Quote of the week 2

If there is a soul, it is a mistake to believe that it is given to us fully created. It is created here, throughout a whole life. And living is nothing else but that long and painful bringing forth.

- Albert Camus

Albert Camus was a key thinker of the twentieth century. Although I am opposed to many of his views, I do admire his earnestness and sincerity. He is widely regarded as a symbol of intellectual rebellion. He is generally associated with the philosophy of existentialism and belongs to the school of Absurdism. Camus was widely regarded as a reluctant atheist for the major portion of his life but near his tragic death in 1960, it’s rumored that he was contemplated conversion into Christianity. Camus was one of the atheists which accounted for the consequences that are entailed with non-existence of God. He once stated that his whole life was opposed to Nihilism while still delving deeply into human freedom. The greatest transformation in Camus’ thought was his belief that justice and good could eventually prevail in the world, this would mark his.

This venerable hope that began to imbue his writings later on would be cut short by his abrupt death. If only Camus lingered longer upon this blue orb, we would’ve been able to witness what I believe to be a great metamorphosis in his thought. A great metamorphosis that many philosophers experience throughout their lives because of the emotional and intellectual changes they undergo.

Camus unlike his counterpart Jean-Paul Sartre was opposed to many political ideologies which plagued the twentieth century such as Marxism. He understood the fatal consequences entailing the ideologies/philosophies of idealism, rationalism, socialism, and ultimately nihilism. Camus is extremely influenced by Fyodor Dostoevsky in this sense. Yet he couldn’t accept a God who permitted suffering and exist in the world, this led him to his reluctant Atheism. Camus was deeply influenced by the Confessions of St. Augustine of Hippo and expressed that a lack of God or belief can lead to a longing for meaning and hope in this life. A man can never be sure of his position and we are consistently disturbed by the absurdity of this mad world. Camus’ writings are of paradoxical tone conveying both radiant hope and morbid despair; this he proclaimed was the absurd.