Questions tagged [camus]
Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a French author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. He is associated with existentialism and absurdism.
65
questions
1
vote
3
answers
625
views
How does absurdism deal with conflicting notions of subjective meaning?
My understanding of Camus is that he thinks you should find your subjective interests and run with them, but what would he say to say to a clinical psychopath born without a conscience who says he ...
CommunityBot
- 1
1
vote
4
answers
334
views
'I want to be with you in heaven'
If you knew that suicide is not immoral, would it be virtuous to kill yourself - not because you were in pain and needed to escape - but merely due to a wish to end yourself before you fell into vice?
...
CommunityBot
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
64
views
What are the sources of popular Camus quotes?
I'm tracking down sources of Albert Camus quotes (because Goodreads can suck it). Who can add to this list? I'm not allowed to comment on this site.
"There is but one truly serious philosophical ...
1
vote
3
answers
117
views
“That melancholy convention cannot be persuasive.” What does this quote mean (from the Myth of Sisyphus)?
For context, this is the paragraph:
I come at last to death and to the attitude we have toward it. On this point, everything has been said and it is only proper to avoid pathos. Yet one will never be ...
- 27k
1
vote
1
answer
55
views
What is Eternity’s Springboard?
From Camus’ Myth of Sissyphus; Philosophical Suicide. Here’s the paragraph [format edited]:
Now, if it is admitted that the absurd is the contrary of hope, it is seen that existential thought for ...
- 36.1k
10
votes
4
answers
16k
views
Why and how is Camus "against nihilism"?
I see in several sources that Camus is "against nihilism"(though there are also a few that state he utilizes elements of nihilism), however,
(Sorry for referring to Wikipedia. Didn't have ...
- 315
4
votes
4
answers
39k
views
Did Camus ever really write "Should I kill myself or have a cup of coffee"?
I think it's so wonderfully and beautifully put, but can't find the source, and am curious as to whether or not it's a genuine quotation.
1
vote
0
answers
50
views
Is Meursault in The Stranger by Camus supposed to be an Absurdist Exemplar? Counter-exemplar? Or?
I'm a layman so please use easy terms or provide references. Thanks!
I understand that Sisyphus is an absurdist exemplar in the sense that he simultaneously realizes the futility of his task and ...
- 111
1
vote
0
answers
30
views
Is "what's the point?" the same as asking "what is the meaning of life"?
Is "what's the point?" the same as asking "what is the meaning of life"? I know I said both phrases, so I should know right? But I feel the former much more than the latter. Is it ...
CommunityBot
- 1
7
votes
1
answer
14k
views
What does Albert Camus mean by two methods of thought, "of La Palisse and Don Quixote"?
In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus says that there are two methods of thought to conclude that the meaning of life is the most urgent of questions: those of La Palisse and Don Quixote:
Whether the earth ...
- 5,124
-1
votes
1
answer
312
views
was Camus right in saying 'There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.'?
I think he was saying 'What makes life worth living?'. I do think that's important, but aren't other questions 'serious' too?
For me my topics I care about are meta/norm ethics, theology, metaphysics. ...
- 20.5k
2
votes
2
answers
3k
views
"I rebel- therefore we exist." What does Albert Camus mean by this?
In his book, 'The Rebel', Albert Camus asserts the above mentioned sentence. Can you explain this quote in the best way possible, since it somehow seems to summarize the whole book, or rather, his ...
- 4,107
8
votes
16
answers
20k
views
Is Sisyphus actually happy or is he content?
I am having trouble understanding what Camus meant when he says "One must imagine Sisyphus is happy" in the essay The Myth of Sisyphus. What does Camus mean by happiness, and how can Sisyphus be happy ...
- 22.7k
2
votes
4
answers
400
views
Why was Camus wrong that suicide is a really serious philosophical problem, let alone the fundamental question of philosophy?
r/AskPhilosophy construed the following quotation from Le Mythe de Sysyphe: Chapitre 1, which Alan Watts joked about. Emboldenings are mine.
Il n'y a qu'un problème philosophique vraiment sérieux : c'...
CommunityBot
- 1
1
vote
0
answers
53
views
How should I contextualize this quote and understand its meaning? [closed]
Jean- Paul Sartre once said about Camus: "I would call his pessimism 'solar' if you remember how much black there is in the sun."
- 11
0
votes
2
answers
376
views
Nietzsche with Camus, on death
hateful to the fighter and the victor is your grinning death, which
creeps up like a thief-and yet comes as the master. My death I praise
to you, the free death which comes to me because I want it.
