What might be an African response to Albert Camus’ position that our lives are absurd, and would it be plausible? Camus’ absurdism is the view that human existence is not only meaningless, but humanity’s yearning for meaning in a world devoid of such meaning is absurd. This claim seems at odds with African worldviews, particularly in the light of African traditional religions. Thus, this article aims to present the first real critical analysis of Albert Camus’ position that our lives are absurd through the lens of African traditional religion (ATR), in a bid to determine which position should be believed. I first explain what I mean by absurdism and differentiate it from related concepts, e.g. meaninglessness. I then discuss in detail Camus’ conception of the absurd and identify key facets of ATR. I also provide a systematic account of the contrasting positions between absurdism and ATR with regard to the question of the meaning of existence, the assumptions made therein, and the implications each has for humanity. Finally, I argue that, in so far as we accept pragmatic reasons for belief as legitimate, ATR’s response to absurdism is plausible.

中文翻译：

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非洲对荒诞主义的回应

非洲人对阿尔伯特·卡缪斯关于我们的生活是荒谬的立场的回应是什么，这是否合理？加缪的荒谬论认为，人类的存在不仅是毫无意义的，而且人类在缺乏这种意义的世界中对意义的渴望是荒谬的。这种说法似乎与非洲的世界观背道而驰，特别是鉴于非洲传统宗教。因此，本文旨在通过对非洲传统宗教（ATR）的视角，提出对阿尔伯特·加缪的立场的首次真正的批判性分析，即我们的生活是荒谬的，以期确定应该相信哪个立场。首先，我解释荒诞主义的含义，并将其与相关概念（例如无意义）区分开来。然后，我将详细讨论加缪关于荒谬的概念，并确定ATR的关键方面。我还系统地阐述了荒诞主义与ATR在存在意义，其中的假设以及各自对人类的影响方面的相对立场。最后，我认为，就我们接受相信为合法的务实理由而言，ATR对荒诞主义的回应是合理的。