Throughout Camus’ essay he explains the philosophical idea of the Absurd and also talks about the Greek myth of Sisyphus, which can be related to a main part in his philosophy. In the preface, Camus explains that one major part of this essay is the subject of absurdness of suicide and how one can define meaning to life by this action. As the essay goes on, the meaning of life is a question that Camus struggles to understand, but soon finds his answer through the concept of the absurd. Camus gives us a series of different examples that can be translated into our own lives, thus helping us understand the meaning of the absurd. I believe that Camus thinks the correct response to the absurd is revolt. He explains this by describing it as “a constant …show more content…
confrontation between man and his own obscurity” (54). Camus feels that it is a frequent fight within man and the unclearness of the future. The revolt is a conflict between the absurd and man because we search for a meaning in our lives, but left without one. Camus believes the incorrect responses to the absurd are suicide and a little bit of philosophical suicide itself. He feels that “suicide is repudiation”, or a rejection to one’s self (Camus 55). He feels that one person cannot truly feel they have a reason to end their life or even be able to let death come to their own freewill. Camus talks about other philosophers and how their thoughts are trying to escape the absurd. The concept of the absurd itself is a confrontation of one’s own life and can be also contradicting in ways as well. In life, a person is forced to face a reality and may feel some absurdness when they finally see the real facts. It is also a comparison because you compare facts with the truthfulness of reality. The absurd ends with death and there is no absurd outside the human mind or the world. Camus states that the absurd cannot be divided nor destroyed without destroying it as a whole. He relates this to a divorce because two people share something special, whereas if they should separate, it would ruin the relationship as a whole. They would be forced to face reality of the situation, thus confronting it. The myth of Sisyphus can also be related to the idea of the absurd because Sisyphus is forced to face the fate of his own actions. He has to push a rock up and down up a mountain for the rest of his life, putting him in a state of consciousness, whereas he has to come to terms with what he has done for himself. The absurd is not in man or in the world, but both of them together. After reading Camus’ ideas, I believe that he feels that life would be better off if we didn’t search for meaning.
It would mean being able to accept what life has thrown at you and being able to make new experiences. He explains that the absurd is very contradicting and that we often find ourselves relying on other factors during an experience we have, but it is us solely that leads us to the outcome. We can’t avoid the absurd or death itself, but one shouldn’t be able to choose whether or not it has a meaning. The “absurd feeling” we get can happen during many different moments in our lives, such as time and routine. We are always looking forward to the future and when we realize it, we have gone through half of our lives by just rushing through. Time is related to routine because a person can go through the same motions everyday just to realize that they aren’t happy, but they also have the choice to change their life for the better. Camus says, “living is keeping the absurd is alive”, meaning that we have come to accept the absurd and we can live life without a meaning (52). In the “Myth of Sisyphus”, Camus explains the idea of the absurd and the ways it correlates with our own lives. He believes that the main point is just to live life without meaning. We can search our whole lives looking for something that we may not find until later on in our lives. The absurd is being able to confront our own reality no matter the consequence and being able to live by our own
freewill.
In the essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus attempts to give answers to some tough questions. He wants to know if life is worth living or how we can make it worth living, as well as whether or not it is possible to live with certainty. To him, the absurd man realizes that life is absurd after his expectations are repeatedly contradicted and he realizes the world is an unreasonable place that cannot be explained. These unreasonable expectations of certainty ultimately cause many absurd men to think that life is not worth living when they are faced with what they feel is a hopeless situation. Camus offers an alternative to the problem the absurd man faces and it is not suicide or “Philosophical suicide”. Other philosophers commit philosophical suicide by suggesting that there is enough evidence, whatever it maybe, that one should survive on hope alone or make some leap. But Camus thinks that if a person is honest and truthful to themselves that they know they are nothing more than “a stranger” in this world. So how does one live a life worth living when faced with absurdity?
However, he provides an alternative more substantial solution in such a way that does not let the universe triumph. What one must do to overcome this absurdity to is to be scornful of the fact that the universe has created such an individual with the ability to contemplate on his or her own existence. Suicide is an option that takes the easy route out of this absurdity, implicating the difficulty of life is too much to handle. Camus acknowledges his conscious and revolts, or becomes scornful of that fact, and refuses the option of suicide. By choosing to embrace the absurdity of the meaningless of one’s own existence, then freedom to create your own meaning and purpose is
“Albert Camus is one of the most likeable and approachable of the mid-twentieth-century French authors” (Brosman 10).This is quite a compliment for Camus, but most would agree. In France, Albert is known for his many books, two which have made the French best-sellers list. His works are often read and studied in French secondary-school class rooms, introducing a countless number of students to his pieces each year. Camus also holds the high honor of receiving the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957 (Boak 346). His wide popularity has made his name known in North America as well. Just what is Albert Camus so popular for one might ask? The answer would be his approach to his work— the underlying beliefs of Existentialism or the theory of the absurd that characterizes his pieces (Wyatt 1).1 All of Camus’ works incorporate this strong sense of the individual having freedom of choice, and thus complete control over his own outcome. He acknowledges no help or control from higher powers, just simply focuses on the individual; consequently, creating a sense of alienation. Albert Camus’ attraction to and his use of Existential beliefs began from his own life circumstances.
