Albert Camus: How to Avoid Philosophical Suicide

Over the course of his career, the philosopher and novelist, Albert Camus, outlined two ways that we can commit suicide. The first is your obvious, run-of-the-mill suicide — where you physically take your own life; and the second is what Camus called, philosophical suicide. Which is essentially not acknowledging the Absurd.

In this article, we’ll get into Camus’ approach for how to avoid philosophical suicide, but before we do, we need to understand the answer to the question we’re all asking here…

What the hell is the Absurd?

Let me begin with a story that’ll serve later as our analogy:

I have a dog named Puck. And every morning, I invite Puck to check the mail with me (which is like asking the average American if they want their morning coffee).

Puck and his favorite ball

Once outside, it’s the same routine: him stoping at the same oak tree to mark his territory, emptying out only a quarter of what’s in the tank, then running 20 meters over to our white stone mail box, where he hikes up to unload the rest of his bladder; but only after sniffing around, of course. Then, once he’s satisfied, his back legs each take a…