An absurdity is a thing that is extremely unreasonable, so as to be foolish or not taken seriously, or the state of being so. "Absurd" is an adjective used to describe an absurdity, e.g., "this encyclopedia article is absurd." It derives from the Latin absurdusm meaning "out of tune", hence irrational. The Latin surdus means "deaf", implying stupidity. Absurdity is contrasted with seriousness in reasoning. In general usage, absurdity may be synonymous with ridiculousness and nonsense. In specialized usage, absurdity is related to extremes in bad reasoning or pointlessness in reasoning; ridiculousness is related to extremes of incongruous juxtaposition, laughter, and ridicule; and nonsense is related to a lack of meaningfulness.
Read more about Absurdity: Demarcation Between Absurdity and Sound Reasoning, Humor and Point Making, Doctrine of Absurdity, Reduction To Absurdity: Reductio Ad Absurdum in Polemics, Logic and Mathematics, Theology, History
Famous quotes containing the word absurdity:
“Having become conscious of the truth he once perceived, man now sees only the awfulness or the absurdity of existence, he now understands the symbolic element in Ophelia’s fate, he now recognizes the wisdom of the woodland god, Silenus: it nauseates him.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
““I” is a militant social tendency, working to hold and enlarge its place in the general current of tendencies. So far as it can it waxes, as all life does. To think of it as apart from society is a palpable absurdity of which no one could be guilty who really saw it as a fact of life.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)