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.
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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 ...
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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 ...
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“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 ...
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'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?
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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'...
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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."
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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?
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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 ...
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"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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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
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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 ...
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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.
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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.
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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' ?
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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 ...
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Introductions to Camus on absurdity
For a layman, what’s a good, accessible introduction to Camus’ work on absurdity?
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How can i become obsessed with some meaning to life that i find rational? [closed]
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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?
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What is "the Nietzschean criterion" in Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus"?
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It seems there are but two philosophical solutions [regarding killing oneself], either yes or no. This would be too easy. But allowance must be made for those who, without concluding, ...
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does the Myth of Sisyphus illustrate dasein?
In the brief illustration provided by Camus we see a man pushing a stone and accepting his lot. As the stone rolls back down the hill it seems he is able to remove himself from this plight, much like ...
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Philosophical suicide
What does Albert Camus mean when one commits philosophical suicide? I was learning about him and the speaker spoke about this, however they didn't give a clear enough example of this.
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What would Camus say to the objection that some people live short and very happy lives?
I have read Camus, a fairly long time ago now; feels like I didn't get the intensity then, but I'm going through the wikipedia pages, and google to get an answer. If this is the wrong site I'll go to ...
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Does Camus show that all suicide is an evil?
Does Camus show that all suicide is an evil?
What if the the girl in The Fall is about to be captured, repeatedly raped, maimed and tortured?
Is it only the insane, or even weak, who would not ...
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What were Camus' views on nihilism and existentialism?
I have recently become fairly interested in Camus. I'm not really that familiar with philosophy, but I do know the difference between nihilism and existentialism. I've been wondering what Camus ...
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Could I please request an introduction to philosophy of pessimism?
Everything from essential texts, interpretations of the absurd, eternal return, interpretations of suicide and religion, and it's influence on the arts. And, I know I am asking a lot, but I'd like to ...
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How should one interpret Camus' quote about the "vanity of experience"?
I am writing an essay that requires a section on "experience," and I was looking for a quote to use in my introduction.
I found this quote by Camus on BrainyQuote:
You cannot create experience. ...
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