Absurdism In Albert Camus's The Myth Of Sisyphus

Camus' philosophy is an amalgam of existentialism and humanism. An atheist, Camus did not believe that death, suffering, and human existence had any intrinsic moral or rational meaning. Because he did not believe in God or an afterlife, Camus held that human beings, as mortals, live under an inexplicable, irrational, completely absurd death sentence. Nevertheless, Camus did believe that people are capable of giving their lives meaning. The most meaningful action within the context of Camus' philosophy is to choose to fight death and suffering.

Camus states in The Myth of Sisyphus: "Thus I draw from the absurd three consequences, which are my revolt, my freedom, and my passion. By the mere activity of consciousness I transform into a rule of life what was an invitation to death, and I refuse suicide. " "Revolt" here refers to the refusal of suicide and search for meaning despite the revelation of the Absurd; "Freedom" refers to the lack of imprisonment by religious devotion or others' moral codes; "Passion" refers to the most wholehearted experiencing of life, since hope has been rejected, and so he concludes that every moment must be lived fully. The naked truth of inevitability of death and stumbling upon a meaning of life (at least for one's own self) and revolting against the whole blind world, surely tranquilizes the mind.

Camus argues that even the healthy person will consider their own suicide because of the absurdity a person confronts in existence.

In the article “Absurd Self-Fulfillment,” Feinberg offers his readers a close up examination of absurdity, self-fulfillment, and tries to show that every human life may contain some degree of each. He discusses how Richard Taylor, Albert Camus, and Thomas Nagel, each portray that there is indeed absurdity in all human beings, through the use of their own special qualifications. Taylor and Camus both conclude that there is no meaning to anything we do, and that the human condition is pointless and meaningless. They believe that absurd humans do whatever makes them happy, but before realizing the absurd, one is a slave of their own future goals. However, Nagel claims that absurdity results from the irresolvable clash between the importance people attach their lives too, and their capability of viewing themselves from a detached and impersonal perspective. Feinberg eventually adopts Nagel’s explanation of absurdity. Feinberg’s concept of self-fulfillment can be understood in the sense of doing what one is genetically inclined to do, which includes both one’s generic

In his literary criticism of “The Old Man and the Sea,” Dwight Eddins argues that Hemingway’s novel ethic and earth-bound metaphysic is highlighted in Albert Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus.” In Camus’s novel “The Myth of Sisyphus,”, Camus analyzes Sisyphus’ lucid struggle against cosmic absurdity and its futility; the parallels between Santiago and Sisyphus’ doomed struggle against meaninglessness depict both as absurd heros.

The Myth of Sisyphus tells of a mortal who was punished by the gods to push a rock to the top of a mountain which would then roll back to the bottom where he was to start pushing again. Sisyphus was to continuously repeat this task or all of eternity. Many similarities in philosophies can be seen between this myth and The Stranger, both authored by Albert Camus. In The Stranger, Meursault often noted what interested and disinterested him, similarly, the narrator of the myth mentions that Sisyphus return trip down the mountain peaks his interest. Additionally, Meursault never developed any faith in a higher power which correlates to the narrator of the myth stating, “...there is no higher destiny” (Camus, paragraph 9). Next, Meursault clearly

“There is but only one truly serious philosophical problem ”, Camus says, “and that is suicide”. Deciding whether or not life is worth living is the most fundamental question in philosophy; any other question follows from that (3, Camus). Camus says it is absurd to shout into this void for answers. He states that suicide is a confession that life is not worth living, which he links this confession to what he calls “feelings of absurdity”. Camus links the feeling of absurdity to a meaningless life. Camus gives three dimensions to this notion of absurdity. As a free agent we as beings can choose to revolt, have passion, and freedom. As a

Camus’s belief, as exemplified in the The Stranger, is that human life has no redeeming purpose. The only certainty in life is that eventually all human beings will die and therefore all lives are all equally meaningless.

