The ideas behind the development of the absurd hero are present in the first three essays of the book. In these essays Camus faces the problem of suicide. In his typically shocking, unnerving manner he opens with the bold assertion that: There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.
He goes on to discover if suicide is a legitimate answer to the human predicament. Or to put it another way: Is life worth living now that god is dead? The discussion begins and continues not as a metaphysical cobweb but as a well reasoned statement based on a way of knowing which Camus holds is the only epistemology we have at our command. We know only two things: This heart within me I can feel, and I judge that it exists. This world I can touch, and I likewise judge that it exists.
There ends all my knowledge, and the rest is construction. He disapproves of the many philosophers who "have played on words and pretended to believe that refusing to grant a meaning to life necessarily leads to declaring that it is not worth living. In spite of the human's irrational "nostalgia" for unity, for absolutes, for a definite order and meaning to the "not me" of the universe, no such meaning exists in the silent, indifferent universe.
Between this yearning for meaning and eternal verities and the actual condition of the universe there is a gap that can never be filled. The confrontation of the irrational, longing human heart and the indifferent universe brings about the notion of the absurd.
The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world. The absurd person must demand to live solely with what is known and to bring in nothing that is not certain. This means that all I know is that I exist, that the world exists ,and that I am mortal.
Doesn't this make a futile pessimistic chaos of life? Wouldn't suicide be a legitimate way out of a meaningless life? Although the absurd cancels all chances of eternal freedom it magnifies freedom of action. Suicide is "acceptance at its extreme", it is a way of confessing that life is too much for one.
This is the only life we have; and even though we are aware, in fact, because we are aware of the absurd, we can find value in this life. The value is in our freedom, our passion, and our revolt. The first change we must make to live in the absurd situation is to realize that thinking, or reason, is not tied to any eternal mind which can unify and "make appearances familiar under the guise of a great principle," but it is The absurd person can finally say "all is well".
Death stands no importance to Meursault but, in value, it does. Killing the Arab did not drastically change the world. It surely did not make a difference in the universe. Meursault knows he deserves the execution, but is fine with that. He shows that death is his freedom. Meursault looks up to the sky, sees the stars, and says that he was happy.
Camus absurdist philosophy of accepting death is confirmed through Meursault when faced with execution and accepting death, while also becoming content. There is no division or morality of right and wrong, or a sense of it either. We all live while searching for meaning but in the end, it is irrelevant because we all.
Get Access. Good Essays. Albert Camus An Absurd Reasoning. Read More. Better Essays. Moby-Dick as an Absurdist Text. Satisfactory Essays. The Myth of Sisyphus Words 3 Pages. The Myth of Sisyphus.
The moments of sorrow or melancholy come when he looks back at the world he's left behind, or when he hopes or wishes for happiness. When Sisyphus accepts his fate, however, the sorrow and melancholy of it vanish. Camus suggests that acknowledging "crushing truths" like the eternity and futility of his fate is enough to render them less crushing. He refers to Oedipus, who, having suffered so much, is able to "conclude that all is well.
A Midsummer Night's Dream Dr. Jekyll and Mr. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Summary The Myth of Sisyphus. Page 1 Page 2. Summary Sisyphus is probably more famous for his punishment in the underworld than for what he did in his life. Popular pages: The Myth of Sisyphus.
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