“The absurd theater can also have certain surrealistic features. Its
characters often find themselves in highly unrealistic and dreamlike situations.
When they accept this without surprise, the audience is compelled to react in
surprise at the characters’ lack of surprise. This was how Charlie Chaplin
worked in his silent movies. The comic effect in these silent movies was often
Chaplin’s laconic acceptance of all the absurd things that happen to him. That
compelled the audience to look into themselves for something more genuine
and true.”
“It’s certainly surprising to see what people put up with without
protesting.”
“At times it can be right to feel: This is something I must get away from—
even though I don’t have any idea where to go.”
“If the house catches fire you just have to get out, even if you don’t have
any other place to live.”
“That’s true. Would you like another cup of tea? Or a Coke maybe?”
“Okay. But I still think you were silly to be late.”
“I can live with that.”
Alberto came back with a cup of espresso and a Coke. Meanwhile
Sophie had begun to like the cafe ambience. She was also beginning to think
that the conversations at the other tables might not be as trivial as she had
supposed them to be.
Alberto banged the Coke bottle down on the table with a thud. Several
people at the other tables looked up.
“And that brings us to the end of the road,” he said.
“You mean the history of philosophy stops with Sartre and
existentialism?”
“No, that would be an exaggeration. Existentialist philosophy has had
radical significance for many people all over the world. As we saw, its roots
reach far back in history through Kierkegaard and way back to Socrates. The
twentieth century has also witnessed a blossoming and a renewal of the other
philosophical currents we have discussed.”
“Like what?”
“Well, one such current is Neo-Thomism, that is to say ideas which
belong to the tradition of Thomas Aquinas. Another is the so-called analytical
philosophy or logical empiricism, with roots reaching back to Hume and British
empiricism, and even to the logic of Aristotle. Apart from these, the twentieth
century has naturally also been influenced by what we might call Neo-
Marxism in a myriad of various trends. We have already talked about Neo-
Darwinism and the significance of psychoanalysis.”
“Yes.”
“We should just mention a final current, materialism, which also has
historical roots. A lot of current science can be traced back to the efforts of the
pre-Socratics. For example, the search for the indivisible ‘elemental particle’
of which all matter is composed. No one has yet been able to give a
satisfactory explanation of what ‘matter’ is. Modern sciences such as nuclear
physics and biochemistry are so fascinated by the problem that for many peo-
ple it constitutes a vital part of their life’s philosophy.”
“The new and the old all jumbled together . . .”
“Yes. Because the very questions we started our course with are still
unanswered. Sartre made an important observation when he said that