Opinion of Albert Camus

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

The guy in my signature.

I got into his writings several months ago, mainly out of interest for philosophers' take on the issue of suicide.  I found Camus' Myth of Sisyphus to be somewhat comforting during periods of my... shall we say, fatalistic impulses.  Camus was practically an atheist for most of his life, but I've found slivers of his philosophy that aren't completely at odds with my Christian beliefs.  (I'm not returning to my days of theological spiel publicly here, so PM me if you want to talk about it.)

Anyway, FF.  Definitely a great influence for me.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Massive FF. Probably my favorite 20th century French intellectual.

(I'm not returning to my days of theological spiel publicly here, so PM me if you want to talk about it.)

May I ask why not? There have been quite a few worthwhile discussions on this thread lately and I think you could contribute to them a lot. Sure, the euphoric crowd is still around, but it's not too hard to ignore.

[afleitch]

J'adore.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

(I'm not returning to my days of theological spiel publicly here, so PM me if you want to talk about it.)

May I ask why not? There have been quite a few worthwhile discussions on this thread lately and I think you could contribute to them a lot. Sure, the euphoric crowd is still around, but it's not too hard to ignore.

A lot of reasons, really.  Some of the discussions here are great, though it does seem there's quite a habit of talking past one another here, doesn't it?  Especially on the 'God' question, I find it more satisfying to discuss certain topics with people with whom I'm on equal footing, theologically speaking.  I know that sounds heretical speaking as a would-be philosophy major, but I'm here to learn more than anything else right now.

[Iosif]

I loved The Stranger.

I found The Plague a little boring.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

There are things about Camus that I'm a little leery about but in general I like him a lot. Certainly better than Sartre, better than a lot of the more religious French intellectuals of that time as well. FF. Some of the best conversations that I had with my friends in undergrad were about Camus.

[Antonio the Sixth]

(I'm not returning to my days of theological spiel publicly here, so PM me if you want to talk about it.)

May I ask why not? There have been quite a few worthwhile discussions on this thread lately and I think you could contribute to them a lot. Sure, the euphoric crowd is still around, but it's not too hard to ignore.

A lot of reasons, really.  Some of the discussions here are great, though it does seem there's quite a habit of talking past one another here, doesn't it?  Especially on the 'God' question, I find it more satisfying to discuss certain topics with people with whom I'm on equal footing, theologically speaking.  I know that sounds heretical speaking as a would-be philosophy major, but I'm here to learn more than anything else right now.

Oh, I understand. "Trying to learn" is more or less what I'm doing here as well (when I'm not trolling the euphoric brigade, that is ). Though I'm starting from far behind you, and I'm probably not looking to learn quite in the same perspective (the "God question" itself is actually the least interesting to me, I'm a lot more interested in the moral and philosophical implications of various religious doctrines).

[afleitch]

'I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe.' is for me, one of the sweetest lines in philosophical discourse.

[Mopsus]

It's always interesting to read people's attempts to acclimate themselves to modernity, but since I don't actually believe that life is absurd, I doubt that I would get much from this attempt in particular.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I recently read The Myth of Sisyphus and a few other essays of his. Not only do I find his treatment of a world without meaning to be quite interesting and a mature handling of the issues with theistic existentialism, but some of his other essays reveal a lyricism that is sadly absent from a lot of 20th century writing.

[Murica!]

My favorite 20th century intellectual and no one else has really come close recently either.