The Second World War: the Conception of the Absurd and a Resolution

Abstract

The Second World War was a time of catastrophic changes to the physical and metaphysical world. The world order was turned upside down. Nations were destroyed. Cities were destroyed. Villages were destroyed. Families were torn apart. Fathers, mothers, sons and daughters were slain. Everything previously known about the world was destroyed. The certainty of individuals with their lives was now put into doubt. Man was deprived of memories of a lost homeland as much as he lacked the hope of a promised land to come. In essence, the Second World War was the divorce between man and his life, the actor and his stage, which constituted the truthful sentiment of the absurd. In this context, it would only make sense if the thought of this period were to reflect the sentiment of the absurd. Albert Camus was one of the most prominent intellectuals that actualized and concreted the philosophy of the absurd, which eventually surfaced as the theme of many works. Most works simply present the absurd and or gift the reader or audience the overwhelming experience of it, but Camus dives deeper. The absurd, to him, isn’t just a feeling, or a realization or even a theme to produce dramatic effect. It is a serious philosophical hurdle that raises the question: Is life worth living? This abstract is an English translation of the project that was completed in Spanish.)