Camus and Nagel on the Absurd

This research aims to offer a critical analysis of Albert Camus The Myth of Sisyphus and Thomas Nagels The Absurd. Based on key documents, the analysis draws on in-depth textual analysis and philosophy discussions to deep-dive into Camuss and Nagels intellectual world. As revealed in this research, Nagels response to Camus on the absurd was unconvincing, from the conflation of feelings with convictions to the distortion of the original meaning of the concern about significance. Furthermore, Nagel downplayed the serious, tragic dimension of the absurd, but then he praised the transcendental consciousness, only to succumb to the same failure to appreciate our cosmic insignificance. Indeed, Camus himself never clarified how it did. In Camus re-imagining of the myth, Sisyphus neither characterized the condition of the human individual nor the way of mankind. Rather, it was symbolic of the comic or the divine totality. Nonetheless, it is observed that Camus recommended response to the absurd, unlike Nagels, belonged to that of the existentialist rather than the nihilist.