...
CommunityBot
- 1
0
votes
3
answers
272
views
Camus: why suicide
Why is "suicide" the fundamental problem of philosophy, for Camus? Surely the fundamental problem of philosophy is more traditionally how to live, not how to die. Even if we allow the ...
- 3,196
2
votes
1
answer
446
views
What were the moral and aesthetic ideas that Camus was interested in?
I have read most of the books by Albert Camus thoroughly. I know that Camus' theory is absurdity but I want to know his take on morality. I mean, what were the moral and aesthetic ideas that Camus was ...
CommunityBot
- 1
3
votes
1
answer
544
views
How can an Absurdist be moral?
I know the question isn't worded well. I'm a little new to this.
I've recently taken a look at Absurdist philosophy, primarily by reading works by Camus, and I feel that it is the most accurate ...
CommunityBot
- 1
0
votes
1
answer
360
views
From which book is this quote? - “Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.”
I know it’s a quote of Camus, but could you refer to the book?
- 583
1
vote
1
answer
178
views
How may absurdism be relevant in our current world and recent events, such as the pandemic?
The mundanity and gloominess of lockdown would have caused many people to come face to face with the absurd and become very confused and lost. What would accepting and embracing the absurd, and ...
- 31
4
votes
1
answer
666
views
Explanations of concepts underlying Camus' "The Rebel"?
[Note: First question on this site - I've used other StackExchange sites but this is a first for me. Be gentle.]
I recently began reading Albert Camus' "The Rebel" because it was referenced ...
- 22.7k
3
votes
0
answers
374
views
What is Camus' criticism of Husserl's phenomology and of Kierkegaard's thought?
I have not been able to grasp these concepts. Specifically, I am referring to the third chapter of the Myth of Sisyphus: "The philosophical suicide".
I have understood that Camus's critic on ...
- 35.4k
3
votes
1
answer
473
views
What are the "crimes of passion and crimes of logic"?
There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined.
Albert Camus
What does Albert Camus mean by "crimes of passion and crimes of logic" in his
...
- 22.7k
3
votes
1
answer
848
views
Is Absurdism a form of hedonism?
I find it difficult to comprehend the philosophy of absurdism. Albert Camus defined it as "futility of a search for meaning in an incomprehensible universe, devoid of God, or meaning".
What ...
- 388
4
votes
1
answer
415
views
Is Camus 'Outsider' an argument for, or a critique of existentialism?
I've read Camus 'Outsider' twice. And have seen it acted out in the theatre.
I do not think I understand it, though I can admire Camus prose style.
Its often taken as canonical in existentialist ...
- 22.7k
0
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What does this quote by Albert Camus mean?
"...we fall into the ridiculous contradiction of a mind that asserts total unity and proves by its very assertion its own difference and the diversity it claimed to resolve." As written in ...
3
votes
5
answers
1k
views
If life is absurd, is immortality desirable?
If life lacks any meaning and we react in the way Camus wants us to then we can focus on other things and personal human projects. Does this mean that immortality becomes desirable?
- 1,968
0
votes
0
answers
68
views
hi. for those who read the book of albert camus "the stranger" in what perspective or theory it can be seen?
for those who read the book of albert camus "the stranger" in what perspective or theory it can be seen? it's a work of philosophy but i'm misselead. thanks for answering
- 36.1k
2
votes
1
answer
203
views
Interpretation of an existentialist quotation by Camus
In *The Plague*, Rieux, the main character of Albert Camus's novel in Chapter 15 says:
I've seen too much of hospitals to relish any idea of collective punishment.
What does he mean by this? How ...
- 22.7k
2
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Myth of Sisyphus - What is Pascalian sense?
In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus says "The act of eluding because it is both less and more than diversion in the Pascalian sense".
What is the definition of "Pascalian sense"?
How ...
- 13.5k
0
votes
2
answers
913
views
Is absurdism the next step after nihilism
I believe I am nihilist. I had the realization that there's no meaning to life and everything we've created is just to fill that empty void, every social construct is merely a "philosophical ...
- 179
4
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Why should we care about anyone?
If we take the World as absurd - without any meaning or end result, and believe in no such thing as God or afterlife (taking Camus' stance in Myth of Sisyphus), why should anyone, fundamentally, care ...
- 21
23
votes
8
answers
4k
views
Is atheism a requirement for a consistent existentialist philosophy?
Søren Kierkegaard is generally considered to be the "father of existentialism". This always bothered me, since to me Sartre and Camus are the defining figures of the movement, and it seems that there ...
