For Albert Camus, life was meaningless, but living mattered. Born into a divided country and a world at war, Camus explored the contradictions of existence with fervor, conscientiousness, and a spirit of humility. As an outsider, he used his writing to step deeper into the opaque and the controversial, encouraging resilience in a world filled with the unanswerable, the futile, and the absurd.
Albert Camus was born in 1913 in Algeria, formerly a French territory, as a second generation French citizen. His father died in World War I shortly after his birth, and Camus was raised by his mother and grandmother in Belcourt, a working class neighborhood. His mother was partially deaf, and could neither read nor write, but fervently encouraged Camus’ literary endeavors. Camus dedicated his last novel to her, writing, “For you who could never read this book.” Although he grew up poor, Camus valued this experience; “Poverty, first of all, was never a misfortune for me; it was radiant with sunlight. I owe it to my family, first of all, who lacked everything and who envied practically nothing.” Check out this
podcast episode to hear more about Camus’ upbringing and life.
One of Camus’ first loves was football; he was taken by the camaraderie and collaborative nature of the game. To learn how football influenced his philosophy
click here, plus check out
this rare footage of Camus at a football game! In addition to sports, Camus was a gifted student. His primary school teacher noticed Camus’ academic potential and helped him secure a scholarship to a prestigious high school. At the end of his first academic term, Camus fell ill and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. In poor neighborhoods this was considered a death sentence, but Camus convalesced and returned to school. However, he was plagued with tubercular fits and a keen awareness of his mortality for the entirety of his life.
In his early twenties, Camus toyed with communism which he would soon after denounce, and immersed himself in theater which would prove to be a life-long passion. In addition to writing his own plays, Camus adapted several works including Dostoevsky’s
Demons, a novel he greatly admired. Check out Camus speaking on his love for the theater
here! Camus’ young adulthood also planted seeds for romantic turmoil which would ensue throughout his life. He married Simone Hié, a young woman addicted to morphine, and divorced her once he learned of her infidelities. Since then, Camus was never faithful to a woman again.
Read here about his correspondences with the Spanish French actress María Casares, his most cherished lover.In 1940, Camus left Algeria and moved to Paris, taking on an editorial job at the newspaper
Paris-Soir. Shortly after he arrived, Camus began to feel World War II’s effects as the Germans occupied Paris.
Since he couldn’t serve in the army due to his TB, Camus instead joined the French Resistance. He wrote many articles for the underground newspaper
Combat, eventually becoming its editor-in-chief, as he grappled with the idea of justice amidst a catastrophic period in history. For more on Camus’
Combat articles,
read this.Once World War II ended, Camus found himself a celebrated writer with
The Stranger making him a household name internationally. You can watch Luchino Visconti’s film adaptation of the novel
here! Camus detailed his life, writings, and developing ideas regarding his cycles in the posthumously published
Carnets, his journals. He envisioned each cycle as galvanized by a myth; Sisyphus, Prometheus, and Nemesis would ignite the spirit of each one consecutively. Learn more about Camus’ cycles and his relevance
here!
In 1957 Camus received the Nobel Prize for literature, which he was initially hesitant to accept believing it was awarded him prematurely.
Listen here to an excerpt from his acceptance speech. Shortly before his sudden death, Camus’ life was gaining exciting traction. He was on the cusp of completing his most personal and lengthy novel,
The First Man, aimed to serve as the first piece in his third Cycle. And unbeknownst to him, he was soon to be granted his very own theater to run in Paris. Camus’ last minute decision to forego his train ticket and travel by car cost him his life. In the ruins of the crash, the unfinished manuscript of
The First Man was found. We’re left with his words to guide us through the uncanny realities of living and dying. “The human heart has a tiresome tendency to label as fate only what crushes it. But happiness likewise, in its way, is without reason, since it is inevitable.”
