From the author: Author - Konstantin Es, published on the website Conceptual idea of ​​the Absurd by Albert Camus During his life, a person encounters many situations, and each of them leaves its mark on his soul. But no matter what a person learns, he will always be missing something. Being in constant search, he will languish in uncertainty and ask himself questions to which there are no answers: “Who am I and what is the world? Where does life begin and where does it end? What am I looking for and when will I find it, and will I find it at all?” As a result, one day the paper decorations of the world begin to disappear, and the person realizes that it is time for him to die. And then another question emerges from the depths of his soul, the last one: “What did I live for?” And following this question comes the realization that a life spent searching for an ephemeral landmark is over and is ready to pass into oblivion. A person feels an extraordinary contradiction between himself, his thoughts and desires, and the world around him. “A world that can be explained, even in the worst way, is a world that is familiar to us. But if the universe is suddenly deprived of both illusions and knowledge, man becomes an outsider in it.” This phrase contains the main idea of ​​the “absurd” philosophy of Albert Camus. In his ordinary life, a person either cognizes, that is, takes his sensations as a starting point, or lives in illusions, that is, he attaches his sensations to what he already knows. But if suddenly a person realizes that he has been deceived all his life, because he believed that he knew everything, and everything seemed familiar and obvious to him, then there is no end to his disappointment. He no longer finds anything familiar in his life. Everything has disappeared somewhere, as if the scenery suddenly collapsed during the action in the theater, and the actor, not knowing what to do, wanders around the stage in bewilderment. What to do? The actor and the stage no longer fit together, they begin to represent different worlds, the person feels his life is absurd, almost something impossible. And then the actor often jumps off the stage - the person shoots himself, hangs himself, jumps out of the window, because you can put an end to life. Period, because man understood the meaninglessness of life! However, Albert Camus puts a semicolon in this place - he proposes to trace the path of a person from the very beginning: have we missed anything in such reasoning? “It has been gradually argued that looking at life as meaningless is tantamount to saying that it is not worth living,” he says, and then asks: “Is this really so?” So, it all somehow comes down to a single question: “If life is meaningless, is it worth living?” Camus clearly identifies this question in his earlier work, the story “The Stranger.” Can a person live in an absurd world? Should he be an outsider in his own life? The idea of ​​Absurd Logic. Why does A. Camus, raised on the rich history, literature and culture of France as a whole (and not only France!) write about the absurd? Is there nothing else more important? Camus says no! Indeed, is it possible to decide how to live without deciding whether it is worth living at all? To answer this question means to solve a fundamental life problem. In the works of Lev Shestov, Karl Jaspers, Søren Kierkegaard, Edmund Husserl and others, whom Camus names, the recognition of the absurd is a conclusion from all givens; for Camus it is the starting point; Camus draws a chain between absurdity and death and tries to find out whether it is intact, whether everythingare the links in place? How does a suicide reason, he asks? What makes him, having driven a cartridge into the barrel, cock the trigger and pull the trigger? In other words, why does a person kill himself? Perhaps all his sorrows outweigh his desire to live, or is immense boredom forcing him to leave this world? But it happens that even a small trouble can put you in such a mood that you want to take your own life. However, whatever reasons are given, there is something else. The desire to live is many times stronger than the desire to die - this is how Nature ordered. However, there is a logic, a special logic of suicide, which forces one to give up life. This logic guides him until his death. The basic principle of this logic is absurdity, comprehensive and eternal. Absurd logic assumes that existence is absurd, while any other logic asserts that existence is rational and subject to certain laws. Not everyone can think in accordance with absurd logic. The essence of the absurd. Indeed, what is the expression of the Absurd? How does it manifest itself? What is this feeling that makes a person give up his life, that prompts him to break the thread of his existence and fall into the abyss of non-existence? The absurd, and the very concept of absurdity, implies something impossible, something contradictory. Albert Camus writes: “If I accuse an innocent person of a terrible crime, if I tell a respectable person that he lusts after his own sister, then they will answer me that this is absurd.” But the feeling of absurdity and the concept of absurdity are not the same thing. Let us first consider the essence of the sense of absurdity, which “... lies at the basis...”