Meaningfulness and Meaninglessness in Education in the Age of Technology: Lessons from Albert Camus

Document Type : پژوهشی

Author

Roohollah Mozaffaripour

Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran

10.22067/fedu.2026.100274.1547

Abstract

Abstract
The aim of this study is to examine instances of meaning and meaninglessness in education, with reference to the thoughts of Albert Camus in the technological age. A deductive method has been employed to extract the educational implications; in this approach, by adopting a specific philosophical stance, its consequences and implications for the field of education are derived. The findings indicate that the fundamental challenge of education in the age of artificial intelligence is not merely the transmission of knowledge, but rather the preservation of the capacity for meaning-making, human agency, and responsibility in the face of intelligent technologies. The instances of meaning and meaninglessness identified include: indirect versus direct education, human agency versus technological agency, ambiguity, uncertainty, and alienation versus certainty and definitive knowledge, solidarity versus isolation, and the creation of meaning versus the transmission of meaning. Drawing on Camus's teachings, meaningful education should prepare learners for a conscious encounter with meaninglessness and keep questioning alive. This study demonstrates that in the technological age, education must emphasize human agency, responsibility, solidarity, and the creation of meaning, rather than merely the transmission of knowledge.
Synopsis
The rapid expansion of intelligent technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, confronts contemporary education systems with a pressing question: do these technologies deepen the meaningfulness of education, or do they exacerbate its meaninglessness? Several philosophers of technology, including Heidegger, Borgmann, and Gertz, have warned against the erosive effects of technology on human values and have described modern technology as a force of alienation or even an expression of nihilism. Ihde, by contrast, has drawn attention to the simultaneously amplifying and reducing character of technological mediation. Against this backdrop, the present study turns to Albert Camus, whose philosophy locates the origin of meaninglessness not primarily in technology itself, but in the broader existential condition of a human being confronting a silent universe that offers no ultimate answers to fundamental questions. For Camus, this absurd confrontation need not lead to despair; rather, it can become the starting point for rebellion, freedom, passionate engagement with life, and the creation of meaning. The choice of Camus over other philosophers of technology is deliberate: unlike Heidegger's emphasis on technology as Gestell (enframing), or posthumanist approaches that de-center human agency, Camus's existentialism foregrounds individual meaningful action in the face of any external system that threatens to render life meaningless—technological or otherwise. This focus on individual agency renders his thought distinctly well-suited to examining education under conditions of pervasive algorithmic mediation. It should also be noted that the critique advanced in this study targets primarily algorithm-driven, recommender-style artificial intelligence that produces fixed, predetermined answers; dialogic, generative forms of AI capable of Socratic prompting and open-ended scenario generation are not inherently opposed to Camus's philosophy and are discussed as potential allies of meaningful education.
Methodologically, the study employs a deductive (inferential) approach rooted in philosophical analysis rather than empirical data collection: by adopting Camus's philosophical stance as a starting point, the study derives its normative and practical consequences for the field of education. Following Bagheri's three-step inferential method, the foundational concepts of Camus's thought—absurdity, rebellion, agency, freedom, solidarity, and the creation of meaning—were first extracted primarily from his three major works (The Myth of Sisyphus, The Rebel, and The Plague). Each concept was then formulated as a normative principle, and these principles were subsequently matched against recurring concerns in the literature on