Camus's Myth of Sisyphus | A History of Philosophy

Ever wondered what "absurdism" is, and how it differs from existentialism? Do you want to know who Albert Camus was and why he was so famous? In this video I share a simplified account of the philosophy of Camus in his book The Myth of Sisyphus, covering the main points of the text. But it doesn't stop there, let's keep the discussion going in the comments!

Post-script:

I hope you enjoyed the video! I realize now (after the video has already taken multiple hours to upload) that I've misrepresented/ neglected to mention a crucial point of the text which is essentially the point on freedom. ٍِRebellion for Camus entails the freedom to establish a new mindset about the futility of life, as one of unique and valuable existence, (p. 52-55, 63), contradicting my point that "rebellion is our only choice" or that the reasoning is simply "rebel because why not". However, I phrased it that way in the video because I am personally not convinced of this definition of freedom. In my reading of Camus, "rebellion" is not a condition of freedom but one of necessity; if life is absurd and we don't want to avoid it entirely by ending our life, then it's really our only option to keep going. Calling that "rebellion" or absurd freedom is just a turn of phrase that sounds good, especially in the French. If you're interested in reading about different notions of freedom though not necessarily in relation to French philosophy there's a great article by Isiah Berlin called Two Concepts of Liberty I would recommend. If you're interested in reading more about the role of rhetoric and myth in philosophy, I would recommend you read articles written by Grace Whistler. Links to these further readings in the description.

References:
Albert Camus. The Myth of Sisyphus. (2005). Translated from French by Justin O'Brien. Penguin Great Ideas. London: UK.

Further reading:
Berlin's article on liberty:
http://cactus.dixie.edu/green/B_Readings/I_Berlin%20Two%20Concpets%20of%20Liberty.pdf
Grace Whistler's article on myth in Camus:
https://www.academia.edu/37098792/Muthos_and_or_Logos_Fabulous_Narrative_chez_Camus_Clio_forthcoming_
More articles by Grace Whistler on Philosophy and Literature:
https://york.academia.edu/GraceWhistler

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