Quotation
Last reviewed:
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.”
Albert Camus · Absurdism · Modern · 1942
What does it mean?
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. He means whether life is worth living once the absurd is faced, not a recommendation of death. The essay answers no. A rival reading hears a mood, or an instruction, or a claim that other problems, justice included, are frivolous. He uses the word to force the question of meaning, then spends the essay refusing the conclusion people fear from the first line. The absurd is the confrontation between our hunger for meaning and a world that does not supply it.
Did Albert Camus really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. The opening sentence of The Myth of Sisyphus, standard English of Camus's French. He means the question whether life is worth living once the absurd is faced, not a recommendation of suicide. The essay answers no.
Where it comes from
The Myth of Sisyphus, opening
Approximate date: 1942.
How to use it
If the sentence finds you in a bad place, the essay's own answer is that the absurd does not require death, and that lucidity is a way of staying. If you are in crisis, that philosophical answer is not a substitute for a person. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans are on 116 123. The citation can wait.
A mindset reading
A philosophical problem about suicide is not a mood and not an instruction. He forces the question in order to reject both physical suicide and the philosophical kinds of escape he catalogues. The rejection is the rest of the book.
Understand the philosophy
Sisyphus, condemned to roll the rock, is his image of a life lived without appeal and without surrender. The opening sentence is famous because it is frightening. The fame is a reason to read past it, not a reason to stop.
- meaning
- death
- freedom
FAQ
What does it mean?
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. He means whether life is worth living once the absurd is faced, not a recommendation of death. The essay answers no. A rival reading hears a mood, or an instruction, or a claim that other problems, justice included, are frivolous. He uses the word to force the question of meaning, then spends the essay refusing the conclusion people fear from the first line. The absurd is the confrontation between our hunger for meaning and a world that does not supply it.
Did Albert Camus really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. The opening sentence of The Myth of Sisyphus, standard English of Camus's French. He means the question whether life is worth living once the absurd is faced, not a recommendation of suicide. The essay answers no.
Which work is it in?
The Myth of Sisyphus, opening Approximate date: 1942.