FINDING MEANING IN THE ABSURD
Led by HUZAIFA OMAIR SIDDIQI
Assistant Professor of English, Ashoka University
PhD, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?
What is death? What does it mean to be free?
These are some questions that are an inevitable part of modern life. As India in the 21st century marches forward on the path of globalization and modernization, these inexorable processes bring with them unavoidable corollaries: alienation, fragmentation, and existential despair.
The modern condition no longer affords an individual a stable sense of community, home, or for that matter, the self. In this situation, what is one to do? How does one find meaning in this absurd and nihilistic world we have inherited?
In this course…
Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?
What is death? What does it mean to be free?
These are some questions that are an inevitable part of modern life. As India in the 21st century marches forward on the path of globalization and modernization, these inexorable processes bring with them unavoidable corollaries: alienation, fragmentation, and existential despair.
The modern condition no longer affords an individual a stable sense of community, home, or for that matter, the self. In this situation, what is one to do? How does one find meaning in this absurd and nihilistic world we have inherited?
In this course we try to understand our contemporary situation by reading existentialist writers like Søren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus.
Can a 'leap of faith' save us, as Kierkegaard says?
Or are we in fact, doomed to an inauthentic existence according to Heidegger?
Or, in a more positive sense, are we 'condemned to be free,' according to Sartre?
Over eight weeks, we read excerpts from Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov , Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra, Heidegger’s Being and Time, Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Blood of Others and Camus’s Myth of Sisyphus and The Outsider. Our goal is not just to understand their thought, but also to draw insights from them so that we can come to terms with the riddles of our own existence: faith, death, freedom, and the self.
Starts on July 25, 2026
Sessions: Saturdays, 04.00 PM IST
Duration: Eight Weeks (Online)
Cohort: Limited to 20 participants
Each weekly session is held live (a Google Meet or Zoom link is shared with course participants). Sessions usually run for about 90 minutes and are typically divided into two parts: a lecture by the faculty, followed by an open discussion among participants and faculty in an exploratory and collaborative setting.
By Wednesdays, participants write a short reflection (about 150 words) on assigned readings in the shared course space. This reflection could take any form. It could be a question, a connection, an observation or a refutation. Each week, participants read and respond to reflections shared by others in the cohort. This allows conversations to move beyond live sessions and continue through the week.
For the first existentialist thinker Søren Kierkegaard, faith and despair, though contradictory, come together. What does it mean to have faith and to lose faith, as a singular ordeal that wracks the individual’s very being? In his book Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard stages this crisis of faith through a peculiar reading of the exemplary man of faith: Abraham and his attempted sacrifice of his son, Isaac.
Readings:
Inaugural Fee ₹ 7600(Inclusive of tax – limited seats)
Standard Fee ₹ 11500 (Inclusive of tax)
Two months of live lectures and dialogic discussion | Small cohort of 20 (Approx) participants | Curated reading material | The Final Symposium | Alumni Network Membership | Certificate of Completion*
Inaugural Fee ₹ 11500(Inclusive of tax – limited seats)
Standard Fee ₹ 14500 (Inclusive of tax)
Everything in the Seminar Track | Two 1-on-1 individual mentorship sessions with the faculty | Personalised reading recommendations.
We offer a limited number of bursaries for those who cannot afford the course fee but are keenly interested in joining us. If you would like to apply for a bursary, please write to us at contact@liberalartscentre.org with the following: (a) a brief personal statement (300-500 words) on why you want to do this course and what draws you to the subject (b) a short note on your financial circumstances and why the fee is a barrier for you at this time.
You are welcome to also share (c) a piece of writing or work you are proud of - an essay, an article, a blog post, anything at all - so we can get a sense of who you are. We review bursary applications on a rolling basis and will get back to you as soon as we can.