A person is unique in his nature, his essence has been tried and trying to know by psychologists, sociologists, philosophers of all eras and periods. The personality problem has always interested the inquisitive minds of mankind. This problem was also viewed with special interest in the philosophy of existentialism in the twentieth century. The philosopher-moralist, one of the founders of French existentialism, novelist, playwright and publicist, Nobel Prize winner in literature, Alber Kamyu in his works reflects on the philosophy of personality. In particular, the philosopher agreed that science deepens our knowledge of the world and man, but he pointed out that this knowledge is still imperfect. In his opinion, science still does not answer the most urgent question — the question of the purpose of existence and the meaning of everything. People are thrown into this world, in this story. They are mortal, and life appears to them as absurd in an absurd world. What should a person do in such a world? Kamyu suggests in the essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” to concentrate and with maximum clarity of mind to realize the fallen lot and courageously bear the burden of life, not resigning to the difficulties and rebelling against them. At the same time, the question of the meaning of life acquires special significance, his thinker calls the most urgent. From the very beginning, a person must “decide whether or not life is worth living”. To answer this “fundamental question of philosophy” is to solve a serious philosophical problem. According to Kamyu, “everything else is secondary” [1].
The desire to live, the philosopher believes, is dictated by man's attachment to the world, “there is something more: stronger than all the troubles of the world”. This attachment gives the person the opportunity to overcome the discord between him and life. The feeling of this discord gives rise to a sense of the absurdity of the world. Man, being reasonable, seeks to order, “to transform the world in accordance with his ideas about good and evil. Absurdity connects man with the world”.
The philosopher was convinced that to live it to explore the absurd, while rebelling against him: “I extract from the absurd”, wrote the philosopher, “three consequences — my rebellion, my freedom and my passion. Through the work of the mind alone, I turn to the rule of life what was an invitation to death — and I reject suicide”. What can reduce the pressure of absurdity in this world? Kamyu gives the answer-following some idea, thinking in general. People seeking to fight the absurd and rise above it, A. Kamyu gives the name of the conquerors. Moreover, the philosopher is convinced that the path to the freedom of the conqueror, the ideal of man, illuminates knowledge. The existentialist also notes that creativity is a means of combating absurdity, although it requires daily efforts, self-mastery, an accurate assessment of the boundaries of truth, requires action and strength.
Kamyu in his works aims to overcome “absolute nihilism” and the acquisition of universal values. He believed that the spirit of nihilism dominates in our world. Awareness of the imperfection of the world gives rise to a riot, the purpose of which is the transformation of life. The time of the reign of nihilism forms a rebellious person. Riot here is an indispensable attribute of human existence, which unites personality with other people. The riot, according to Kamyu, is a sort of balancing on the edge of a knife between two opposing, but essentially converging extremes: the extreme of total acceptance, conformism and the extreme of total negation, nihilism. Both of these lead to the destruction of man and the human world. In the first case, a person refuses to struggle, from freedom, from himself, assumes the whole world as he is, with all his abominations and absurdities, in the second — not having sustained a struggle, deserting, inevitably goes to amorality, murder and suicide. At the same time, the logical consequence of the metaphysical revolt is the revolution: “The revolt kills only people, whereas the revolution destroys both people and principles at the same time”. According to Kamyu, the history of mankind knew only revolts, but there were as yet no revolutions. He believed that if only one time a real revolution was accomplished, then there would no longer be history, but only blissful unity and a dying death. According to the philosopher, what we call history is really only a series of long-term efforts that are made to achieve true freedom: “History is the history of labor and rebellion”. Moreover, the philosopher emphasized: “If someone deprives you of bread, he thereby deprives you and freedom. But if you are deprived of freedom, then be sure that your bread is also under threat, because it does not depend on you and your struggle, but on the whim of the master”.
Speaking about the moral character of the person, Alber Kamyu in his work “Notebooks” wrote: “We must serve justice, because our existence is unfair, we must multiply to nurture happiness and joy, because our world is unhappy” [2]. Also, the existentialist philosopher was against achieving individual happiness by bringing misfortune to others.
The French philosopher wrote about art as a means of improving society, which is able to interfere throughout life [1]. Otherwise, man has a senseless existence-absurd. Here he cites the example of a Sisyphus climbing up a mountain with a heavy stone in the work The Myth of Sisyphus. Camus in the myth says that a person must bear the burden of life, self-giving and fullness of existence is more important than all peaks, an absurd person chooses a rebellion against all the gods. Many heroes of works by Alber Kamyu are faced with the problem of absurdity, as well as alienation. The supreme embodiment of absurdity in the opinion of the philosopher is various attempts to forcibly improve society.
Formulating his moral position, Alber Kamyu wrote in the Notebooks: “We must serve justice, because our existence is unfair, we must multiply to nurture happiness and joy, because our world is unhappy”[1].
The philosopher believed that to achieve happiness, wealth is not necessary. He was against achieving individual happiness by bringing misfortune to others.
For Kamyu, the absurdity, the primordial prehuman and extrahuman meaninglessness of the universe, is the element of human existence, and therefore the worthy response of man to this absurdity is precisely the continuous, hopeless and heroic rebellion. To know about his death without running away from this bitter knowledge, and yet live, to bring into the senseless world his human meaning — it already means to “rebel”. In such a riot all human values are born: meaning, freedom, creativity, solidarity. According to Kamyu, the absurdity begins to make sense when they disagree with him. The rebellion is initially doomed to defeat, for both the individual and the humanity as a whole are mortal.
References:
- Хрестоматия по истории философии от Шопенгауэра до Дерриды. –М.: Гуманит. изд. Центр ВЛАДОС. -1997.
- http://thelib.ru/books/kamyu_alber/zapisnye_knizhki-read-7.html
- Ф.Ницше, 3.Фрейд, Э.Фромм, А.Камю, Ж. П. Сартр. Сумерки богов. -
[1] http://thelib.ru/books/kamyu_alber/zapisnye_knizhki-read-7.html
