Assertion and Argument: Reexamining Happiness in Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus

Albert Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus culminates in its most frequently cited assertion: “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” This paper critically evaluates whether the essay substantiates this conclusion or merely posits it. Camus introduces the concept of philosophical suicide, a leap wherein a thinker, having reached the boundaries of reason, transcends these limits to arrive at an unconditioned conclusion, thereby compromising the clarity demanded by the absurd. He identifies this phenomenon in the works of Kierkegaard, Chestov, and Husserl. This paper contends that a similar structure is evident in Camus’s own conclusion, as it transitions from Sisyphus’s acceptance of his fate to his proclaimed happiness. Following an analysis of Camus’s definition of philosophical suicide and a thorough examination of the argument developed in the essay’s central sections, the paper scrutinizes specific instances in the final chapter where the essay’s assertive confidence exceeds what has been demonstrated. Subsequently, it considers the most robust defenses of the conclusion and argues that neither adequately bridges the identified gap. While the essay's diagnosis of the absurd remains compelling, its concluding line performs the very evasion Camus critiques elsewhere.