The central concern of The Myth of Sisyphus is
what Camus calls "the absurd." Camus claims that there is a
fundamental conflict between what we want from the universe (whether it be
meaning, order, or reasons) and what we find in the universe (formless chaos).
We will never find in life itself the meaning that we want to find. Either we
will discover that meaning through a leap of faith, by placing our hopes in a
God beyond this world, or we will conclude that life is meaningless. Camus
opens the essay by asking if this latter conclusion that life is meaningless
necessarily leads one to commit suicide. If life has no meaning, does that mean
life is not worth living? If that were the case, we would have no option but to
make a leap of faith or to commit suicide, says Camus. Camus is interested in
pursuing a third possibility: that we can accept and live in a world devoid of
meaning or purpose.
The absurd is a contradiction that cannot be
reconciled, and any attempt to reconcile this contradiction is simply an
attempt to escape from it: facing the absurd is struggling against it. Camus
claims that existentialist philosophers such as Kierkegaard, Chestov, and
Jaspers, and phenomenologists such as Husserl, all confront the contradiction
of the absurd but then try to escape from it. Existentialists find no meaning
or order in existence and then attempt to find some sort of transcendence or
meaning in this very meaninglessness.
Living with the absurd, Camus suggests, is a
matter of facing this fundamental contradiction and maintaining constant
awareness of it. Facing the absurd does not entail suicide, but, on the
contrary, allows us to live life to its fullest.
Camus identifies three characteristics of the
absurd life: revolt (we must not accept any answer or reconciliation in our
struggle), freedom (we are absolutely free to think and behave as we choose),
and passion (we must pursue a life of rich and diverse experiences).
Camus gives four examples of the absurd life:
the seducer, who pursues the passions of the moment; the actor, who compresses
the passions of hundreds of lives into a stage career; the conqueror, or rebel,
whose political struggle focuses his energies; and the artist, who creates
entire worlds. Absurd art does not try to explain experience, but simply
describes it. It presents a certain worldview that deals with particular
matters rather than aiming for universal themes.
The book ends with a discussion of the myth of
Sisyphus, who, according to the Greek myth, was punished for all eternity to
roll a rock up a mountain only to have it roll back down to the bottom when he
reaches the top. Camus claims that Sisyphus is the ideal absurd hero and that
his punishment is representative of the human condition: Sisyphus must struggle
perpetually and without hope of success. So long as he accepts that there is
nothing more to life than this absurd struggle, then he can find happiness in
it, says Camus.
Camus appends his essay with a discussion of
the works of Franz Kafka. He ultimately concludes that Kafka is an
existentialist, who, like Kierkegaard, chooses to make a leap of faith rather
than accept his absurd condition. However, Camus admires Kafka for expressing
humanity's absurd predicament so perfectly.
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