Albert Camus

Born: November 7, 1913 in Algeria (North Western Africa) primarily a European region, to a Pied-Noir family.


Mother: Spanish descent, humble means (Illiterate, maid)
Father: Lucien, a poor agricultural worker. Succumbed to wounds from WWI 1914 October 11


Grew up primarily minimalist, with few material possessions

Studied: The University of Algiers 

Notable: Second-Youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature @ 44

Died: January 4, 1960 Age 46 Car accident, with train ticket to visit his 
family.

In August 2011, the Milan newspaper Corriere della Serareported a theory that the writer had been the victim of a Soviet plot, but Camus's biographer, Olivier Todd, did not consider it credible.

Primary School: Absurdism 
                Focus: Ethics, Humanity, Justice, Politics


Played football, though due to tuberculosis (1930) could not continue.

Worked odd jobs; tutor, car parts, etc. 

Married: 1934 Simone Hie 1940 Francine Faure
 Dismissed the institution of marriage as unnatural. Partook          in numerous affairs

Childeren:  Catherine and Jean, on 5 September 1945

Books: The Stranger, and The Myth of Sisyphus.
       1942 Published: The Stranger: A man living an absurd life
                       Myth of Sisyphus: A work about the Absurdity 

Does the realization of the absurd require suicide? Camus answers: "No. It requires revolt." He then outlines several approaches to the absurd life. The final chapter compares the absurdity of man's life with the situation of Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. The essay concludes, "The struggle itself [...] is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

Timeline:

1945 One of the few French editors to publicly express opposition and disgust to the United States' dropping the atomic bombs on Japan

1949, his tuberculosis returned, whereupon he lived in seclusion for two years.

1950’s Devoted his efforts to human rights. 

1951 Published The Rebel a philosophical analysis of rebellion and revolution which expressed his rejection of communism.

Absurd:

Camus presents the reader with dualisms such as happiness and sadness, dark and light, life and death, etc. He emphasizes the fact that happiness is fleeting and that the human condition is one of mortality; for Camus, this is cause for a greater appreciation for life and happiness. In Le Mythe, dualism becomes a paradox: we value our own lives in spite of our mortality and in spite of the universe's silence. While we can live with a dualism (I can accept periods of unhappiness, because I know I will also experience happiness to come), we cannot live with the paradox (I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless). In Le Mythe, Camus investigates our experience of the Absurd and asks how we live with it. Our life must have meaning for us to value it. If we accept that life has no meaning and therefore no value, should we kill ourselves?

Rejecting Labels "Once you label me you negate me." - Soren Kierkegaard

Camus regretted the continued reference to himself as a "philosopher of the absurd".

Camus did not specifically consider himself to be an existentialist despite being publicly classified as such, even in interviews he readily denied that he was an existentialist.  

Camus addressed one of the fundamental questions of existentialism: the problem of suicide. He wrote, "There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide. Deciding whether or not life's worth living is to answer the fundamental question in philosophy. All other questions follow from that." Camus viewed the question of suicide as arising naturally as a solution to the absurdity of life.

Novels:
1942 The Stranger (L'Étranger, often translated as The Outsider) (1942)
The titular character is Meursault, an indifferent French Algerian ("a citizen of France domiciled in North Africa, a man of the Mediterranean, an homme du midi yet one who hardly partakes of the traditional Mediterranean culture"), who, after attending his mother's funeral, apathetically kills an Arab man whom he recognises in French Algiers. The story is divided into two parts, presenting Meursault's first-person narrative view before and after the murder, respectively.

