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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn. Albert Camus‘ (Novem January 4, 1960) monumental philosophical work, The Myth of Sisyphus is a series of essays in which Camus makes sense of the human quest for order and meaning in an indifferent (and thus absurd) universe. Camus further argues that with the joyful acceptance of the struggle against defeat, the individual gains definition and identity. If, as for Sisyphus, suicide is not a possible response, the only alternative is to rebel by rejoicing in the act of rolling the boulder up the hill. According to Camus, the first step an individual must take is to accept the fact of this absurdity.
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Camus uses the Greek legend of Sisyphus, who is condemned by the gods for eternity to repeatedly roll a boulder up a hill only to have it roll down again once he got it to the top, as a metaphor for the individual’s persistent struggle against the essential absurdity of life. Influenced by the philosophers Søren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, Camus argues that life is essentially meaningless, although humans continue to try to impose order on existence and to look for answers to unanswerable questions. The leading theory for why our fingers get wrinkly in the bath is so we can get a better grip on wet objects.
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