. The absurd is essentially the loss of all illusions. But the reverse side of existence, its true essence, is so irrational, so unreasonable and cannot find a normal explanation for itself, that it seems wrong and impossible. So, the first condition of absurdity is Disorder! Terrible and total, covering the entire Universe and leaving no stone unturned from the previous sweet illusions. A person rushes from side to side, not finding anything familiar. It is not surprising that he is overcome by an unbearable desire to immerse himself in peace and order, to regain his familiar world that fits into the framework of common sense. This is the second condition of absurdity - Nostalgia, total and incessant. Following Nostalgia comes the realization that the world of logic so dear to his heart has been left far behind and that fate inevitably overtakes and blocks the way back. The person understands that he cannot do anything, that he is powerless. His life becomes tedious and painful, he spiritually rots and dies. Here is the third condition of the absurd - Rock. The feeling of the ruthlessness of fate weighs on a person and makes him suffer. And then, having recognized disorder and nostalgia, having comprehended the full depth of fate and the inevitability of fate, a person abandons the absurd. His whole life has been a passionate and heated battle, and suddenly he realizes that he has lost it. However, the person does not agree to accept this. He protests against all common sense, he rebels and refuses to live by the rules of the absurd. And here the fourth condition of the absurd comes into its own - Riot. The absurd ceases to be meaningless in its essence if you agree with it. And if, with full awareness of the reigning Disorder and painful Nostalgia, understanding of the inevitability of Doom, a person still does not agree with all these conditions objectively recognized by himself, then only then can he feel the absurdity, feel its colda fire that burns everything in its path. “The absurdity becomes a painful passion from the moment it is realized.” “In my opinion, the feeling of the absurd in itself is far from positive. A person who feels the absurd simultaneously feels the deepest internal discomfort, which leads to suicide. But our reasoning is not over yet, and it is too early to draw final conclusions. In terms of the concept of absurdity, everything is much simpler. What happens when a person, having recognized the existence of a world unfamiliar to him, immediately rejected it? Two irreconcilable enemies collide - Reason and the Unknown, or in other words - Reason and the Absurd. These two concepts cannot coexist under one roof, because... There is a crack between them, which will soon grow into a whole abyss. This means that absurdity is a split, a discrepancy between the world and man. There is no doubt that through the concept of the Absurd, Albert Camus is trying to express the imperfection of our world. The absurd in all its forms is something that cannot be classified. And the world, often wrong and cruel, stands before us in all its ugly nakedness. What do people do when they see all-encompassing chaos? They either “close their eyes and plug their ears,” falling back into their illusions, or they lose their heads and protest, going on binges, quarreling with neighbors, committing murders and terrorist acts, becoming addicted to drugs, or one day killing themselves. After such a disappointing generalization, there is reason to believe that Albert Camus is extremely pessimistic. Fortunately, A. Camus’s pessimism is problematic and not absolute! If you think about it, it is not difficult to understand that all these formally protesting people have moved away from the absurd logic that we took as the premise of our thoughts, but have not yet understood: it is important to disagree with absurdity, a person must rebel! Deviation from this point is fatal. Having agreed with the absurdity, a person stops protesting. The question is legitimate: how would a person behave if he did not retreat from absurd logic and followed it to the very end? Absurd man. The answer to the above question is still the same - rebelled! He rebelled in a special way - immersed in a sense of absurdity, he would begin to live by it! But would you? While affirming, A. Camus doubts and again poses the question: would he or would he not? It poses clearly because this question is the central problem of Albert Camus’s concept of the absurdity of existence, man and human logic, because “... it is necessary to know whether it is possible to live by the absurd, or whether this logic requires death.” Camus answers this question this way: absurdity leads to freedom! According to Camus, when a person feels that the world is absurd and ordinary logic does not work, he suddenly realizes that “everything is permitted.” Indeed, if there are no rules in the world that would limit a person’s behavior, he becomes free. “The absurd is a clear mind aware of its limits,” and it is from this state of pure awareness that a person draws strength and desire to live. The maxim “everything is permitted” should not be taken literally. The absurd does not motivate people to kill or commit crimes. Not at all! - The absurdity simply reduces to zero the need for remorse. An absurd person, guided by his freedom, lives his life as brightly as possible: “An absurd person exhausts everything and exhausts himself; absurdity is the utmost tension, supported by all its forces in complete solitude.” So, the absurd person is acutely aware of the unreasonableness of this world. He thinks clearly and feels mortal. Based on your awarenessfreedom granted to him for the period from birth to death, he lives passionately, exhausting all possibilities. “The universe of the absurd man is a