Time, however, is a profound uncertainty. Man places himself in time, situates himself to other points in time. We say things like ‘I’ll do that tomorrow’ or ‘you’ll understand when you’re older’. It must also, to a point, contain an assessment of what life is. To decide yes/no is, in Camus’ eyes, the decision of what the value of life is, and therefore is a highly loaded decision. But actually, it is yes/no by degree, since it is always a decision balancing the perceived gap of life with our notion of life. When we reach the point at which the absurd strikes sufficiently to cause one to contemplate suicide, the option is seemingly binary- yes/no. Life loses its meaning, and we wonder why we bother to do the things we do at all. Camus said that one contemplates suicide when the absurd becomes too powerful, or too enveloping. He was fascinated by the phenomenon of suicide, and famously declared that suicide was the one truly great philosophical problem. It could strike us at any point in our lives, but does so when we reflect upon life and the force the absurd has upon us can be reflected by the degree in which we accept or perceive the gap between us and meaning, or between us and the essential, unobtainable nature of the thing we’re thinking about. Life seems absurd and meaningless when there is a disparity between life and our experience of life it is that experienced, perceived gap which is the absurd. This was an increasingly popular view in the context of his life. The absurd is what he explores in his famous essay, The Myth of Sisyphus.įirst off, what actually does Camus mean by the absurd? To put it simply, he believed that life is devoid of meaning. At heart of Camus’ writings was the theory of the absurd.
Albert Camus held this view of life in high sincerity, and this was the basis for much of his philosophy. You will never be happy if you continue to pursue the meaning of happiness, nor shall you live if you spend your life searching for a meaning of life.
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