Author Date

2025-05-25

Degree Name

Department

Philosophy

College

Humanities

Defense Date

2025-04-09

Publication Date

2025-06-06

First Faculty Advisor

Dr. Justin White

First Faculty Reader

Dr. Derek Haderlie

Honors Coordinator

Dr. Ryan Christensen

Keywords

Absurdism, Existentialism, Phenomenology, Freedom, Embodiment, Essay, Meaning

Abstract

In this thesis, I explore questions regarding the nature of meaningfulness and living well in the face of absurdity. Socrates famously stated, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” therefore, in the following essays I delve into these fundamental questions by reflecting on my own life and analyzing it in light of various philosophical notions. The two essays center around an analysis of Albert Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus,” ultimately highlighting the distinction between Sisyphus’s situation and our own as human beings. The first essay largely examines Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theory of embodiment, how his conception of embodiment plays out in my own life as well, and how it relates to the question of living well. The second essay explores the doubly burdensome nature of freedom: we must choose between the possibilities we encounter in the world and how we take up that freedom is never in isolation. Finally, this piece concludes by taking my analysis of embodiment and freedom and reframing Sisyphus’s condemnation to more clearly reflect our own human condition, a state of deep interrelatedness both with ourselves and with those around us.