The Absurdity of Existence

The three theses of existentialism are:

1) Existence precedes essence

2) The absurdity of existence

3) Radical freedom

As I catch up on my blogs (with this new week I have 6 more to go), I will be discussing the second thesis, the absurdity of existence.

In chapter 12, the one on existentialism, Pojman talks about the existentialist Albert Camus who believed the only philosophical question worth pondering is that of suicide. A quote from this section that popped out at me was, "An act like this [suicide] is prepared within the silence of the heart, as is a great work of art. The man himself is ignorant of it." (192)

I thought it odd of him to choose to compare suicide to art-- although that is not exactly what he is doing. Let me explain what I think he means: when one makes a great work of art- be it visual, musical, theatrical, etc.- it comes from a deep place inside a person, usually from sorrow or another negative emotion. Since he used the word 'silence' of the heart I think it would mean that the person would have to produce the artwork alone, as a person would have to commit suicide alone.

In this chapter Camus compares our existence to Greek mythology: Sisyphus having to keep rolling a bolder up a mountain his whole life and the average person's tedious everyday life. However, I think that if we did not have our 'absurd' everyday habitual patterns, we would go crazy with no routine, and eventually go back to a pattern.