Camus Presentation

Amanda Schneider

Philosophy 408/Gilliland

10 October 2012

Presentation on Camus

            Camus was born on November 7, 1913 and died in a car crash in France on January 4, 1960.  He grew up in the French colony of Algeria with his mother.  His dad died in World War I when Camus was only one-year old (cliffnotes.com).  In 1957, Camus was awarded a Nobel Prize (Lottman 5).  Many of Camus’ books are autobiographical; two of his most famous works are The Stranger and The First Man.  In these works, Camus reflects on human existence, anxiety, and the absurdity of life.    

Part one of The Stranger begins with Meursault’s mother’s death.  The death of a parent would cause most children to have anxiety.  How one reacts to such anxiety may determine whether he/she is authentic or inauthentic.  Meursault’s views of life change throughout the book—first he didn’t care about life or death; thus he was acting inauthentically.  Eventually, he questioned what it meant to “exist” versus “live.”  After he started questioning, he became more aware of himself and the world.  When Meursault increased his consciousness, he became more authentic.

The awareness which Meursault developed connects to Husserl’s consciousness and intentionality.  To simply exist, one needs minimal consciousness, but in order to live, one needs to be aware of what he/she is doing and acknowledge why he/she is doing it.  Camus’ philosophy makes consciousness and intentionality even more difficult for many people to attain. Camus does not believe in an afterlife.  Since there is no afterlife, life does not have meaning because there is nothing worth living for.  For example, someone who does believe in an afterlife thinks he/she should be a good person while alive for the purpose of having a happy afterlife.  The afterlife gives one’s life meaning.  One may also live his/her life ‘“as if”’ his/her actions matter, but since he/she will eventually die and become nothingness, his/her actions do not really matter (cliffnotes.com).  Thus, life is ultimately nihilistic and absurd.  One may perceive life as meaningful, but since he/she will eventually die, life is always meaningless and absurd. 

A quote that depicts existentialism in Camus’ writing is, “[A] man succeeds or fails because if his strength, or the lack of it, in himself” (cliffnotes.com).  God cannot be used as an excuse for failure, nor does He give one’s life meaning.  Those who claim God controls him/her and his/her world are inauthentic because he/she should increase his/her consciousness and intentionally make decisions to have control over his/her own life.  Despite all he went through, Meursault succeeded because he found the strength in himself to succeed.

            Interestingly enough, Camus died before he finished writing The First Man, but what he had written thus far was later published along with his notes.  Obviously he did not plan on dying the day he did in a car crash, but his dying before finishing and publishing The First Man made me question why he bothered to write books in the first place, and how he felt when he published and won his Nobel Prize.  Did he not feel proud and a sense of meaning when he won?  Did writing not give his life meaning?  Although he could not have known this while writing, the fact that his writings are still read after his death would lead me to say that his life was worth living.  The First Man is about Camus’ dad, whom he barely knew (Lottman 8).  Applying authenticity to Camus’ life, I would say overcoming the anxiety of his father’s death and then learning about him and his history makes Camus authentic. 

            The Stanger and The First Man both had elements of anxiety and authenticity in relation to human existence.  According to Camus, human existence is nihilistic and absurd because death makes life meaningless.

Works Cited

Camus, Albert, translated by. David Hapgood, in The First Man,  (New York, NY: Alfred A.

Knopf, Inc., 1995)

Cliffnotes, “The Stranger,” John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012

Cliffnotes, “Camus and the Absurd,” John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012

Lottman, Herbert R., “The First Man,” Albert Camus: A Biography, (New York, NU: George

Braziller, Inc., 1980) p. 5-13. 

Maquet, Albert, Albert Camus: The Invincible Summer, (New York, NY: Humanities Press,

1972).

Sprintzen, David, Camus: A Critical Examination, (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press,

1988).