This essay is an attempt to understand what Albert Camus philosophy of the absurd entails, using the figure of Sisyphus in The myth of Sisyphus as a reference. We all face the absurd: the discordance that results from the confrontation of the human longing for the absolute with the worlds non-absolute character. Camus illustrates this condition with Sisyphus among other “absurd heroes”. But what does he want to tell us about our existence with this metaphor? Is life a punishment? Or is it completely indifferent as Sisyphus improbable happiness might indicate? And how can Sisyphus represent us although he is not mortal in the original myth? In order to answer these questions, I investigate the following aspects of the absurd in this essay: what it tells us about the human condition or even the human nature; if it entails a life in indifference; how it is related to finitude; and finally in which sense Sisyphus is an adequate analogy for our existence. My analysis is a combination of an in-depth study of Camus book and a critical discussion of the commentaries of Robert C. Solomon, Arnaud Corbic, and Avi Sagi on The myth of Sisyphus. I conclude that the image of Sisyphus contains some inconsistencies, but that its main goal is to illustrate the constant act of balance, the conscious effort that never reaches its goal which life is for Camus. Such a life does however not need to be dark or indifferent, but rather on the contrary is an authentic life in knowledge of one’s boundaries and possibilities, a life where finitude highlights the value of what it restrains, a life worth living despite its difficulties. While arguing for this reading of Camus, I also attempt to show how this philosophy of the absurd already contains key elements of an ethical position which according to a common view on Camus only appears in his later works.

Projektet utforskar rådande maktbalans mellan staden och landsbygden, och riktar kritik åt den dominerande urbana normen. Ur en sarkastisk vinkel implementeras kasinot som medel för landsbygden att hävda sig mot staden i en värld styrd av kapital. Kasinot används som en symbol för den kapitaldrivna och ofta moraliskt ifrågasättbara världsutvecklingen, och genom denna allusion söker projektet ifrågasätta i vilken utsträckning målet om tillväxt kan tillåtas helga de allt mer extrema medel som används för att nå dit. Projektets tematik utvecklades som ett svar på det av skolan ställda kravet att rita en hybridbyggnad innehållandes ett folkets hus och ett egenvalt plusprogram omfattande totalt 2000 kvadratmeter på landsbygden i Nynäshamns kommun. Då den största delen av produktraffineringen som tidigare skedde i Sorunda, där projektet tar plats, har tvingats lägga ner på grund av centralisering uppstod en svårighet att finna ett trovärdigt plusprogram som kunde ge skäl för ett folkets hus. Då orten dessutom drabbas kraftigt av av den ökade lastbilstrafiken som Stockholm stads omläggning av Frihamnen till Nynäshamn har gett upphov till kom frågan om urban norm att hamna i fokus, och projektet att kretsa kring landsbygdens möjligheter att parasitera på samma maktförhållanden som den förtrycks av. / This project explores the current power dynamic between urban and rural, and aims to critique the domineering urban norm. From a sarcastic point of view the casino is implemented as a means for the countryside to assert power over the city in a world ruled by capital. The casino is used as a symbol for the capital-driven and often morally questionable world development. Through this allusion the project seeks to question to what extent the goal of growth should be allowed to justify the ever more extreme means used to achieve this end. The thematic of the project was developed as an answer to the schools requirement to design a hybrid building containing a peoples house and a self chosen plus-programme to an extent of 2000 metres squared in Nynäshamn municipality. As most of the product refinement that used to exist in Sorunda, where the project takes place, har been forced to shut down due to centralisation there was an issue with finding a feasible plus-programme that could support the peoples house-function. Further, as the region has been heavily affected by the increasing heavy traffic caused by Stockholm Stads relocation of Frihamnen to Nynäshamn, the question of urban norm came into focus, and the project was oriented towards the possibility for the countryside to parasitize on the same power structures that oppress it.