Sartre contrasted humans with a paper knife, which is designed with a specific purpose; humans are born first and must define their own meaning through their choices.

Sartre famously illustrated this self-deception with a café waiter who robotically acts out his role to escape the heavy burden of absolute freedom.

Albert Camus argued that life is absurd because we crave inherent significance, yet the universe remains silent and irrational, leaving us to create our own values.

In The Concept of Anxiety, Kierkegaard explained that looking into an abyss causes dread not just from the fear of falling, but from the realization you could jump.