artificial intelligence and education (loss of agency, algorithmic certainty, digital isolation) to yield five explicit dichotomies of meaningful versus meaningless education. The study explicitly acknowledges that this five-fold typology is selective rather than exhaustive, and that formulating Camus's inherently anti-systematic philosophy into explicit dichotomies and analytic tables carries an internal tension with the spirit of his thought; the dichotomies are therefore offered as interpretive and heuristic tools for reflection rather than a closed theoretical system. Complementary voices from the existentialist and pragmatist traditions of educational philosophy—John Dewey, Maxine Greene, and Gert Biesta—are drawn upon throughout, though Camus's thought remains the central theoretical framework.
The findings articulate five interrelated dichotomies through which meaning and meaninglessness manifest in technologically mediated education. First, indirect versus direct education: following Camus's own preference for conveying philosophical truths through narrative rather than direct exposition, the study argues that values—especially moral and religious ones—are better cultivated indirectly, through story, art, and lived experience, than through direct transmission, which tends to provoke resistance or superficial compliance; AI-generated interactive narratives are discussed as a potential vehicle for such indirect education. Second, human agency versus technological agency: drawing on Camus's insistence that freedom is meaningful only when individuals can act against external pressures, the study warns that over-reliance on AI risks eroding learners' independent judgment, critical thinking, and sense of authorship over their own learning, and calls for AI systems designed to preserve the learner's capacity to challenge or "rebel against" machine-generated answers. Third, ambiguity, uncertainty, and estrangement versus certainty and definitive knowledge: because Camus regards the world as fundamentally resistant to final interpretation, the study contends that meaningful education must cultivate the capacity to dwell in ambiguity rather than seek algorithmically generated certainty, drawing on Greene's concept of "de-familiarization" as a pedagogical strategy for reintroducing productive ambiguity into the classroom. Fourth, solidarity versus isolation: extending Camus's claim that authentic rebellion and dialogue depend on human solidarity, the study cautions that hyper-personalized AI systems risk trapping learners in isolating "meaning bubbles," and recommends that AI be used to free teachers' time for deeper, dialogic engagement with students rather than substituting for human connection. Fifth, the creation of meaning versus the transmission of meaning: consonant with both Camus and Dewey, the study argues that education should not treat meaning as a pre-packaged content to be delivered, but as something learners actively create through experience, reflection, and intersubjective dialogue—a stance that stands in tension with data-driven, "banking" models of AI-assisted instruction.
Conclusion
The study concludes that the fundamental challenge facing education in the age of artificial intelligence is not the transmission of knowledge but the preservation of human beings' existential capacity for meaning-making, agency, and responsibility. Meaningful education, informed by Camus, should prepare learners for a conscious and courageous encounter with meaninglessness rather than shielding them from it, keeping inquiry alive rather than foreclosing it with definitive answers. Three concrete practical recommendations are offered: embedding "de-familiarization" exercises into curriculum design so that learners articulate their own assumptions before consulting AI-generated answers; designing AI tools with built-in "reflective pauses" that require learners to register their own position before receiving further output; and incorporating learners' documented process of choice, doubt, and revision—rather than only their final answers—into assessment. The study acknowledges its limitations as a purely theoretical-philosophical inquiry lacking empirical validation, and calls for future research to test these dichotomies against the lived experience of teachers and students navigating AI-mediated classrooms.