1947 The Plague (La Peste) (1947)

1956 The Fall (La Chute) (1956)

1971 A Happy Death (La Mort heureuse) (written 1936–38, published posthumously 1971)

1995 The First Man (Le premier homme) (incomplete, published posthumously 1995)

Short story Collection
1957 Exile and the Kingdom (L'exil et le royaume) (collection) (1957)
"The Adulterous Woman" ("La Femme adultère")
"The Renegade or a Confused Spirit" ("Le Renégat ou un esprit confus")
"The Silent Men" ("Les Muets")
"The Guest" ("L'Hôte")
"Jonas or the Artist at Work" ("Jonas ou l’artiste au travail")
"The Growing Stone" ("La Pierre qui pousse")

Phenomenological Analysis- Almar, Steve and Valerie

A)
1. Real- a red Mustang (car).
2. A) Wanting it due to its high end quality. Once acquired, one would enjoy having it.
    B) Mode of transportation (useful), symbol of wealth, asset.
3. Shiny paint, seeing the Mustang Emblem, moves like a car, seeing the color red.
4. A) A red Mustang.
    B) Recollecting seeing one on the highway, imagining driving one yourself (imagining inside and out rather than just the outside), imagining how you would feel driving one.
    C) Actually experiencing driving the red Mustang.

B)
1. Ideal- Love (as an emotion).
2. A) We desire it, are comforted by it, it is judged as a good thing in most circumstances except when the love of something/someone is dangerous.
    B) Emotion, state of being, relation between two beings or between someone towards something, feeling towards one's self/world.
3. Comforting, warm, satisfying, happy, recollections of romantic times or times with family and/or friends, time with out favorite objects,  seeing heart symbols.
4. A) Love (the word itself).
    B) Hearts, couples, past relationships, family/friends.
    C) Experiencing/expressing/feeling Love and directly witnessing it.

C)
1. The discovery of a new species of tarantula.
There are several intentional objects in this process. The real, perceptual species of tarantula that has not yet been discovered is the most obvious one.  But also the ideative species of this new family of tarantula is important because actually that is what is being sought after, the knowledge of the new kind of spider.  Success is also a big intentional object in the this process of research because it takes hard work to accomplish this but it is done with the intention of achieving success.
2. Intentional Content:
   A) One could be observing, judging, comparing/ contrasting with known species and fearing it possibly.
   B) It can be categorized as a spider because it has the shape of what we know as being a spider.This can be determined through counting 8 legs and a combination of head and thorax. The swift movements of the animal and its making of a web could also help us categorize it as a spider.
3. The immanent content involves the concrete acts and the psychological states in the physical phases of the discovery process such as going through the forest, looking for a tarantula and observing the tarantula in front of you once it is found.
4. Signitive:  Given as the language related to the process of discovering a new species. The word species is defined by biologists as a group of living organisms capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding.   Each species has unique biological features such as arachnids having eight legs.  The process of discovering a new kind of tarantula involves the finding of an organism that fits under this linguistic definition of arachnid but still having its own unique features.
Imaginative: Given as the concept of a potentially new line of descent in the arachnid class.  The idea of descent leads to the process of evolution which involves the constant failing and succeeding process of natural selection.  The awareness of evolution leads one to believe that there are many families of organisms that have evolved but that have not yet been discovered.  This may provoke someone's curiosity and drive them to find these undiscovered organisms to add to the human body of knowledge.
Intuitive:  Given as the physical journey through a rain forest (common habitat for tarantulas) and the search for organisms that fit under the category of arachnids.  Once something is sighted that looks like a tarantula, it would be caught or simply observed from a distance.  Then features that distinguish the spider from other tarantula species would be sought after.  Perhaps the organism found would fit under the category of an already known species and the researcher would have to keep looking until one is found that fits under no currently known classes of tarantula.

Group Blog Post: Mike, Preston, Marissa

A.      Real Object

1.       Intentional Object- Glasses Case. It’s a black case that holds glasses.

2.       Intentional Content

a.       Intentional Quality- It’s useful: protects, preserves glasses. Expect it to perform for its design and function.

b.      Intentional Matter- thing, object, inanimate object, tool, case, glasses case

3.       Immanent Content- the object is black, it is rough and scaly to the touch.

4.       Givenness of Object- Signitive: Making a mental illustration in your brain of what this object would look like , Imaginative: If it were being described to others  , Intuitive: you can hold it and look directly at it.