Modern society is plagued by incessant monotony. However, Albert Camus’s existential story The Myth of Sisyphus, Joseph Campbell’s interview “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth”, and David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech “This is Water” postulate possible solutions to societal ennui. Albert Camus conveys, in The Myth of Sisyphus, that acceptingf tedium as impermeable, more effectively.

Existential protest is the rejection of any destiny a person does not want for him or herself. It is denying the right of any negativity or dreary repetition in one’s life to take over one’s mindset. It is “that return, that pause” at the top of the hill in Sisyphus’ story, wherein there is hope, joy, and a sense of accomplishment. Though they are small and fleeting, these moments in life, these turns at the top of the hill, are what assign meaning to the human existence. They have to be enough, or else life has no point, no reward, and no hope: a truth that would be unbearable.

“One does not discover the absurd without being tempted to write a manual of happiness” (Camus). These words help to explain why Sisyphus is happy while he pushes his rock up his mountain and then runs after it after it rolls down again. Through performing the same absurd act repeatedly he discovers what kind of happiness there is the act. After pushing the rock up the mountain so many times he begins to single out the aspects of the action that make him feel happy, and pays no attention to anything else. In this sense, he has created taken the punishment that was given to him and made it enjoyable, and created his own fate.

Ancient Greek mythology tells the tale of Sisyphus, King of Ephyra – a man described as prudent and wise. Sisyphus was punished for his actions against the Gods when he cheated death. Sisyphus’s zeal of life begot an eternity of struggle and meaningless labor. Sisyphus’s made to push a boulder to a hill summit where it’d roll down to the hill’s basin, thus Sisyphus must traverse back down the hill to repeat this action indefinitely. Sisyphus’s tragedy comes from consciousness of the absurdity of his situation, lack of reprieve, and futility in anything but acceptance; Sisyphus’s not bound by potential for success in his toils and’s thusly aware.

The purpose of Richard Taylor’s, “The Meaning of Life,” is to portray the life of Sisyphus in Albert Camus’s, “The Myth of Sisyphus,” as a meaningless life, in which Taylor portrays as a “perfect image of meaninglessness.” In Camus’s story, Sisyphus has committed certain crimes that got him into trouble with the gods. Hence, receiving a punishment by being forced to push a rock up a hill. However, to make it even worse, once he reached the top of the hill, the rock would just roll back down to the bottom, therefore having to repeat this labor for eternity. The motivation behind this discipline was to demonstrate the pointlessness of life since there was no want to demonstrate his life will never end. The question of what’s the meaning of life is compelling to think about, but the more time spent doing it the more fascinating it gets. There are ways to avoid having a meaningless life, but Taylor’s theory sticks to either living a happy life or a meaningless life.

Throughout human existence, people have often contemplated about the meaning of life. Why do we exist? What purpose do we serve as human beings? Who created us? Is there a mission that humans are supposed to complete while alive? Richard Taylor sought out to answer these questions through his paper The Meaning of Life. He particularly uses the myth on Sisyphus and his life throughout the paper to help prove his point.

Camus’s separate work, The Myth of Sisyphus, includes imagery that provides an extended metaphor for this idea. The character Sisyphus begins to roll a boulder to the top of a mountain and upon reaching the summit, the boulder rolls back down. Sisyphus’s repetitive actions symbolize man’s constant need for an answer to the purpose of life, and as the boulder rolls back it acts as man’s responses belying his existence (Stanford Encyclopedia). For Meursault, his abnormal reactions and behaviors warrants discomfort from others. His lack of ambition to find an answer for the main question behind absurdism makes his characterization simple. Meursault speaks what he believes and knows. There are no genuine underlying sinister traits behind Meursault’s being, he simply acts upon his whims. The same whims throw him into an agreement to marry a girl, trap an abusive man’s ex-girlfriend, and kill an Arab man. All of which he does not with the intent to harm, but just the inability to explain why he should not. Meursault most often gives up on trying to explain his beliefs or intentions to those who do not immediately understand, such as his neighbors, lawyer, and