universe of ice and fire, as transparent as it is limited, where nothing is possible, but everything is given. In the end he will face ruin and oblivion. He can decide to live in such a universe. From this determination he draws strength, hence his renunciation of hope and persistence in life without consolation.” Camus provides a metaphor that illustrates the freedom of the absurd. He compares an absurd person to a slave. “They knew freedom, which consisted in the absence of a sense of responsibility.” What is meant is not humility and obedience, but rather an awareness of “permissiveness.” Camus classifies types of freedom, revealing the signs of behavior of absurd people. Firstly, an absurd person always lives with equal passion all the moments of his life, without preferring any of them to all the others. Thus, Don Juan (an image cited as an example by the author of the essay No. The Myth of Sisyphus) “...loves women equally passionately, every time with all his soul...”. Thus, he uses his freedom as much as possible in principle. This image does not inspire much sympathy. Although Don Juan lived a full life, in old age, when he had already exhausted himself, he sadly recalls the past days. And, although Camus objects, arguing that “fate is not punishment,” and Don Juan knew that he could not escape such an end, it is highly doubtful that he will live the rest of his life with joy and as fully as his great one. Part. Don Juan can be compared to the image of a man in black - a man who, knowing the inevitability of fate, lives in spite of it, not caring at all about tomorrow, until one day he is crushed by its gigantic weight. The image of a man living by the principles of Don Juanism can be found not only in Camus. “... I would not have come here to Kill my father, I would not have become my mother’s husband. Now rejected by the gods, I, the offspring of a criminal, inherited her bed - That which gave birth to me. Oh, if there is trouble in the world for all troubles, Oedipus tasted it!” - the immense grief of the Sophocles hero. Oedipus lived like any person lives, and suddenly he learns with horror that parricide and incest are on his conscience. The more clearly Oedipus understands that he has no escape from the incompatibility between reality and his ideas about it, the more tragic his story. Oedipus felt the burden of the absurd on his shoulders, felt his doom, felt himself drowning in a sea of ​​filth. But he doesn't commit suicide. Having blinded himself (how deep is this symbol!), he leaves his hometown and embarks on endless wanderings. Oedipus' rebellion does not spill out of him; Oedipus keeps it in his soul and lives his life to the end. Oedipus felt the absurdity, but his rebellion was passive. The motives of behavior and what is here called “rebellion” were later analyzed by S. Freud and Oedipus’ “passive rebellion” was called by him the “Oedipus complex.” The image of a rebellious person living by action was created about two thousand years later by the great playwright Shakespeare. Hamlet, who so passionately avenged his father, ends his life with the words: “Then - silence...” He has nothing more to add. Life, passionate, beautiful, but edged with despair, is over. Ahead is nothingness. Hamlet is happy. The absurdity deprived him of the opportunity to think, leaving only the opportunity to live. Returning to Don Juan, one can, undoubtedly, take his image as an ideal and live in accordance with the principles of Don Juanism, but only a very strong and passionate person can do this. A comedian is another matter. According to Camus, thisa living, moving nature, which, although it lives every moment with the same passion, is not reckless, but cautiously, carefully. He lives a thousand lives, and in each one he feels in place. The absurd, in all its manifestations, is not capable of surprising the actor, because he can take on any role and adapt to any turn of fate. “In his fate he feels something painful and unique,” ​​but this is not the same torment that Don Juan experiences; this is the romance of youth that he carries throughout his life. The comedian, like Don Juan, is a stoic. But instead of sadly contemplating his fate, he lives it to the end, he laughs at her, he surprises her with his liveliness and endless love for life. If Don Juan's clothes are black, then the comedian's are replete with all possible colors and shades. An actor is a spring of feelings, never drying up and always fresh. The third version of Camus is a man of action. Life for him is a task, absurdity is a given, and he does not reason or philosophize. He goes and conquers life. The existence of a conqueror is not a painful existence, but domination over life. The conqueror sees that he is in an absurd world - no more and no less than everything else, and therefore he lives as he wishes. Nothing is impossible for him, he succeeds in everything, and in his Universe he feels like God. This is a successful person. He does not need to be sad about fate, nor laugh at it - he owns her, she is his servant. The unreasonable world is entirely in his power; the conqueror even sympathizes with him to some extent. The conqueror can be compared to a figure dressed in white. A conqueror is a successful person who can neither naively rejoice nor be seriously upset, since everything is in his hands. In my opinion, the hero of another work by Camus, Doctor Bernard Rieux from the novel “The Plague,” fits the image of the conqueror, in which the author continues to detail the cultural concept of the absurd