412: The key aspects of absurdism even though they may not explicitly discuss the topic. It has been argued that acknowledging the existence of the absurd has important consequences for epistemology, especially in relation to philosophy but also when applied more widely to other fields. The reason for this is that acknowledging the absurd includes becoming aware of human cognitive limitations and may lead to

11011-517: The last step, it always lacks a higher-order justification. But usually, a distinction between absurdism and nihilism is made since absurdism involves the additional component that there is a conflict between man's desire for meaning and the absence of meaning. On a more theoretical view, absurdism is the belief that the world is, at its core, indifferent and impenetrable toward human attempts to uncover its deeper reason or that it cannot be known. According to this theoretical component, it involves

11132-401: The metacognitive requirement based on the fact that it would severely limit the scope of the absurd to only those possibly few individuals who clearly recognize the contradiction while sparing the rest. Thus, opponents have argued that not recognizing the conflict is just as absurd as consciously living through it. Various popular arguments are often cited in favor of absurdism. Some focus on

11253-453: The mysteries of existence. In that regard, this tendency may be seen as a form of defense mechanism or wishful thinking constituting a side-effect of the unacknowledged and ignored importance of the absurd. While some discussions of absurdism happen explicitly in the philosophical literature, it is often presented in a less explicit manner in the form of novels or plays. These presentations usually happen by telling stories that exemplify some of

11374-460: The nature of the world. However, some later theorists have suggested that both components may be internal: the capacity to see through the arbitrariness of any ultimate purpose, on the one hand, and the incapacity to stop caring about such purposes, on the other hand. Certain accounts also involve a metacognitive component by holding that an awareness of the conflict is necessary for the absurd to arise. Some arguments in favor of absurdism focus on

11495-748: The opening quotation reproduced at the beginning of the article, Kierkegaard describes how such a man would endure such a defiance and identifies the three major traits of the Absurd Man, later discussed by Albert Camus: a rejection of escaping existence (suicide), a rejection of help from a higher power and acceptance of his absurd (and despairing) condition. According to Kierkegaard in his autobiography The Point of View of My Work as an Author , most of his pseudonymous writings are not necessarily reflective of his own opinions. Nevertheless, his work anticipated many absurdist themes and provided its theoretical background. The philosophy of Albert Camus, or more precisely

11616-413: The passionate rebellion against an apparently trivial or unimportant state of affairs seems less like a heroic quest and more like a fool's errand . Jeffrey Gordon has objected to this criticism based on the claim that there is a difference between absurdity and lack of importance. So even if life as a whole is absurd, some facts about life may still be more important than others and the fact that life as

11737-403: The possibility of help, not to speak of help by virtue of the absurd, that for God all things are possible—no, that he will not do. And as for seeking help from any other—no, that he will not do for all the world; rather than seek help he would prefer to be himself—with all the tortures of hell, if so it must be. — Søren Kierkegaard , The Sickness Unto Death Most researchers argue that

11858-445: The problem of the absurd at its core: even a life dedicated to the rebellion against the absurd is itself still absurd. Defenders of the rebellious response to absurdism have pointed out that, despite its possible shortcomings, it has one important advantage over many of its alternatives: it manages to accept the absurd for what it is without denying it by rejecting that it exists or by stopping one's own existence. Some even hold that it

11979-458: The realm of phenomena since this is how sensory impressions are organized by the mind , but may not be found on the level of noumena. The concept of the absurd corresponds to the thesis that there is such a gap and human limitations may limit the mind from ever truly grasping reality, i.e. that reality in this sense remains absurd to the mind. A century before Camus , the 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote extensively about

12100-422: The recommended response since, unlike the other two responses, it does not escape the absurd and instead recognizes it for what it is. Later theorists have suggested additional responses, like using irony to take life less seriously or remaining ignorant of the responsible conflict. Some absurdists argue that whether and how one responds is insignificant. This is based on the idea that if nothing really matters then

12221-424: The right relation to them. However, if these wider contexts themselves lack meaning then they are unable to act as sources of meaning for other things. This would lead to the absurd when understood as the conflict between the impression that our everyday engagements are meaningful even though they lack meaning because they do not stand in a relation to something else that is meaningful. Another argument for absurdism

12342-428: The seriousness of life. According to Thomas Nagel , there may be, at least theoretically, two responses to actually resolving the problem of the absurd. This is based on the idea that the absurd arises from the consciousness of a conflict between two aspects of human life: that humans care about various things and that the world seems arbitrary and does not merit this concern. The absurd would not arise if either of

12463-531: The social environment that stimulated absurdist views and allowed for their popular development, especially in the devastated country of France . Foucault viewed Shakespearean theater as a precursor of absurdism. An idea very close to the concept of the absurd is due to Immanuel Kant , who distinguishes between phenomena and noumena . This distinction refers to the gap between how things appear to us and what they are like in themselves. For example, according to Kant, space and times are dimensions belonging to

12584-454: The source of absurdity. Other definitions locate both conflicting sides within man: the ability to apprehend the arbitrariness of final ends and the inability to let go of commitments to them. In regard to the conflict, absurdism differs from nihilism since it is not just the thesis that nothing matters. Instead, it includes the component that things seem to matter to us nonetheless and that this impression cannot be shaken off. This difference

12705-505: The status of universally valid moral values or categorical normative judgments. So the value of the prudential advice may merely be relative to the interests of some people but not valuable in a more general sense. This way, absurdists have tried to resolve the apparent inconsistency in their position. According to absurdism, life in general is absurd: the absurd is not just limited to a few specific cases. Nonetheless, some cases are more paradigmatic examples than others. The Myth of Sisyphus

