1) What did Victor Frankl’s experience in Nazi the concentration camps reveal to him about the meaning of life? In your answer make reference to the dying woman’s comments regarding her view of the branch of the chestnut tree outside her window. How do you think he would respond to the Hedonist view of the meaning of life?
To answer this question you should the relevant passage from our readings from Frankl’s Man’s Search For Meaning.
2) Albert Camus suggests that the fundamental condition for a meaningful life involves experiencing the absurdity of life. What did he mean by the absurd? Why is it so important for a meaningful life?
As part of your answer give an example of someone who does not face the absurd… what are they like? How are they different than someone who faces the absurd and creates a meaning to life on its basis?
What would Camus say to the nihilist who suggests that life is not worth living?
To answer this question you should consult Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus
3) Nietzsche talks a lot about becoming who one is, about self-discovery. But he also talks a lot about self-overcoming and the will to power. Give an account of his view of self-overcoming and how it is connected to the will to power. How is it different than the will to power as manifested in those he calls the wise men who have a will to truth?
What ultimately would he say to the nihilist who claims that life has no meaning; that there is nothing on the basis of which to live for?
To answer this question you should consult the section “On Self-Overcoming” in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (available in Canvas).
https://hesiodscorner.wordpress.com/2018/03/21/nietzsche-on-self-overcoming/
