The Dangers of a Cursory Undersatanding of Camus

As a philosophy student I come across a lot of different types of ideas and concepts. Over a year ago I was introduced to an existentialist philosopher by the name of Albert Camus. In class I had to read The Myth of Sisyphus, as a result my life will never be the same again. Rarely can a piece of literature have such a profound effect on an undergrad. I did not know it at the time, but there is a relation between Camus and my anarchist sympathies.

A key point of Camus' philosophy is that of the absurd. If I understand this correctly, the absurd refers to the relation between humans and the world. It says there are essentially three things that exist: the subject, the world, and a tension between the two. The subject looks out in the world, and tries to find meaning. Unfortunately for the subject, there is no meaning in the world, and the subject is left with an unfulfilled desire for meaning.

So, humans exist in a world without meaning. Even though the world has no meaning, the subject still posits meaning on the world. The most obvious instance is any religion. Religion supplies an explanation for the way humans are supposed to operate in accordance with the world they live in; hence, religion supplies a false meaning and reason for living.

Now, there is a similar relation between the way religion operates and the way government operates. A government provides its people with false meaning. People become patriotic toward their government, they feel as if their government is righteous. According to a person like Camus, nothing can be further from the truth. Hence, we should dissolve all of these absurd institutions, like religion and government, that provide humans with false meaning. It is an anarchist movement that wants to get rid of these institutions.