Key themes
- The absurd and how to live with it
- Revolt as the only honest response
- Why we continue despite knowing
About this book
Why life worth living despite its apparent absurdity; the essay that frames absurdism.
Published in 1942 alongside The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus announced the central concept of Camus's philosophy — the absurd — and offered revolt as the only honest human response to it.
Discussion questions
- Camus opens with the claim that the only serious philosophical question is why we don't commit suicide. Is this a reasonable place to begin — and what does it tell you about what Camus thinks philosophy is for?
- The absurd, for Camus, is the collision between the human desire for clarity and the world's silence. Have you experienced something you would call the absurd — and does Camus's description ring true?
- Camus insists we must imagine Sisyphus happy. Do you find this convincing — or is it a brilliant piece of rhetoric for an essentially untenable position?
- Camus distinguishes his philosophy from nihilism (nothing matters) and from existentialism (we create meaning). What exactly is the difference — and does it feel like a real distinction?
- The essay is a philosophical work that reads almost like literature. What does this rhetorical richness add to — or take away from — the argument?
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