Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

Albert Camus, The Myth of SisyphusPHIL 102, UBCChristina HendricksFall 2015Except images licensed otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC BY 4.0Except images licensed otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC BY 4.0Except images licensed otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC BY 4.0Unless there are images noted otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC BY 4.0Except images licensed otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC BY 4.0

Camus in 1957, public domain on Wikimedia Commons

Algeria & France, 1913-1960Evolution of French Algeria 1830-1962, Wikimedia Commons, free art license.

Who was Sisyphus?

Persephone Supervising Sisyphus, c. 530 BCE. Public domain on Wikimedia Commons

Punishment of Sisyphus, Titian, c. 1548-1549.Public domain on Wikimedia Commons

Your viewsWhat do you think Camus is trying to say with his discussion of this myth, on pp. 2-4? What conclusions does he seem to draw?

Do you think human life can be said to be like Sisyphus task?

The gods had thought there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor (2)

S. is aware of his wretched condition: Where would his torture be, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld him? (3)

powerless and rebellious; he scorns his fate (3)

a blind man eager to see who knows that the night has no end (3)

He says yes and he is the master of his days (3)

The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a mans heart (4)

The longer essayDid you get an overall point/argument?

The fundamental question of philosophy: Judging whether life is or is not worth living (4)the meaning of life is the most urgent of questions (4)If there is no universal meaning of life, is life still worth living?

Camus answer?

Methodological assumptionFocus on what can know through

immediate evidence; risk nothing that is hypothetical (14)

Pursuing knowledge in the sole light of evidence (6)

Image is from Bydgoszcz, polandJesus Christ, from pixabay9

Not eluding (5-6)

Image of earth by NASAImage of galaxy by NASA

Image is from Bydgoszcz, polandJesus Christ, from pixabay

10

What is absurdity?A contradiction, a divorce between two things (9)

Human life absurd b/c of distance between what man wants and what the world offers him (9)

Beginning to feel absurdity

It happens that the stage sets collapse (7)

one day the why arises (7)York Theatre, Flickr photo shared by Sandra Cohen-Rose & Colin Rose, licensed CC BY 2.0

Contradictions: Time

We live on the future (7) but this brings us only deathEveryone lives as if no one knew about death (8)Everything we do/work for will come to nothing (16)

Contradictions:Indifference of universe (8)Desire for meaning & purpose, but universe provides noneImage of galaxy by NASA

the stage scenery masked by habit becomes again what it is (8)

How to respond to absurdity?Not with suicide or with eluding/hope, but REVOLT

Acknowledging and revolting against absurdity at the same time

What could this mean?

Acknowledge absurdityHopeSatisfied acceptanceDespair, rejection of human life

Revolt against absurdity

Revolt is not aspiration, for it is devoid of hope. [I]t is the certainty of a crushing fate, without the resignation that ought to accompany it (10).Resignation, giving up

A futile struggle?To work and create for nothing, to sculpture in clay, to know that ones creation has no future (16).

mans sole dignity: the dogged revolt against his condition, perseverance in an effort considered sterile (16).

Remaining true to absurdityAcknowledge both:What we want from the universe (e.g., meaning, purpose; dont give this up)That the universe wont give this to us (dont think youll succeed in getting what you want)

Freedomto the extent to which I hope, to which I worry about a way of being or creating, to the extent to which I accept [life] having a meaning, I create for myself barriers between which I confine my life (13).

Happiness?Camus: One must imagine Sisyphus [and us] happy (4).

Why?