The Evolution of Absurdism and Existentialism

The mere fact that of all the questions mankind has yet to pose, the question regarding their own existence is what is left unanswered most often is what supports the assumption that Existentialist-related philosophies are ever-growing just as Existentialism itself is ever-evolving. This aspect which depicts existentialism as a dynamic philosophy is what sets aside the French author Albert Camus from other existentialist contributors. When analyzing most of Camus' works it becomes largely apparent that the means by which his ideas are conveyed are very reflective and very appropriately consistent with modern times.

Of the other existentialists mentioned, especially those seen to be a part of the French Existentialist movement in the 20^th century, Camus have been known to defy existentialism most pungently, regardless of he himself being classified as an existentialist, often seen together with Sartre, who ironically had drastically different perspectives to those of Camus. While existentialism as a philosophy was specifically concerning the means by which life is devoid of meaning and the conclusions it provided to the meaningless nature of it is that the search for this inexistent meaning is what in turn grants life a meaning, no matter how insignificant it may seem, Camus focused on the absurdities associated with stripping human life and existence of all adequate meaning while creating meaning through this very process.

The means by which certain individuals along with Camus were occupied with a certain aspect of another philosophy, namely existentialism, rather than that philosophy itself is what provided these same individuals an adequate reason to deny their affiliation with existentialism. This resulted in Camus and other French alleged existentialists to state prudently that they were in fact critics of the philosophy rather than supporters. In the case of Albert Camus, his works dealt largely with ideas regarding existentialism, but not necessarily ideas supporting it. More specifically, Camus explored the absurdity of existentialism. Thanks to Camus, this later became itself a theory both derived and closely related to existentialism, while at the same time opposing it. This new thought process became known as Absurdism, or regarding the Absurd, and was often find to explore the mundane and meaningless nature of life while at the same time attempting to relate to the absurd nature of the means by which this contributed to the futile state of the human condition.

While Camus' thought process was itself an example of the evolution of a theory, this evolution can be seen far more efficiently and at the same time more specifically if Albert Camus' works are broken down with regard to their content as well as the timeframe in which they were written and published. An assembly of his works, namely the novels titled The Stranger and The Plague, along with the literally essay titled The Myth of Sisyphus can very efficiently portray the evolution from baseline values which seem to support existentialist principles to themes developed and discussed in his works which increasingly oppose existentialism and rather focus on the absurdity it creates. From the profound apathy depicted in The Stranger at which point Camus' absurdist ideas were not recognized, to the more reflective tone of The Myth of Sisyphus in which these same ideas were directly discussed, and even onward to the later novel The Plague, this transition and evolution from existentialism to absurdism, however seemingly isolated in one author's work succeeds in paralleling the evolution of the theory from a worldwide perspective.