12826-453: The suggested responses on how to deal with the absurd seem to explicitly defend the existence of moral values. Due to this ambiguity, other critics of absurdism have objected to it based on its inconsistency. The moral values defended by absurdists often overlap with the ethical outlook of existentialism and include traits like sincerity , authenticity , and courage as virtues . In this sense, absurdists often argue that it matters how

12947-464: The thesis of absurdism is correct and for the arguments cited for and against it: it may be true on one definition and false on another. In a general sense, the absurd is that which lacks a sense, often because it involves some form of contradiction . The absurd is paradoxical in the sense that it cannot be grasped by reason . But in the context of absurdism, the term is usually used in a more specific sense. According to most definitions, it involves

13068-411: The topic of the absurd does not receive the attention of professional philosophers it merits, especially when compared to other perennial philosophical areas of inquiry. It has been argued, for example, that this can be seen in the tendency of various philosophers throughout the ages to include the epistemically dubitable existence of God in their philosophical systems as a source of ultimate explanation of

13189-415: The topic's importance and its potential psychological impact on the affected individuals in the form of existential crises . Various possible responses to deal with absurdism and its impact have been suggested. The three responses discussed in the traditional absurdist literature are suicide , religious belief in a higher purpose, and rebellion against the absurd. Of these, rebellion is usually presented as

13310-567: The trilogy, A Skull in Connemara , involves a Connemara man who is employed to exhume skeletons in an overcrowded graveyard and he encounters the wife whom he was once accused of killing. The play premiered in 1997 at Town Hall Theatre, Galway. The play was presented at the Royal Court Theatre (London), and made its US premiere at the A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) in Seattle, Washington in July to August 2000. The play ran off-Broadway from January to May 2001 at

13431-400: The way I want it to be", when discussing his absence from London theatre and promoting his new play Hangmen . In 2006, McDonagh won an Academy Award for his short film Six Shooter (2004), which is his first film that he wrote and directed. Six Shooter is a black comedy (as are his plays) that features Brendan Gleeson , Rúaidhrí Conroy , David Wilmot and Aisling O'Sullivan . It

13552-451: The world or to rationally grasp it. A different disagreement concerns whether the conflict exists only internal to the individual or is between the individual's expectations and the external world . Some theorists also include the metacognitive component that the absurd entails that the individual is aware of this conflict. An important aspect of absurdism is that the absurd is not limited to particular situations but encompasses life as

13673-426: The world to assess their importance from a bigger context. Such an assessment can result in the insight that the day-to-day engagements matter a lot to us despite the fact that they lack real meaning when evaluated from a wider perspective. This assessment reveals the conflict between the significance seen from the internal perspective and the arbitrariness revealed through the external perspective. The absurd becomes

13794-434: The world was like. So it is not just that absurdism is true in the actual world. Instead, any possible world , even one that was designed by a divine god and guided by them according to their higher purpose, would still be equally absurd to man. In this sense, absurdity is the product of the power of our consciousness to take a step back from whatever it is considering and reflect on the reason of its object. When this process

13915-579: The “camusian absurd” ( french  : l'absurde camusien ), refers with absurdism to the work and philosophical thought of the french writer Albert Camus . This philosophy is influenced by the author's political, libertarian , social and ecological ideas; and is inspired by previous philosophical trends, such as Greek philosophy , nihilism , the Nietzschean thought or existentialism . It revolves around three major cycles: “the absurd ( l'absurde )”, “the revolt ( la révolte )” and “love ( l'amour )”. Each cycle

14036-450: Was accidental. In exchange, he demanded Coleman's share of the inheritance money. Neither of the brothers show any grief or remorse at their father's death. The two brothers fight over everything and anything. Valene attacks Coleman over eating his crisps, and they fight over whose turn it is to read the magazine, and who left the top off Valene's pen, leading to both constant bickering and physical violence. Father Welsh, depressed because of

14157-522: Was born on 26 March 1970 in Camberwell , London, to Irish parents. His mother (originally from Killeenduff , Easky , County Sligo) and his father (originally from Leitir Mealláin , Connemara , County Galway ) moved back to Galway in 1992, but McDonagh and his brother (writer-director John Michael McDonagh ) stayed in London. Separated into two trilogies, McDonagh's first six plays are located in and around County Galway, where he spent his holidays as

14278-504: Was never published, as McDonagh insisted it "isn't any good", though he expressed a desire to return to it when he is older. In 2022, McDonagh directed a film titled The Banshees of Inisherin. The screenplay's resemblance to the play is unclear. In 1999 he was one of the recipients of the V Europe Prize Theatrical Realities awarded to the Royal Court Theatre (with Sarah Kane , Mark Ravenhill , Jez Butterworth , Conor McPherson ). McDonagh's first non-Irish play, The Pillowman ,

14399-478: Was produced Off-Broadway by the Atlantic Theater Company, in conjunction with The Druid Theatre Company of Galway, Ireland. The Lieutenant of Inishmore is the followup play which was written as a response to the 1993 Warrington bombings when two children were killed by the IRA. It is a dark comedy in which the insane leader of an INLA ( Irish National Liberation Army ) splinter group discovers that his best friend,

14520-504: Was published in 2022. The Pillowman A writer in a non-specified totalitarian state is interrogated over the content of several of his Brothers Grimm -style short stories. The play was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2004 and received a 2005 Tony Award nomination for Best Play. A Behanding in Spokane A play in which the character of Carmichael has been searching for his missing left hand for

14641-499: Was shot on location in Wicklow , Waterford and Rosslare . In the short film, Gleeson's character encounters a strange, and possibly psychotic, young man during a train journey homeward following his wife's death. McDonagh made a deal with Focus Features to direct In Bruges , a feature-length film based on his own screenplay. Two Irish hitmen hide in the Flemish city of Bruges after

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