The Myth of Sisyphus

Human beings are caught in a constant attempt to derive meaning from a meaningless world. This is the “paradox of the absurd” Revolt: is the constant confrontation between man and his own obscurity... We have a tendency to reflect constantly on the meaning of existence – Camus believes that there is no answer. He believes that life is meaningless. Since existence itself has no meaning, we must learn to bear an irresolvable emptiness.

Determinism: the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions.

The Absurd… This paradoxical situation – between our impulse to ask ultimate questions and the impossibility of getting an adequate answer – is what Camus calls the absurd.

Camus views Sisyphus’ endless effort and intense consciousness of futility (useless, trivial) as triumph. He believes that like Sisyphus, we are our fate, and our frustration is our very life, we can never escape it. After the rock comes tumbling down, confirming the ultimate futility of his project, Sisyphus trudges down after it once again. This is the hour of his consciousness (realization).

At each moment where he sinks towards his rock, he is superior and stronger though he has no hope of succeeding. Why? Paradoxically, it is because a sense of tragedy “crowns his victory”.