In This Selection Nagel Reflects on the Sense of Absurdity

question 2

True/False

In this selection Nagel reflects on the sense of absurdity that most of us feel from time to time. The sense of absurdity arises, he says, from the "collision between the seriousness with which we take our lives and the perpetual possibility of regarding everything about which we are serious as arbitrary, or open to doubt." Nagel thinks that Camus's response to the absurd (defiance or scorn) is inappropriate; it's "romantic and slightly self-pitying." He prefers instead to approach the absurd with acceptance, with irony instead of heroism or despair.
-Nagel says that a role in some larger enterprise cannot confer significance unless that enterprise is itself significant.

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Definitions:

Government Failure

A situation in which the structure of incentives is such that the political process, including democratic political decision-making, will encourage individuals to undertake actions that conflict with economic efficiency.

Market Failure

A situation in which the structure of incentives is such that markets will encourage individuals to undertake activities that are inconsistent with economic efficiency.

Economic Incentive

A financial or material benefit that motivates individuals or businesses to pursue certain actions or behaviors.

Rent Seeking Activities

Efforts by individuals or firms to gain access to economic rent through manipulation or exploitation of the economic system, not through productive activities.