Coming Back to the Absurd: Albert Camus's the Myth of Sisyphus 80 Years on (Value Inquiry Book / Studies in Existentialism, Hermeneutics, and Phenomenology, 380)

A celebration of the importance and significance of The Myth of Sisyphus , this collection of essays, from some of the world’s leading Camus scholars, examines the impact on philosophy that Camus’s The Myth has had in the past 80 years. Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Contents Notes on Contributors Introduction 1 Can We Still Imagine Sisyphus Happy? 2 Sisyphus at 80: The Essays Chapter 1 Sickness, Heartache, Punishment, and War: Lessons on the Absurd, or Birth of an Ethic Chapter 2 The Myth of Sisyphus, the Absurd, and the Question of Empathy 1 Edith Stein: Life and Philosophy 1.1 On the Problem of Empathy 1.2 The Myth of Sisyphus 2 ‘An Absurd Reasoning’ 2.1 Absurdity and Suicide 2.2 Absurd Walls 2.3 Philosophical Suicide 2.4 Absurd Freedom 3 ‘Absurd Man’ 3.1 Don Juanism 3.2 Drama 3.3 Conquest 4 Absurd Creation 4.1 Absurd Art and Empathy 5 Conclusion Chapter 3 Benjamin Fondane and Albert Camus: Reason and the Absurd 1 Brief Encounter 2 The Revolt against Death 3 Limits, Reason, and the Irrational 4 The Needs of Existence 5 Struggle and the Leap Chapter 4 Revolt, Absurdity, and the Artist as Sisyphus 1 The Absurd 2 Absurd Artist and Art 3 Create Dangerously and with Responsibility?! Chapter 5 The Metaphorical Language of the Absurd 1 Metaphorical Language in Service of Theoretical Demonstration 1.1 First Metaphor: The Theatre 1.2 Second Metaphor: The Desert 1.3 Third Metaphor: The Walls 1.4 Three Metaphors for Three Absurd Men 2 Metaphors of the Absurd as a Literary Device in Fiction 2.1 In The Outsider 2.2 In Caligula 2.3 In The Misunderstanding 3 Samuel Beckett’s Theatre: Radical Application of Camusian Metaphors 3.1 Wall Metaphors in Beckett’s Plays 3.2 The Desert Metaphor in Beckett’s Plays 3.3 The Theatre Metaphor in Beckett’s Plays 4 Conclusion Chapter 6 Why Did the Stranger Kill the Arab? A Camusian Study in the Absurdity of Moral Motivation 1 Introduction: Why, Why, Why, Why, Why Did Meursault Shoot and Kill the Arab? 2 The Structure of the Incident in Which Meursault Shoots and Kills the Arab 3 Possible Text-Immanent Answers to the Question Concerning Meursault’s Motive 4 Plausible Philosophical Answers to the Question Concerning Meursault’s Motive 5 Rationality and Absurdity in Meursault’s Search for Happiness Chapter 7 The Blood That Trickles from the Gospels Is the Color of Printers’ Ink: The Relationship between Religious Texts and the Absurd 1 The Bible as a Frozen and Static World 2 Winners and Losers 3 Focus on the Gospel of Mark Chapter 8 Unlikely Heroism: Sisyphus, Camus, and the Absurd Posture 1 Making Meaning 2 Relational Absurdity 3 The Absurd Posture 4 Conclusion Chapter 9 Explanation and the Unreasonable Silence of the World 1 Introduction 2 The Teleological Absurd 3 The Epistemic Absurd 4 Teleological Explanation 5 Reconciling the Epistemic and Teleological 6 Conclusion Chapter 10 Sisyphus in Hell: The Absurd Thought against (New) Fascism 1 Absurd Mimēsis 2 Resisting the Plague 3 Absurd Patho-logy Bibliography Index This collection of essays from some of the world's leading Camus scholars is a celebration of the enduring significance and impact of Albert Camus's first philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus . Coming Back to the Absurd examines Camus's unique contribution to philosophy through The Myth since its publication. The essays within are intended to engage students and scholars of existentialism, phenomenology and the history of philosophy, as well as those simply seeking greater understanding of one of the most influential philosophers and philosophical constructs of the twentieth century. In revisiting The Myth , the authors hope to inspire a new generation of Camus scholars "Coming Back to the Absurd is a celebration of the enduring significance and impact of Albert Camus's first philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus. This collection of essays, from some of the world's leading Camus scholars, examines Camus's unique contribution to philosophy through The Myth since its publication"-- Provided by publisher