“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.” Thus, 21st century French philosopher Albert Camus begins his celebrated essay titled, The Myth of Sisyphus. In this video, we will discuss Camus’ thoughts on the Absurd condition of human life and the three responses to that condition – physical suicide, philosophical suicide, and acceptance.
Camus defines the Absurd as man’s futile search for meaning in a meaningless universe. This absurd condition of man’s existence is brilliantly captured in a dialogue from Woody Allen’s film Play It Again, Sam. In the film, Woody Allen’s character approaches a woman in an art gallery, and he tries to engage her in conversation, hoping to land a date in the process.
Allen: That’s quite a lovely Jackson Pollock, isn’t it?
Woman: Yes, it is.
Allen: What does it say to you?
Woman: It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of man forced to live in a barren, godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror, and degradation, forming a useless, bleak straitjacket in a black, absurd cosmos.
Allen: What are you doing Saturday night?
Woman: Committing suicide.
Allen: What about Friday night?
One response to the Absurd is to commit physical suicide. “Dying voluntarily implies that you have recognized the absence of any profound reason for living, the insane character of that daily agitation, and the uselessness of suffering.” But Camus argues that physical suicide is merely an attempt to escape the Absurd. It does not reconcile the conflict between man’s desire for significance and the universe’s cold indifference.
Another response to the Absurd is to commit philosophical suicide. Camus claims that people who find meaning in the concept of God or in the concept of transcendence have taken a “leap of faith” and have committed philosophical suicide. One of the most prominent people to adopt this response to the Absurd was 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. “Kierkegaard wants to be cured. To be cured is his frenzied wish, and it runs throughout his whole journal. The entire effort of his intelligence is to escape the antinomy of the human condition.” Camus rejects this position because, like physical suicide, it is merely an attempt to escape from the Absurd, rather than an attempt to overcome it.
The last response to the Absurd, and the response that Camus supports, is that of acceptance. According to Camus, the Absurd Hero acknowledges the truth of the Absurd and embraces the freedom that it bestows upon him. In a world devoid of absolutes, man is free to create his own meaning and purpose. This process of creation is enough to make him happy. “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.”
The Ancient Greek King Sisyphus is the epitome of Camus’ Absurd Hero. According to myth, Sisyphus put Death in chains so that men would no longer die. The gods eventually freed Death, and then punished Sisyphus. They condemned him to ceaselessly roll a boulder to the top of a mountain, only to watch it roll back down again. “You have already grasped that Sisyphus is the absurd hero. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which his whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth.”
It is important to note the similarity between Sisyphus’ punishment and man’s Absurd existence. Both Sisyphus and man are condemned to futile and hopeless labor. But Sisyphus teaches man the way to overcome his fate. “Sisyphus teaches the higher commitment that negates the gods and raises rocks. He concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy!”
To conclude, Camus identifies man’s search for objective meaning in a meaningless universe as Absurd. There are three responses to the Absurd – physical suicide, philosophical suicide, and acceptance. Camus rejects the first two options because they are merely attempts to escape the problem. To accept the Absurd, however, is to overcome it. By accepting that the world is devoid of absolutes, man is free to create his own meaning and purpose.