TITLE:
The Notion of Absurdity and Meaning of Life in Albert Camus Existentialism
AUTHORS:
Ambrose Tochukwu Arinze, Ignatius Nnaemeka Onwuatuegwu
KEYWORDS:
Absurdity, Meaninglessness, Reasoning, Futility, Revolt
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Philosophy,
Vol.10 No.4,
November
27,
2020
ABSTRACT: Camus unreservedly condemned and strictly
criticized and rejected suicide and existential leap because suicide is a total
surrender to absurdity and a total confession that life is too much on the
individual. His interest in existentialism is to explain the meaninglessness
of life through his explication of the absurd which is found in human
existence; and which continues to torment man until the finality of his
existence which is death. The knowledge that life is absurd is already a step
towards conquering the meaninglessness of life. For Camus therefore, since
absurd has no meaning, man must hold himself apart from it and revolt against
it. This is why he suggested philosophical suicide as a solution to reverse
the absurdity of life. The question then is, since man’s belief in the
absurdity of existence, then how and where should he direct his conduct, does
suicide solve this problem? The consequences of Camus’ submissions are
enormous; but be that as it may, this work attempts a study of the absurdity
inherent in human existence with a view to answering the following questions:
How far did Camus achieve the idea of absurdity of life? How realistic is
Camus’ attempt to analyze life as meaningless apart from the meaning we give to
it? Did Camus actually succeed in his attempt to show that life is absurd?
Finally, what are the implications of Camus’ absurdity to philosophy and to
life in general? This work will adopt expository and analytic methodological
approaches. Here we shall with a detailed and deep reflective inquiry expose
the place of absurdity in Camus’ philosophy in order to fully understand his
understanding of life.