_011 Albert Camus & Absurdism

Is life really worth living or should we just end it all? This is the key issue discussed by Albert Camus, a 20^th Century French philosopher, in his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” in which he claims that "there is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide."

The question arises when one considers the problem of Absurdism. Camus, although he wasn’t the first to talk about “The Absurd”, defined it as a conflict between two forces

     1)   Man’s inherent desire to find meaning in the world

     2)   His ultimate inability to find it (see Nihilism)

So our struggle is not derived solely from a lack of meaning, but rather the clash between that and our strong urge to find such reason and purpose in the world. He believes that it is fundamentally a problem of reason and the apparent absence of it in the universe despite man’s need for it.

For Camus, there are three possible ways of combating the absurd:

Suicide – for Camus, this could not be the answer, for it makes an unjustified leap. It goes from the idea that life is meaningless to the idea that it is not worth living, which are not necessarily one in the same. Yet Camus believes that it is our instinct for life that ultimately overrides our reason to commit suicide. More important for him is that he doesn’t believe that suicide is the only, nor the best option, but rather we can reconcile our experience with The Absurd.

Leap of faith – Camus rejected the methods that existentialists tried to use to combat The Absurd. Often existentialists like Kierkegaard resolve the irrationality of the universe with God, or another transcendent being. Camus said that this was not actually confronting the problem, but rather brushing it aside and finding comfort with no logic. He defined this as “philosophical suicide” and regarded it as lowly as the physical kind.

Recognition – This was Camus’ solution. In our demand for reason and certainty, there is only one truth that we can be undoubtedly certain about, which is The Absurd itself. He realises that to fully embrace The Absurd would be to commit suicide, but he preferred not to try and overcome it but consciously live with it.

Sispyhus (essay title) was condemned to roll a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down again. We must “imagine Sisyphus happy” – that is to be content with this lack of meaning to life.

Without meaning or purpose to tie us down, we can be truly free and live as we please, since we can only know what we experience for ourselves. Furthermore, without meaning in life, there are no moral values and thus no particular experience can be considered better than another. If all experiences are of equal quality, it is only logical to increase our quantity of experiences. Camus recommends we use our freedom to live the fullest life we can and we live in the present moment.

Word Count: 498

The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays, New York: Alred A. Knopf, 1955 [MS].