ontological contrarianism
from perplexity pro how does ontological contrarianism relate to existentialism Ontological contrarianism and existentialism converge in treating evil, suffering, and meaning as fundamentally first-person realities rather than problems to be dissolved by grand metaphysical systems; both privilege the subject’s lived situation over system-building, with ontological contrarianism taking a distinctly anti-theodical, pessimistic stance that resonates with existentialist anti-illusionism about meaning and value in a contingent world. Core connection Ontological contrarianism rejects optimistic, system-centered accounts of reality (e.g., Avicenna’s plenitude-of-good theodicy) and insists that the “problem of evil” must be understood in strictly subject-centered, experiential terms, a move that mirrors existentialism’s shift from abstract metaphysics to lived anguish, choice, and responsibility. This anti-theodical pivot denies that a universal rational order makes evil “necessary”...