Sisyphus Argument Essay

The philosopher Albert Camus paints and bleak picture of the human existence, saying that our lives have no meaning and are, as a consequence absurd, because all our efforts are futile and hopeless. However, if we can accept that choice is intrinsic to a thinking being, then we can admit to ourselves that everything we do, no matter how insignificant, possesses some meaning and it gives our existence purpose. There are two certainties in life deduced by the thinking of Rene Descartes; one is that we are a thinking mind and the other is that we exist. I want to extend this thinking further to include the obligation to choose, find what is sufficient for purpose and meaning and conclude that we have enough in our current conditions. If we are …show more content…
In said story, our fictional hero Sisyphus, as a consequence of his defiance towards the gods, is condemned to moving a giant bolder up a mountain, just to see it fall again upon accomplishment, repeating the ordeal for the rest of eternity. As we come to find out, this punishment is tailor-made for our hero, who among other things, tricked and escaped the grip of death and rose to the living world from which he came from and defiantly went on the run because he was unwilling to forgo the warm and pleasant earth again. The situation becomes tragic once Sisyphus realizes the absurdity of his endless fate but, once against defiant, the wisest and most prudent of mortals chooses instead to not be defeated, accepts the absurdity and finds joy from …show more content…
Instead of trying to define what is necessary for purpose and meaning, I would like instead to use something that we seems to be sufficient for purpose and meaning. There are billions of people in the planet that rely on religion to give their lives significance and non-believers hardly disagree that their argument is invalid but instead believe the existence of god may be false. The argument that a believer uses can be hard to pin-point but we can generalize it for the sake of our argument; God exists, god put us on the earth, he dictates how we should act and therefore we have a purpose and what we do has meaning. Again, this applies to non-believers, in general, because most would say that argument is valid but that the first premise is false or uncertain. We can see that for most, being brought into existence and being guided into action is sufficient to have a purpose in life and have meaning in what you do. Camus argues that we have no purpose in this universe and we are merely randomly assembled group of particles floating in space. Divine or universe-ordained, whatever the case may be, we were brought into existence in our metaphorical boat and we were given a wheel of control so, short of a bible-style guide book, it is as apparent as it can be that we are here to take control of our