CommunityBot
- 1
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
In his book The Fall why does Camus say that it will always be too late to save?
'So tell me, please, what happened to you one evening on the banks of Seine and how you managed never to risk your life. Say the words that for years have not ceased to echo through my nights and that ...
CommunityBot
- 1
2
votes
0
answers
188
views
Is absurdism dated and what's beyond The Myth of Sisyphus?
In the preface written in 1955 by Albert Camus of my edition of The Myth of Sisyphus it says:
After fifteen years I have progressed beyond several of the positions which are set down here; but I ...
- 2,387
1
vote
1
answer
2k
views
What was Camus’ opinion of hedonism and determinism?
I’ve read The Myth Of Sisyphus, and it prompted some questions that I’m hoping other readers of Camus might be able to answer:
Did Camus see unbridled hedonism as a solution to the nihilism caused by ...
- 19.2k
1
vote
3
answers
570
views
Does anyone say that dying for a cause is always irrational? [closed]
Does anyone say that dying for a cause is always irrational? I wouldn't gloss Heidegger's freedom-toward-death, like that, but it might be broadly similar.
On the one hand, I would prefer to die ...
CommunityBot
- 1
9
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Why does Camus consider an absurd life better than suicide?
Source: pp 200-201, A Little History of Philosophy (2011 ed; not 2012 Reprint ed.) by Nigel Warburton PhD in Philosophy.
A novice, I am still easing into philosophy with introductions and do not feel ...
- 41
1
vote
2
answers
2k
views
What is the meaning of life in the Myth of Sisyphus?
In The Myth of Sisyphus and other Essays, Albert Camus seeks to answer the question of the meaning of life. To do this, he plays on the idea of the "absurd," the conflict between man's search for ...
- 997
2
votes
3
answers
455
views
Can Camus' 'The Absurd' Be Arrived At Through Reason?
I am currently reading The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. In it, he gives a fair outline of his philosophy.
Camus says that absurdity isn't just the scrutiny of a single fact; it's the paradoxes ...
- 1
4
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What to know before reading The Myth of Sisyphus?
Does one need a solid knowledge on anything in particular before tackling this essay? He mentions quite a lot of writers and philosophers (Nietzsche, Lequier, Jaspers, Chestov, Kierkegaard and, in ...
- 9,482
1
vote
3
answers
2k
views
Albert Camus's thoughts on Science in the "Myth of Sisyphus"
I am not able to completely comprehend his thoughts on science from the below excerpts from The Myth of Sisyphus. I would appreciate insights.
And here are trees and I know their gnarled surface, ...
- 3,684
10
votes
2
answers
435
views
Was the European Left confined in a false dichotomy between capitalism and communism?
In the 2004 book "Camus and Sartre: The Story of a Friendship and the Quarrel That Ended It" (link to a brief review/synopsis), the author portrays two of the leading members of the literary class' ...
- 61
0
votes
1
answer
188
views
What does this line from "A Happy Death" by Camus mean? [closed]
Here is a set of lines from the book 'A Happy Death ' by 'Albert Camus' :
'In the past, whenever Mersault had spent any time with one woman, he made the first gestures of commitment, he was conscious ...
- 6,466
2
votes
1
answer
713
views
Is Foucault's analysis of history opposed to absurdism?
Sisyphus, just like the absurd man, keeps pushing. Camus claims that
when Sisyphus acknowledges the futility of his task and the certainty
of his fate, he is freed to realize the absurdity of his ...
- 20.5k
2
votes
1
answer
272
views
What did Mersault mean?
In the book "A happy Death" by "Albert Camus" , what did Mersault mean when he said, 'When I look at my life and its secret colors, I feel like bursting into tears' ?
CommunityBot
- 1
2
votes
1
answer
187
views
How can Camus be correct that 'il peut y avoir des responsables, il n'y a pas de coupable'?
Source: The Well-Educated Mind (2 edn 2016), pp. 108 Bottom - 109 Top.
In Camus’s philosophy of “the absurd,” there is no significance to life; all humans are condemned to death, facing the ...
CommunityBot
- 1
2
votes
2
answers
140
views
Introductions to Camus on absurdity
For a layman, what’s a good, accessible introduction to Camus’ work on absurdity?
- 19.2k
1
vote
2
answers
236
views
How can i become obsessed with some meaning to life that i find rational? [closed]
-Background:
I see something for example like living for others or trying to change the world (in a non-violent way) is an genuine meaning to life,however i'm not obsessed with these meanings that i ...
- 526