blog




  • Essay / A Theme of the Purpose of Life in the Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

    For as long as humans have lived on earth, we have been searching for purpose, meaning in what we do. In the essay I read, it talks about this. The essay I read was The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. In this work, he explains how individuals use ignorance as a protection against the idea that our lives must have a purpose. Only when we stop thinking about our own mortality and purpose can we truly begin to enjoy the present. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayCamus is correct in his assumption that the world is absurd, therefore people should live their lives without worrying about a higher meaning, which is proven through Nagel's argument on the absurd and Nietzsche's argument posed on the absurd. For Camus, the absurd is the awareness that the world is not rational; he describes it as a man confronted with the irrational; he wants to be happy and have a reason to live. “I am filled with a desire for clarity and meaning in a world that offers neither.” Camus says that the absurd arises from human need and silence or from the mysteries of the world that will never be resolved. Nagel disagrees with part of Camus's explanation of the absurd. He argues that while nothing we do matters in the distant future, nothing in the distant future matters now. Nagel explains that if we can't predict whether what we do will matter in the future, how can we be sure that what we do matters now. He also makes a similar point to Camus, that everything ends in death anyway and so there is in reality no end goal to our actions. Nagel's main point about absurdity concerns the lack of similarity between how much we value our lives from a subjective point of view and how unjustified they seem objectively. This means that in our subjective lives we are stressed about our appearance, our relationships, etc. But, objectively, we wonder if life is worth it. Usually, after a period of reflection, we stop thinking about it and move on with our lives. To avoid the absurdity of our lives, we give meaning to our lives through a role, something “bigger than ourselves,” such as serving society or joining the military to protect your country. Ultimately, you might still wonder how this higher purpose will bring meaning to you or when your quest for justification will end, so realistically, the quest is futile. In Nagel's final main argument about absurdism, he says that reflecting on our lives does not mean that they are insignificant compared to what is important, but that they are only significant in relation to themselves. So when we step back and reflect on our lives, we compare our claims about the meaning of actions with a broader perspective in which no standard of meaning can be discovered. This shows that no matter what, comparing your own achievements with those of the “purpose of life” will lead you to believe that your actions will never truly measure up to that standard. Nietzsche was known for his existentialism. He argued that life had no meaning and that the only reason we imagined a higher purpose was because different religions had taught us so. He believed that religion and faith were a lie and that believing in them would only hinder your experience of life as a person. He also believed in making sense of oneself, just like Camus,..