Absurdo e contingência em Camus e Sartre

Abstract

Absurdity and contingency are similar concepts that permeate the works of Camus and Sartre, respectively, and which are generally used to denote the feeling of estrangement experienced by the being upon reflection on the lived experience. From the analysis of their main works, in this paper it is discussed how the two concepts are treated by the two authors, and which are the proposed solutions to the existential problem that is put through them. The confrontation with the absurd, for Camus, leads to the only really important philosophical question, whether or not life is worth living. The solution is not to bring about the death of the absurd through religiosity or rationality, but to embrace the absurd condition of life completely. For Sartre, becoming aware of the contingency of existence causes existential nausea and leads to the conclusion of the lack of meaning of life. The solution is presented as the freedom that the human being has to choose its own meaning, because if human existence precedes its essence, the human being is free to define his own purpose in life. Camus and Sartre are philosophers who have dedicated themselves to the phenomenological aspects of life, especially in the lived experience and its relations with the reflection on this experience. They presented different solutions to the problem of existence of the rational being in a world devoid of meaning.