Introduction
In the midst of the problems of the world, no one can deny that human suffering is inevitable, since it has been presented throughout the history of mankind. That life is absurd, indeed as Albert Camus asserts. Since how can one really find meaning in life if we live in a senseless world? Fortunately, three possibilities were presented, that man can choose in order to be released from human suffering. First would be suicide, which is also considered as one of the most serious philosophical problem, since suicide becomes an option for some by ending their life to be released from their sufferings. Second, would be the “leap of faith”, which basically refers to the beliefs of an organized religion, that for some, resolves their problems, by believing truths that are revealed through divine interventions, without any concrete evidence. And lastly, recognition, wherein, one recognizes and embraces the absurdity of life and hence instead of looking for some ways to escape it , one must choose to deal with the present situation he is in because it is the only way where one can attain his own personal stature.
Basically Camus’ philosophy of the absurd is deeply rooted from history, since at his time the role of philosophy to connect human values and the nature of reality has failed. Which paved the way for the idea of absurdity , the prevalent thought of during World War II. But just like other philosophers, to understand Camus concepts that focus life’s absurdity, is a complete process which is evident with his literary works. Camus being a promoter of happiness rejects the concept nihilism. Because for Camus, denying the absurdity of life is being nihilistic, hence one must accept the absurdity of life as a sit...
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Amid the feverish horror of rampant sickness and death, The Plague is a parable of human remoteness and the struggle to share existence. In studying the relationships which Camus sets forth, the relationship between man and lover, mother and son, healer and diseased, it can be seen that the only relationship Camus describes is that between the exiled, and the kingdom for which he searches with tortured longing.
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The human capacity for positive and negative feelings is shaped by the forces of evolution. These forces have also been involved in the way philosophers viewed their philosophical perspectives on life, death, the world and most importantly on this paper, the importance of the appearance of happiness from the reality of happiness comparing Socrates views on others. This paper will also attempt to identify the more pertinent innate qualities of the human brain with happiness, Socrates views on the appearance/reality of happiness and how we might live our own life according to Socrates defense and Euthyphro’s failures from Captain Picard’s “tapestry”.
When French Noble Prize winning author, journalist, and philosopher, Albert Camus, died in 1960 at the age of 46 his literary works that incorporated ideas of existentialism and absurdism were still studied and interpreted by scholars and his colleagues. Existentialism was one of the two philosophies Camus believed in and used in his works; existentialism is philosophical movement that focuses on the importance of the individual experience and self responsibility. The individual is seen as a free part of a deterministic and meaningless universe. The second philosophy Camus used and believed in was absurdism; a philosophy based on the idea that life and work are meaningless and looking for order causes inner and outer chaos. Camus had a dual culture as he was born in Algeria and lived most of his life in France, his cultural duality also is expressed in his works.
Several philosophers have made differing viewpoints regarding the outlook of life. Richard Taylor and Albert Camus are notably known for presenting their thoughts on whether life is meaningless or not through the use of the Greek myth of Sisyphus. The two philosopher’s underlying statement on the meaning of life is understood through the myth. The myth discusses the eternal punishment of Sisyphus who was condemned by the Gods to take a large boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down, forcing him to repeat this task endlessly. Each conceive the myth in their own way and ultimately end with a conclusion that differs from each other. Taylor’s ideals and his take on the meaning of life contrast with what Camus presents in his argument. While Taylor suggests that there is a subjective meaning to life, Camus states that life is ultimately meaningless.
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Absurdism, The Stranger, and life “Absurdism” (coined by Albert Camus) is a philosophy based upon the concept that the life and the world are meaningless, irrational, without sense or reason. And any effort we make to try to find meaning in them will ultimately fail. Albert Camus considers absurdity to be a fight, a force pushing between our mind’s desire to have meaning and understanding and the blank, empty world beyond. In an argument with Nagel, Camus stated “I said that the world is absurd, but I was too hasty. This world in itself is not reasonable, that is all that can be said.
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Albert Camus’ The Guest revolves around the notions of moral justification and solitude with the underlying themes of absurdism and nihilism. Camus personifies absurdism through the protagonist, Daru–whether Daru makes the decision to release the prisoner to freedom or delivers the Arab prisoner into prison does not matter, since Daru allows the prisoner to choose, and the prisoner chooses to be imprisoned. There is also a sense of uncertainty of moral justification–how is one justified in one’s choice of action and on what scale is the justification based on, which is essentially the foundation of Daru’s dilemma. With the internal confliction of Daru’s personal beliefs against abiding superior authority, Daru is faced with two moral dilemmas:
Opposed to this, Camus uses Meursault as a construct to demonstrate his philosophy of absurdism. Absurdism is the belief that one cannot give rational sense or purpose to life, a belief based on the inevitability of death. Because people have difficulty accepting this notion, they constantly attempt to create rational structure and meaning in their lives. The term ‘absurdity’ describes humanity’s futile attempt to find rational order where none exists. Only at Meursalt’s epiphanic revelation before death does he realize this as his comes to know the absurd world.
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The idea of the Absurd seems to attach itself to meaningless, pointless and other such words that express a destination but without the means to get there and vice versa means but no destination. So from there I inferred that Camus does not believe in God, nor any high law or universal law that are associated with a divinity, which is a path in life (either the means or the destination). So what is an Absurd? The Absurd is living, a quest to find the meaning of anything within a reality with no purpose. Reality has no purpose because there is no high law, a universal law, nor a God.
To say human existence is absurd is to say human beings have a tendency to seek value and meaning in life but are not able to find any. According to Camus, we want to find meaning in the world but the world is silent and doesn’t give us any answers. As human beings we want an understanding of the world. We are all driven to find that greater meaning of life and if we did...