The absurd
Concept · Albert Camus · Philosophy, stage 1: Learn the vocabulary
The absurd is the conflict between the human need for meaning and a universe that offers none. Camus describes it as arising not from the world alone or the mind alone but from the two facing each other: people keep asking why, and the world keeps giving no answer. In The Myth of Sisyphus he argues that the honest response is neither suicide nor a leap into religious faith but a lived defiance that keeps asking the question anyway.
Why it matters
It reframes a common experience, life feeling pointless, as a starting point for a way of living rather than a problem that needs solving.
Part of
Sources
- Albert Camus Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Existentialism Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyPlaces the absurd next to the existentialist ideas it overlaps with.