world and the absurd person, but in a purely practical sense. B. Rie tirelessly does good, but does not do this because he is a convinced humanist. “Do you believe in God, doctor?” - an acquaintance asks Rie a question. “No, but what does it matter? I am in the darkness and try to see at least something in it. It’s been a long time since I thought it was original.” What else can he do in a plague-ridden world but take care of it, like a mother taking care of her child? Thus, the vector of absurdity has been passed from beginning to end. Camus took as a fundamental principle the recognition of the absurdity of the world and approved absurd logic. He examined a person who, having experienced Disorder, Nostalgia, Rock and Riot, realized and felt the absurdity. Finally, the essence of absurdity is clarified and it is established that it gives a person freedom. In this regard, it becomes obvious how a person behaves in accordance with absurd logic. And again the author of the concept poses the question: “Is it worth living in an absurd world?” Absurdity and death. Let me rephrase this question to better understand its essence. It may sound like this: “Is it worth dying in an absurd world?” Or even differently: “Do you want to die in an absurd world?” Indeed, would Don Juan want to die if there were still many women whom he could passionately love? Will the comedian want to part with his, albeit unreasonable, but native stage? Will the conqueror want to fall from his Olympus into oblivion? No no and one more time no ! The absurd is the element in which the human race lives. The problem is that many people treat it not as a force of nature, but as an inevitablesquare, and this is the pessimism of the concept of Albert Camus, who understands that the public consciousness is not able to comprehend and accept for practical use his theses, his ideas - this is the lot of individuals. Meanwhile, life goes on, and Don Juan continues to love, the actor continues to play, the conqueror continues to rule. The absurdity filled them with passion, the absurdity gave rise to their lives, and, what is most impossible, the absurdity gave meaning to existence. An absurd person lives in an absurd world, understanding that he was once born and that death awaits him somewhere, but rejoicing in the fact that he has the freedom to manage his life from birth to death. So does absurdity inevitably lead to premature death? - No! On the contrary, absurdity leads to life. The absurd is the glue that binds man and the world together. But why then do people still kill themselves? Psychologists can judge this. In any case, not because of the awareness of the absurdity of existence. So, absurdity does not lead a person to death. The chain between absurdity and suicide is broken. Existence is absurd and, at the same time, beautiful. It is imperfect and at the same time it is unique. A rotting corpse gives life to flowers, the absurd gives life to man. The absurd is the joy of life, the absurd is passion, the absurd is freedom. The absurd is the only happiness available to a person - a thinking person, a reasonable person, a feeling person and not burdened by absurd logic. Drawing parallels between the philosophy of the absurd and our reality, it should be noted the positivism in the concept of pessimism by Albert Camus; it should be noted that no matter how attractive a certain idea is, it will be empty and useless if it turns out to be inapplicable in life. Absurdity is found everywhere these days. Today, there is probably no place on earth where a terrorist attack has not been carried out. The world is tormented by wars, in which innocent people are always the first to suffer. For a long time now, no one is surprised by numerous man-made disasters. Natural disasters, including those caused by global warming, have become common occurrences. Forests are being cut down without measure, animals are dying, falling into zones of chemical and radioactive contamination... The world is oversaturated with information that the human brain is simply not able to fully perceive and efficiently process - many go crazy, ending up in psychiatric clinics. Let's take a closer look. The war in Chechnya has been going on for many difficult years, more and more people are dying from excessive alcohol consumption and drug addiction, bureaucratic arbitrariness has become a real disaster for society, AIDS is becoming a tragedy, there is no end to deception, violence and violation of natural human rights. And why is all this exactly this way and no other way? Why is life so difficult? Why is there so much injustice around, developing into absurdity? Is it impossible to live in peace, is it impossible to live in harmony, is it impossible to live in mutual respect? The world seems so unreasonable that you want to give up everything and run headlong somewhere away from all these troubles and turmoil. But there's nowhere to run. What nonsense! And there is no end to this nonsense - isn’t it Absurd? This is when the idea of ​​suicide seems salutary. But Albert Camus protests, Camus rebels! According to Camus, pessimistic absurdity must develop into absurd optimism, and a person must find happiness in this world torn apart by contradictions. All human passions and troubles, all doom and hopelessness are the stone that Sisyphus rolls to the top of the mountain. There is no end to his suffering, and his work is meaningless. But Sisyphus loves his stone: this stone is his Universe, in which he is doomed to live. “... There is only one world,...