?If you remain imprisoned in self denial then days, weeks, months, and years, will continue to be wasted.? In the play, 7 stories, Morris Panych exhibits this denial through each character differently. Man, is the only character who understands how meaningless life really is. All of the characters have lives devoid of real meaning or purpose, although they each have developed an absurd point or notion or focus to validate their own existence. In this play, the characters of Charlotte and Rodney, are avoiding the meaninglessness of their lives by having affairs, drinking, and pretending to kill each other to enhance excitement into their life.
Of the many themes and philosophies that Camus struggled with during his life and presented to the world through his writings, one of the more prevalent was that of the absurd. According to Camus, the world, human existence, and a God are all absurd phenomenons, devoid of any redeeming meaning or purpose. Through Mersaults’ epiphany in The Stranger, where he opens himself to the “gentle indifference of the world”, we see how Camus understands the world to be a place of nothingness, which demands and desires nothing from humans. He further explores this philosophy in The Plague, where the world of indifference is understood as a world of fear, which takes a symbolically tangible form in the plague itself. In The Plague the citizens of Oran fear that which they cannot control, understand or fight. They are faced with the most fundamental experiences of life and death, and it is only in the end that a very few find a way to cope with and understand these two ultimatums.
The trial and conviction of Meursault represents the main ideals of absurdism, that truth does not exist, and life is precious. The jury’s attempt to place a proper verdict on Meursault is compared to mankind’s futile attempt to find order in an irrational universe. Because there is no real truth in the trial, the verdict was unfair and illogical. Camus uses his beliefs of truth not existing and life being precious to point out the absurdity of the judicial system, and suggest the abolishment of the death penalty.
Camus believes that Sisyphus’s fortune is similar to human life. Through all the activities and events people do throughout life, simply nothing is accomplished in the end. Sisyphus is a direct ...
Such when Camus writes, “All Sisyphus’ silent joy is contained therein. His fate belongs to him.”, but also contends that “Likewise, the absurd man, when he contemplates his torment, silences all the idols.” Within these quotes, I find a distinction between the acceptance of fate and the acquisition of circumstance which in both cases of Sisyphus and the absurd man, contends a claim of conflict between what we want from the universe, whether this is meaning, order, or reasons, and what we find in the universe which tends to be the uncertainty that is distinguished by
With each analysis the reader gets a greater understanding of suicide and the mental state of those who commit it, as well as some of their motives. One could read only a single chapter of this book and gain a greater understanding than they previously had on the topic of suicide, but when one brings all the chapters together as a whole a much deeper understanding is obtained. Lester’s analyses start with diaries, using that of a girl he has called Katie as his first example. In this 14 page chapter he analyses her diary, not only comparing her to Ophelia from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but using that comparison to show some of her motives and to make sense of them. It is this astute analysis that sets the tone for the rest of the similar chapters, in a way that is not boring but is not lighthearted in the slightest. The way that the whole book works together to give one insight on the topic of suicide makes it a useful resource for those who wish to understand it in a more in-depth way.
Do we live in an imperfect world or just a world full of human flaws? In The Fall, by Noble Prize Winner Albert Camus, it gives readers a glimpse into how citizens have the desire to discover the meaning of life. Camus asserts existentialism in the book and asks the question of do you have a purpose in life. Camus expresses the philosophy of the absurd, which means that all men are guilty of something, whether it is by our actions or inactions. The crimes we fail to stop, are just as bad as committing the crimes ourselves. The book draws attention to a point in your life where you have an understanding that you are a person with flaws, faced with your personal responsibility from your actions and significantly too,
An absurdist tends to discover meaning despite living in a meaningless world and are unable to fully accept and understand that every life ultimately ends. Depending on a person’s ethics and morals, some indications can be made on how someone’s life may transpire with each differing and playing a role. These people often partake in unethical and immoral actions, aware of it or not, in order to achieve some type of meaning in their absurdist life. In the novel The Fall, by Albert Camus is about an Absurdist man who used to be a judge penitent in Paris before he moves to Amsterdam. While living in Paris, Clamence lives a life full of lies as he views himself superior, as he tends to help the least fortunate. In reality, his motives are flawed
Therefore, this reality must be random. I believe that Camus wants us to see this and begin questioning our existence. So he wants us to see the Absurdity and to cope with the Absurdity. If there is no point to living, why do we continue to live? If this reality is absurd, why don’t we recognize that and commit suicide?
Smith, Ray. "The Case of Hamlet's Lunacy." Smith's Hyper Hamlet. N.p., n.d. Web. . .
Human life is absurd and there is no universal meaning, but humanity suffers from this inevitable fact so they try to find meaning through various created purposes to feel significant in their life. The absurdity of life is one of the biggest issues of philosophy because of the consequences it can cause in peoples lives. As human beings we desire purpose, meaning and order in life. Without the content of a meaningful life we feel lost and strive to find something that gives us meaning. We are all suffering from this unattainable goal to find a meaningful life. Albert Camus and Thomas Nagel agree with the fact that life is absurd but disagree on the right approach to life after realizing that life is without meaning.
We as humans, according to Camus, seek meaning. As humans we look for answers in a meaningless universe that yields no such comfort to our questions. Camus says it is absurd to shout into this void for answers. Since there is no such meaning, you as a free agent can choose to find meaning by taking a leap of faith, placing your hopes in a god, or choose to conclude that life is meaningless which results in suicide. Those that judge life as unworthy of living commit suicide. Since there is no such meaning, you as a free agent can choose to find meaning by taking a leap of faith, placing your hopes in a god, or choose to conclude that life is meaningless which results in suicide. Is suicide always the result of a