Context

The influence of contemporary philosophers

In the preface to The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus wrote “It is therefore simply fair to point out, at the outset, what these pages owe to certain contemporary thinkers” (p. 2).

Indeed, in the first part of the essay, entitled “An Absurd Reasoning” the author mentions several contemporary philosophers who have strayed from reason. Although Camus always denied being a philosopher, he still remembers something from each concept:

• Heidegger sees man as thrown into existence and living in worry and anxiety, because he is aware of death. This awareness is the very voice of anxiety and implores existence to “return from its loss in the anonymous They” (p. 24).
• Jaspers, who despairs of all ontology (the philosophy of existence), tries to find the path that leads to “divine secrets” (p. 25). From his experience of failure and human powerlessness, he becomes convinced “not [of] the absence but [of] the existence of transcendence” (p. 33).
• Shestov proves that the most universal rationalism will end up coming up against the irrationality of human thought. He exalts human revolt against hopelessness as depicted by Shakespeare (English playwright, 1564-1616), Dostoyevsky, Ibsen (Norwegian playwright, 1828-1906) and Nietzsche (German philosopher, 1844-1900). “We turn toward God only to obtain the impossible. As for the possible, men suffice” (p. 34), Shestov writes. In fact, he sees God as the absurd, as belief in God demands a denial of reason and a leap into the irrational.
• Kierkegaard also lives in the absurd and sacrifices intellect in the process.
• Husserl and other philosophers of phenomenology (philosophers who observe and objectively describe phenomena and how they appear) restore diversity to the world and deny the transcendent power of reason. Thinking means learning to see again by opening yourself up to intuition. Husserl’s phenomenology refuses to explain the world, wishing only to be a description of phenomena and real life. In Camus’ opinion, this is the triumph of eternal reason, after having abandoned human reason.

These great minds therefore share a denial of human reason and an evasiveness. Camus denounces these existentialist attitudes.