IMHO, one would have need to develop a morbidly sarcastic sense of humor to maintain a mental balance with the philosophy.
this made me laugh. in a good way. I agree *gives thumbs up*
one might have to admit a life is not purposeful. Millions of people dream of being famous and successful and look around. You see people barely known and working at McDonald's. people need to accept that not everyone has a purpose, though life isn't meaningless.
adhering makes a difference to the world because it's important and we need it to stay alive in the crises that we are in right now.
Considering all of us as an unique entity: The humanity. However, the complexity that comes behind this statement can only be understood through love, empathy and the power of resistance.
What does purpose mean?
Google Definition Of Purpose-the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.
Okay, so I have a purpose in life?What is it?What should I do with it.Why should I care, I’m going to die anyways?
There’s a lot of questions being asked.Why, what, when, where, how...but there’s not a signified and “correct” answer for everybody.I can’t even tell you your purpose in life on a day to day life.Theres only 2 “possible options I can think of.Go in the morning and try to ask god what your purpose in life is..or the other option.Make your own purpose.I sometimes get confused when people talk about their destiny, or their future.I can only give you this response..Nobody can decide what your purpose in life is.Sure, people might try to give you advice, but it’s really your decision to make.Artists, doctors and others didn’t have a destiny to make their decision.They just looked in the present.Don’t look at the future, if your in the present
To be honest, as a brief answer: adhering to the absurd philosophy would almost vanish the closest relationships - between lovers and hope not, even the child-parent relationship. Also , the small advantage would be that people would evoid the conflicts by not putting their hearts and souls...
It would affect the way we approach life, but especially how we approach our problems. It would also develop a great sense of dark humor, since we already laughed out our destiny, we would make fun of everything. It is great to be able to laugh out of the stupidity of one's existence.
If life has no meaning, then why do we exist in the first place? Why are there so many things in our favor that we can survive? Even if you haven’t discovered the meaning of life, it definitely means the meaning of life
It would affect the way of thinking of the world and the way of seeing things what we understand by truth would no longer be completely true and most things we would take more calmly since we hope to find a meaning of common life between people.
Camus’s philosophy was constituted like a representative affair on the philosophic
tradition that considered philosophy as a practice to transform ourselves and other´s
life style, and which purpose was for the person to overcome itself, for him to build a
new way of to-be-in-the-world and to take consciousness of himself as an integral part
of nature.
Adding this philosophy to our lifestyle would affect our values and beliefs, because although it is worth living, doing it without meaning would make nothing of value and not much matter in our society. Although at least many people will value their life for what it is.
It would affect the way we think about what it's like to live. Many people have dreams and purposes that they want to fulfill. By adhering to the philosophy of the absurd, it would be to think that the world has no purpose, to stop trying to find or create a purpose for your life and just live it. The positive thing I see in this is that many people will value their life for what it is and not for what it is not.
Being influenced by this theory can make you seriously reflect on your mere existence, reaching the point of questioning everything you do, this action of putting what you do to the test directly affects your relationship with the world, changing how you think, how you act, what you do and why you do it.
I think it would affect the way we live. Certainly, almost all of us feel that we have some kind of meaning in this universe, but we don't, but that doesn't make life in general meaningless, it just makes us realize that our world and our human species are no different. nor significant. from another life.
There is a simple rule: "Life is what you do with it." So what you feel is correct. If you feel like it doesn't make sense, it is, and the reverse is also true. This is because that is your own perception of looking at your own life and no one can deny what you think about your own life.
Well, I think that we all have to give a meaning to personal life for each one, we have to have a purpose because without one we will wander through life going to different places, but we will not get anywhere.
I think that all people must believe that they have a purpose, that they are here for something, they will probably never know it, but they make themselves believe that their existence is important that gives them motivation to live, I suppose that they influence society with that his life has no meaning, that it is something absurd and insinificant, it could show him to change our society completely.
It would be quite peaceful, to live without regrets, without complaints, satisfied. Just facing the facts, life would be simplier, despite, I dont want to live next to someone who doesnt have nothing to lose (⊙_⊙;), I used to think that was stupid to live without reason but I doubt if it is stupid to live to achieve one.