B.      Ideal Object

1.       Ideal Object- pi , The ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter,

2.       Ideal Content-

a.       Quality- we perceive this number through 3.14…

b.      Matter- Concept, number, irrational number, constant, pi

3.       Immanent Content- imagining a sequence of numbers beginning with 3.14, thinking of circles, think of sine waves

4.       Givenness of Object- Signitive: Imagining a constant ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, Imaginative: Recalling the symbol which brings up the immanent content of 3.14, Intuitive: Writing pi as a fraction on paper and look at it

C.      Discovery/Creation of Unfamiliar Real/Ideal Object

1.       Ideal Object- Writing a Philosophy Paper, synthesis of original and unoriginal ideas

2.       Ideal Content-

a.       Quality- There is an intention of writing it, how you feel about writing it

b.      Matter- Responsibility, assignment, essay, philosophy essay

3.       Immanent Content- Imagine ourselves typing it, thinking of concepts that you intend to include, thinking of a philosopher,

4.       Givenness of Object- Signitive: Thinking of the ideas you want to write about, Imaginative: Recalling of the original and unoriginal ideas in order to write about them , Intuitive: Reading the finished paper

Group Blog Post: Julia, Derrick, and Samantha

Julia, Derrick, and Samantha

Group Blog Post

1. Intention of a Real Object

1. Intentional Object: The emotional state of anger.
2. Intentional Content
1. Intentional Quality: An emotional state that we find generally unpleasant, but it is experienced by everyone. We can relate to anger by thinking about what it is like, recalling how and why we become angry, perceiving anger in someone else.
2. Intentional Matter: Anger is an unpleasant emotional response to some wrong.
3. Immanent Content: The experience of actually being angry.
4. Givenness
1. Signitive: talking to someone about anger
2. Imaginative: remembering a time when you were angry
3. Intuitive: Actually being angry.

2. Intention of an Ideal Object

1. Intentional Object: Justice
2. Intentional Content
1. Intentional Quality: We can imagine what a just act would be, recall a time when we experienced justice, or we can experience/perceive justice personally.
2. Intentional Matter: a virtue, characterized by fairness, morality ,equality, etc.
3. Immanent Content:When we experience justice as done unto us, or by us. It is unrecollective and unthemized, because we are not remembering a past experience of justice nor are we thinking about what Justice is as a concept.
4. Givenness:
1. Signitive: Talking about justice, thinking about a hypothetically just situation
2. Imaginative: Recollection of a just experience, seeing an image or picture of something representing “justice”.
3. Intuitive: Experiencing justice firsthand, seeing and perceiving justice as it occurs before you.

3. Discovery or Creation of an Ideal or Real Object

1. Intentional Object: Inventing something
2. Intentional Content
1. Intentional Quality: The intentional quality can change in how we relate to it; we can think about how we want to invent something, we can look for a way to invent something, and we can then experience the physical act of creating the invention.
2. Intentional Matter: The parts needed to invent and create something that can achieve the “goal function”, e.g., the power source for an electronic invention or the structural pieces to make something stand upright, etc.
3. Immanent Content: Inventing the something, i.e., coming up with the idea and/or plan that will allow something to be invented.
1. in signitive givenness the immanent content of "inventing something" is merely a hypothetical, which is "mostly empty". Imaginative givenness would be a picture of someone inventing something with is moderately fulfilling, and then intuitive would be the act of inventing something which is the best, most fulfilling type.
4. Givenness:
1. Signitive: Talking about how you’d like to invent something, or how something should be invented to fix/solve ____.
2. Imaginative: Remembering something that you invented in the past, imagining yourself or someone else inventing something
3. Intuitive: Actually inventing the device.