The Life, Work and Philosophy of Albert Camus

The dissident of existential philosophy, Albert Camus was born in Algeria, worked in France, and persisted in ambiguity about his individuality in every sense. Similar to Sartre and Beauvoir, Camus was employed within the French resistance during WWII, and again, similar to Sartre and Beauvoir, Camus also relished tremendous triumph and prosperity in literature, theater, and philosophy, Regarding social problems, he was acquainted with those of the Left but he was never a Marxist nor a communist; Camus was an existentialist, but he was also considerate of human rights and the respected the human life He commemorated opposition and revolt but condemned terrorism of any kind for the sake of an idea.

Camus wasn‘t in favor of utilizing violence for the sake of an idea, such as the Left and the Right had done for accumulated years. From his experiences in life and his observations of his reality, Camus decided to utilize the concept of absurdity as the key essence point of his philosophical ideology. Moreover, Camus‘ fascination with the Myth of Sisyphus provides a way for him to explain his perspective on the concept of absurdity. According to the class textbook, “In the Myth of Myth of Sisyphus, the eponymous hero was punished by the gods likely because he had stolen some of their secrets, and the punishment was cruel and simple: Sisyphus was condemned to roll a heavy rock uphill, and when at last he got the mountaintop, the rock rolled back downhill”.

According to the concept of absurdity, however absurd it is, this situation is real as it is absurd, as Sisyphus is stuck in a cycle of endless labor as he is relentlessly pushing a rock up a hill that keeps on heading back down. Interestingly, Camus wants his readers to see Sisyphus’ state as his state of condition, not his state of punishment, and he even pushes his readers to imagine that Sisyphus is actually happy in this condition. Camus doesn’t see the world as absurd, but rather the human lives as absurd. According to him, the world is simply there, a thing, and it cannot be seen as absurd or rational.

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This ideology almost goes hand in hand with Sartre’s ideology of nothingness regarding humans and the world; Sartre, like Camus, separates and distinguishes the world from humans. Life is absurd since humans relentlessly and continuously question the universe and reality for explanations, while the universe doesn‘t budge, and will continue to not budge. According to Camus, humans are alone, and, yet they have a choice of suicide or being happy, and Camus chose to be happy, which is evident through his lavish lifestyle. However, ironically enough, Camus died in an absurd car accident in an expensive sports car of his, having his death prove his own philosophy.

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