Or we're lucky :D
Mmm i understand that we'll never be happy if we constantly search for the meaning of life or happiness. And that's true as ?uck
I think that we all are special in some way... even though we probably never know our reason to exist, we must just live our life and enjoy it. Because, do we really need a reason to live? Or to exist? :/
In fact, this would help us to stop being late to find answers to unnecessary questions. We would be freer in that regard.
well, camu's phylosophy will help me to stop over thinking things that are absourd. And are meaningless.
Camus said that the simple fact of looking for meaning in life is absurd, and I think that a philosophy like that would greatly change the way we relate to the world and people. If we begin to believe that looking for meaning to something as precious as our life is absurd, then for us it would not make sense to look for the meaning of anything else. I think that our life would be very empty in that regard. A life without meaning. Because the meaning we give to our lives is more than asking ourselves ''Oh, where did we come from? Were we created by a god? Are we an illusion?'' I think looking for meaning in our life is looking for the meaning of everything we do every day, it is looking for a reason to continue living. And even though we'll never know for sure what that reason or meaning is, I think there is nothing absurd in trying to find it, because it is simply... a normal human behavior.
''Lo sé, mucho texto.''
-Yulia ♥
This would affect our lives because people are always looking for something to live for, something that gives meaning to why we do things and without that we would be doing things because that's the way it has to be.
I consider that the approach put forth by Camus helps us apply philosophy in our life and our relationships, because the philosophy of the absurd helps us expand our possibilities without seeking the lodge of this by diminishing negative emotions.
I agree
Once we realize that we might not make a difference in the world, we can finally begin living our lives happily without the constant nagging of need to be someone.
It would affect the way we approach life, but especially how we approach our problems. It would also develop a great sense of dark humor, since we already laughed out our destiny, we would make fun of everything. It is great to be able to laugh out of the stupidity of one's existence.
one might have to admit a life is not purposeful. Millions of people dream of being famous and successful and look around. You see people barely known and working at McDonald's. people need to accept that not everyone has a purpose, though life isn't meaningless.
Going through life without any sense takes away all the excitement in it, however I believe that in itself we do not have a purpose, we were born by decisions of others and in life only remain to make their own, but this in the end comes an imminent end death.
People may get distracted answering the question "Is Life Meaningless?", that they miss out on great opportunities in life because they think they don't deserve them after they convinced themselves, their life is supposedly meaningless. People also may view the world in a completely negative way if they don't treat their bodies with meaning because they think they're worthless. So the adhering to the Philosophy of Absurd, would not be the best, because we already know the answer to that question, life is meaningful.
It would be hard to have any kind of relationship with people if you believe that your life has no purpose. It might also be hard to keep a job if you don't think anything that you are doing has any meaning.
To delve deep into Camus's Absurdism, would eventually help one to be a stoic; impervious to the natural and realistic non-governable facts of life.
If life has no meaning, then why do we exist in the first place? Why are there so many things in our favor that we can survive? Even if you haven’t discovered the meaning of life, it definitely means the meaning of life
There are no things that was to favor our survival. It is we who as a species adapted to survive in these environments.
I think "the act of finding meaning is absurd" is kinda misunderstood. I think what camus means is that in the end its all the same, so its pointless to find meaning, but we do it anyway, which is absurd. This absurdity is the truest testament of our freedom.
If nothing you do in life matters all that matters is what you choose to do, thats my hot take!
Personally, the meaninglessness of everything helps me have a very positive outlook on everything. All the evil in the world is absurd and meaningless. Its not specifically targeted towards me; my actions may have consequences but even vile misfortune befalls me, its ... fine. Its easy to move on with such a mindset.
Same with all that is good and nice. I dont have to worry whether or not it is deserved, I can just truly accept it and enjoy it as it comes!
Overall, following life with such ideas, help me find contentment within!
its honestly not possible for that to happen. the way people are made we all have our own opinions, and they are ALL different..