The absurd is Albert Camus's name for the confrontation between the human demand that life have meaning and a universe that answers that demand with silence. Camus argues in The Myth of Sisyphus that the absurd is not a property of the world alone nor of the human mind alone but the tension that arises only when the two are held together, and that the honest response to it is neither suicide, which ends the confrontation by ending the questioner, nor a religious or philosophical leap of faith, which ends it by pretending an answer exists.
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Source Albert Camus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Source The Myth of Sisyphus (Wikipedia)
In Branch
Source Albert Camus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Sources
1. Albert Camus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophySection 3, Suicide, Absurdity and Happiness: The Myth of Sisyphus
This paradoxical situation, then, between our impulse to ask ultimate questions and the impossibility of achieving any adequate answer, is what Camus calls the absurd.
- In Branch: Metaphysics
- Associated With: Albert Camus
View the Source The Myth of Sisyphus (Wikipedia)
WikipediaAssociated With: The Myth of Sisyphus, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: The Myth of Sisyphus, Lead section
Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurd.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Camus mean by "the absurd"?
Albert Camus's name for the confrontation between the human demand that life have meaning and a universe that answers with silence.
The absurd is Albert Camus's name for the confrontation between the human demand that life have meaning and a universe that answers that demand with silence. Camus argues in The Myth of Sisyphus that the absurd is not a property of the world alone nor of the human mind alone, but the tension that arises only when the two are held together. The honest response to it, on his account, is neither suicide, which ends the confrontation by ending the questioner, nor a religious or philosophical leap of faith, which ends it by pretending an answer exists.
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