Albert Camus was a French philosopher among many other talents. Camus believed in the idea of absurdism. “He defined the absurd as the futility of a search for meaning in an incomprehensible universe, devoid of God, or meaning” (Panumas, 2019). He was described as all-knowing and always asserting his ideas rather than arguing them. He also was described as not believing in rationalism. Overall, he believed there is no way out of this life other than to accept the absurd. Camus was a well-known author during the 1940s, those writings included “The Plague” and “The Stranger”. What do you think Camus would have thought about the narcissism epidemic? Camus was well known for his philosophical essay “The Myth of Sisyphus”, this essay goes into detail as to why he would have believed in the narcissism epidemic. Narcissism is described as the inflated view of one’s self. Camus was known for only believing in his ideas and separated himself from existentialism showing he would have believed in the new self-love idea in this generation.

            In “The Myth of Sisyphus” Camus explains how life is meaningless and you will either make a leap of faith in your life or you will commit suicide. He goes on to talk about how there can also be a third choice in the matter, where you accept that this life has no meaning or purpose and to just live. Camus also explains how there are three characteristics of the absurd world. One, you must rebel and not accept any struggles in your life. Two, you must be free and think and feel whatever you desire. Last, you must have passion in your life and have many unique experiences. He speaks about the Greek Myth of Sisyphus, and how he encountered rolling a boulder all the way to the top of the mountain, and watching all the hard work crumble when it falls and rolls all the way to the bottom. He speaks of this to inquire about how life is like the boulder, and you can work so hard just to watch everything you’ve done crumble to the ground. This metaphor he uses explains how he thinks life is just meaningless. 

            Narcissism is described as the inflated view of one’s self. To compare Camus’s beliefs with narcissism, we can describe the traits of a narcist. Narcissists are described as portraying lack of empathy, a sense of entitlement, arrogancy, and grandiosity. Camus would have believed this to be a way of living life to the fullest, this is what he wants for everyone life he describes in “The Myth of Sisyphus”. Camus was known for being a believer in grandiosity. In this generation that we live in today narcissists are everywhere and think it is correct to portray these qualities, due to the self-love movement going on today. Camus would’ve been a supporter in this movement. In his writings “The Fall” and “The Stranger” both main characters are known to portray the traits of narcissism. 

            In Camus’s writing “The rebel” he speaks about how rebelling is the only way to live in this absurd life and live your life to the fullest. Camus suggests that war and revolution are the only way to move the world forward in a positive way. He believes that being an atheist is the correct way to revolt. “Albert Camus believed there is no after-life, that life ends completely (Maze, 2010). In narcissism, the narcist thinks so highly of themselves that there could be no one more powerful than themselves. Thus, being an atheist. Camus talks about how rebelling is the only answer for this “meaningless” life. Either you stop believing in God or you make a leap of faith to stop believing in something larger than God. This is what Camus believed in, showing another example how his writing would portray narcissism or how he would agree that it was right.

            “Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them” (Mayo Clinic 2022). How narcissists think and act is how Camus describes how humans will look for answers to unanswerable questions and how doing so is essentially meaningless. The traits of narcissists like lacking empathy towards others and the need for admiration are those answers that Camus speaks of. This would be an attempt for the narcissist to give meaning and importance to their life where Camus believes there is none. 

            Camus believed that existentialism was a form of philosophical suicide. Camus stated “existentialism is a destructive mode of thought that reduces human life to its historical dimension, leaving no room for the interplay of history and nature, and reducing everything in its path to ideological abstractions” (Raskin, 2001). Camus was an opposer of existentialism but to this day he is known as an existentialist for his thoughts on the absurd life. He believes we need to create purpose in our own lives which is the same definition to an existentialist. Where we can compare existentialism to narcissism. Narcissists are believed to have their own sense of self-importance thus only believing in themselves and they could not believe in any other higher power.

            Moreover, narcissist believe in higher power which is themselves. Camus would have believed that narcissism was a way out of the absurd life, by not being authentic to one’s self.  Where narcissist do not embrace the absurd life, they live in a constant state of self-admiration and a world only revolving around themselves. They are unable to form genuine connections and have indifferent relationships with everyone around them. They are not conforming or accepting what is the correct way to live life in Camus’s eyes. Camus would have believed that the narcissism epidemic needed to be put to a stop, but with all his absurd life ideas it puts ideas into the people’s minds that narcissism would be morally correct. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited 

Albert Camus. “The Modern Classics Myth of Sisiyphus” National Geographic Books 2013

J.R. Maze “Albert Camus: Plague and Terror, Priest and Atheist” 2010

Mayo Clinic staff  “Narcissistic personality disorder” 2022 

Ronald Aronson. “Albert Camus” November 2022.

Panumas King of Oxford University Press. “ Albert Camus and the problem of absurdity” May 2019.