Existentialism General

*sips shallow, flavourless, british tea*

*uses just one, too many, commas*

bump

>just tell urself life is worth living and make up your own reasons
>*dies*
He wouldn't be a hack if we got the second half of his work.

[email protected]

Sent, thanks.

ITT: pseuds

He was too suave to being a hack. He was so intellectual he achieved a very rare tihng amongs philosophers: not being an ugly virgin. And at the end of day, when nothing really counts, that's all that counts.

Schopenhauer was a pimp apparently

They are essentially hedonists that will go to any lengths to justify their hedonism. In a sense, The french are responsible for all kinds of debauchery and I might even say that they corrupted the foundations of western philosophical thought.

This is the reason why people despise him and for good reason; The Ugly virgin perspective is the better perspective to have because it lets you effectively detach yourself from social reality. Good looking people who succumb to their desires because its easier for them to have their baser desires satiated and therefore they rely on hedonism to justify their life. Also, ugly philosophers tend to get their real fame after their deaths while hedonists also tend to become celebrities which further obscures their perspective. However, The ugly non-virgin in a boring stable monogamous relationship is the best perspective to have; They tend to be less bitter and more introspective for longer periods of time.

I think he's a bit misinterpreted. Camus' project was never about making some grand ol' "german-like" system for people to follow and lead a better life. He was more of a philosopher using literature to showcase his personal theories on the human condition and maybe hoping it aided others.

Even his politics changed a lot, even then they tended to be very personal with strong philosophical foundations which he happened to express in his writings.

He did hate the nazis.

this

yeah this kinda sucks

Camus uses very simple language though, he's one of the few French writers I can read in French

they're degenerate homosexuals

Though there are good analytics, you just described analytic philosophy to a T m8

Sorry I meant to quote

"If you took every book and record of every religion and destroyed it, 1000 years from now, those religions would NEVER return as the same. Ever. There might be religions, but they would be different.
If you took every book and text about science and destroyed it, 1000 years from now, they would ALL be back. Exactly the same with the exact same information."

For someone to be a hack requires more than them not being very good at something. You don't call Shorty McDwarf Midget a hack at basketball if Shorty has never professed any interest in the sport. Camus isn't a very good philosopher, but he knows that, and he doesn't pretend to be a God of philosophy. His philosophical talent is in tandem with his idea of himself. Not good philosopher? Yes. Hack? No.

>See: La Peste. He has criticized the leap of faith before, but then he has Rieux -who shares much of Camus' views- do just that.
I don't really understand this criticism. Sure, it can be difficult to reconcile this novel with The Myth of Sisyphus, but it is clearly in accord with his writings in The Rebel. This novel, when paired with The Rebel show an extension to Sisyphus and The Stranger.

That might be true of his fiction, but it is not true of his non-fiction, which is very typically French.

He hated the USSR too and after that Sartre couldn't look him in the eye again.
Camus was right, though. The USSR was a corrupt shithole not in favor of the workers.

not a hack, he was usefully wrong

Because of Lyotard, Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida, Lacan, Sartre and the 3rd wave feminism. We need more?

Anyone up for it? Currently have about a page to go until I am done. Would love an opinion.

half of Veeky Forums likes most or all of those things

absurdism is literally just choosing to be a schizoid
The Stranger is just a story about a schizoid

doesn't really make any sense why anybody would choose or treat this is a philosophy

its like saying hoarding is a philosophy or having an imaginary friend is a philosophy

>absurdism is literally just choosing to be a schizoid
>The Stranger is just a story about a schizoid
>I don't know how to capitalise and write sentences expected of a basic high-school student
Oh look, it's another person who either only read the first half of The Stranger, or can't understand a simple book with a simple message that is presented simply so that even someone of only average intelligence could understand it. Also confirmed for not having read Sisyphus. At least I hope so for your sake.
Not that I like Camus. Correcting someone for saying that Hitler was a thousand feet tall doesn't make me a Nazi, it just means you are an idiot.

"why anybody would choose or treat this is a philosophy"

TL;DR:
-Life has no meaning
-Option one: Suicide. Is dead.
-Option two: Leap of faith. Is illogical.
-Option three: Rebelling against the absurd. Much freedom because my very existence is a rebellion.

It's treated as philosophy because:

-It's philosophy.

Tbf. I think Camus is useful as some kind of introduction to existentialism. Easy to read and digest, and his views appeal to many and only exclude a few (the suicidal, the religious, the nihilists, the idealists). It's like the rare good YA novel that starts a teenager down the path of reading.

I don't see how anybody could reason that Meursault does not clearly show almost all the signs of Schizoid Personality Disorder and to be perfectly honest I think the book is much more interesting when viewed as a commentary on how society at large treats people with such disorders
People view The Stranger as some kind of manifesto to live by (read: teenagers) when its actually so much more relevant to modern society than ever before
Its the same stupid shit as people wanting to be just like Tyler Durden

>Tbf. I think Camus is useful as some kind of introduction to existentialism.
Is he? To read Sisyphus requires at least a passing knowledge of Husserl, Plato, and Kierkegaard. How is he the introduction to existentialism if a major part of the first 3rd of Sisyphus is a critique of a more important and difficult existentialist?

Except The Stranger is literally a guide to not be like Mersault.

>I don't see how anybody could reason that Meursault does not clearly show almost all the signs of Schizoid Personality Disorder
This is like saying that Nabokov is a pedophile because Humbert is. Meursault =/= Camus. Even then you are still ignoring the second half of the book which is a reflection upon, and critique of the first half, which seems to be the only part anyone pays attention to.

> I think the book is much more interesting when viewed as a commentary on how society at large treats people with such disorders
This can be an interesting perspective to take but only if you admit that it is one that ignores the intended meaning by the author. In the same way someone could say that they prefer reading Homer in a way to show the superiority of Christian ethics does not mean that Homer meant that Christian morality was superior to Homeric values. What you are saying doesn't change the fact that the simplistic pro-schizoid view taken by many as Camus' actual position is wrong.

What is a schizoid and why do you think Mersault is one?

>doesn't really make any sense why anybody would choose or treat this [as a philosophy]

I read The Stranger, and I was confused by the short story as well, it it was presented to me as a philosophical manifesto by a friend, but I just saw it as a strange colonial period story.

>and only exclude a few (the suicidal, the religious, the nihilists, the idealists)

I don't understand how nihilist are excluded, but the others makes sense to me; please explain.

>but I just saw it as a strange colonial period story.
I don't even know what to say to this. You not only read it wrong, but you read it as the opposite of what it meant. Somehow you managed to take everything he was trying to say in the whole novella, and read it as the opposite.

All right Joe Rogan