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Joseph Stitt's avatar

Another great post.

I've always liked Camus because his response to the absurd (and to meaninglessness) was to rebel. If the universe doesn't care, I will. If it isn't good, I will be.

In *The Plague*, the universe is not only meaningless; it slaughters innocents for no reason. What Camus seems to recommend as an individual person's response to this is to BE A SAINT. Do what is right. Sacrifice yourself for others. What's moving about this is how illogical it is. His existentialism is less coherent than Sartre's, but being like Sartre, or having much of anything to do with Sartre, is something I would rather avoid--especially if I can be like Camus instead.

I say all of this as an outside observer because I am not an existentialist and don't see the universe as pointless or absurd. I'll take universes by Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, or Maimonides, or even Kant if I really have to. But reading philosophy, or a novel, is about more than finding someone to agree with or to deliver the truth. Sometimes you find someone who is valuable for other reasons.

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Paul S's avatar

I did not know that paper by Nagel, but I am very glad that I do now. What an absolute gem. One is forced to read so much bad work as a professional scholar, and the further away from youth one gets, the less often one has that joy of just reading something that is really, really good (because one works through the hits in one's youth, and there is a limited supply of those). So thanks for putting that on my radar.

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