Keywords

Albert Camus

Education

Technology

Meaning

Meaninglessness

Subjects

• Educational Philosophy

---

References

 References
Abdolkarimi. (2021). The End of Theology, Vol. (Vol. 2). Tehran: Critique of Culture.
Adorno, T. W. (1966). Erziehung nach Auschwitz, in: Th. W. Adorno: Erziehung zur Mündigkeit. Frankfurt/Main 1973 (Suhrkamp Verlag), p. 88-104. This text originally was a radio lecture broadcasted by Hessischer Rundfunk the 18th of april 1966. 
Bagheri, Sajjadiyeh,  Tavassoli. (2010). Approaches and Methods of Research in
the Philosophy of Education. Tehran: Publishing of the Research Institute for Social
and Cultural Studies.
Biesta, G. (2009). Good education in an age of measurement: On the need to reconnect with the question of purpose in education. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability (formerly: Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education), 21(1), 33-46. 
Borgmann, A. (1999). Holding on to Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium: University of Chicago press.
Camus. (1995). The Rebel (M. I. Talab., Trans.). Tehran: Qatra Publishing House.
Camus. (1998). The Fall (S. Farrokh., Trans.). tehran: Niloufar.
Camus. (2007). The Plague (R. S. Hosseini, Trans.). Tehran: Niloufar.
Camus. (2018). The Stranger. Tehran: Melina.
Camus. (2025). The Myth of Sisyphus. Tehran: Cheshme.
Curzon-Hobson, A. (2013). Confronting the Absurd: An educational reading of Camus’ The stranger. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 45(4), 461-474. 
Curzon-Hobson, A. (2014). Extending the contribution of Albert Camus to educational thought: An analysis of The Rebel. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 46(10), 1098-1110. 
Darvishi, A., Khosravi, H., Sadiq, S., Gašević, D., & Siemens, G. (2024). Impact of AI assistance on student agency. Computers & Education, 210, 104967. 
Dewey, J. (2007). Experience and education: Simon and Schuster.
Gertz, N. (2024). Nihilism and technology: Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Gibbons, A., & Heraud, R. (2007). Creativity, enterprise and the absurd: education and the Myth of Sisyphus–a challenge to an educator. Paper presented at the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia conference, Wellington.
Glesne, C. E., & Pugach, M. C. (2018). Story as Pedagogy: A Reflective Commentary. LEARNing Landscapes, 11(2), 31-38. 
Golomb, J. (2012). In search of authenticity: Existentialism from Kierkegaard to Camus: Routledge.
Harari, Y. N. ((2018)). omo Deus A Brief History of Tomorrow (Z. Aali, Trans.). Tehran: Nashre Nov.
Heidegger, M. (1954). The question concerning technology. Technology and values: Essential readings, 99, 113. 
Hobson, A. (2017). Albert Camus and education: Springer.
Ihde, D. (1990). Technology and the lifeworld: From garden to earth: Indiana University Press.
Jeffers, C. S. (1998). From both sides of the looking glass: Visions of imagination, the arts, and possibility. The passionate mind of Maxine Greene:“I am... not yet, 76-81. 
Karpouzis, K. (2024). Artificial intelligence in education: Ethical considerations and insights from ancient Greek philosophy. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 13th Hellenic Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
Kruizinga, M. V., Zwart, H., & Frissen, V. (2026). An absurdist ethics of AI: applying Camus’ concepts of rebellion and dignity to the challenges posed by disruptive technoscience. AI & society, 41(1), 185-201. 
Latour, B. (2005). An introduction to actor-network-theory. Reassembling the social. 
Leach, S., & Tartaglia, J. (2018). The meaning of life and the great philosophers: Routledge.
Mammadova, I. (2024). The concept of the absurd: Camus' literary exploration of existential philosophy. Global Spectrum of Research and Humanities, 1(1), 111-120. 
Moosavand, M., Aeini, B., & Sabbar, S. (2020). Future of AI and human agency: A qualitative study. Journal of Cyberspace Studies, 4(2), 189-210. 
Mortazavi, Z. (2022). Investigating indirect methods of religious ritual education from the perspective of the narrations of the Infallibles (AS) with an emphasis on promoting prayer. Ma’arif Ahl al-Bayt (AS), 1(1), 77-96. doi:10.22034/mab.2022.150815
Mouta, A., Pinto-Llorente, A. M., & Torrecilla-Sánchez, E. M. (2025). “Where is agency moving to?”: Exploring the interplay between AI technologies in education and human agency. Digital Society, 4(2), 49. 
Pedro, F., Subosa, M., Rivas, A., & Valverde, P. (2019). Artificial intelligence in education: Challenges and opportunities for sustainable development. 
Peters, M. A., & Green, B. J. (2024). Wisdom in the Age of AI Education. Postdigital Science and Education, 6(4), 1173-1195. 
Roberts, P. (2008). Bridging literary and philosophical genres: Judgement, reflection and education in Camus’ The Fall. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 40(7), 873-887. 
Roberts, P., Gibbons, A., & Heraud, R. (2013). Introduction: Camus and education. In (Vol. 45, pp. 1085-1091): Taylor & Francis.
Saeverot, H. (2022). Indirect education: Exploring indirectness in teaching and research: Taylor & Francis.
Sharpe, M. (2025). If nihilism is murder, what then? Camus’ distinctive conception of nihilism & its overcoming. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 01914537251377672. 
Sidorkin, A. M. (2025). Artificial intelligence: Why is it our problem? In (Vol. 57, pp. 1215-1220): Taylor & Francis.
Smeda, N., Dakich, E., & Sharda, N. (2014). The effectiveness of digital storytelling in the classrooms: a comprehensive study. Smart Learning Environments, 1(1), 6. 
Stiegler, B. (1998). Technics and time, 1: The fault of Epimetheus (Vol. 1): Stanford University Press.
Truesdale, S. (2024). Nihilism and Absolutes in the Thought of Albert Camus and Michel Onfray. University of Georgia, 
Verbeek, P.-P. (2005). What things do: Philosophical reflections on technology, agency, and design: Penn State Press.
Yaseen, H., Mohammad, A. S., Ashal, N., Abusaimeh, H., Ali, A., & Sharabati, A.-A. A. (2025). The impact of adaptive learning technologies, personalized feedback, and interactive AI tools on student engagement: The moderating role of digital literacy. Sustainability, 17(3), 1133.