Something That Has Sense
“As soon as we say that all is nonsense we express something that has sense.” ALBERT CAMUS · THE ENIGMA
By 1950 Camus was tired of being called the philosopher of the absurd, as though he had recommended meaninglessness to people. In this essay he makes one small logical move to get free of the label.
If you say everything is nonsense, that statement is not itself nonsense. It means something. It is aimed at someone. You expect to be understood. The act of saying it quietly disproves it.
The move is no debating trick. It matters for anyone who has been through a stretch of thinking that nothing counts. The despair is real, but notice what you are doing while you feel it. You are still making distinctions. You still think some things are true and others false, some behavior decent and some not. You are still arguing, which means you still believe that being right is worth something.
Camus’s point is that total meaninglessness is a position nobody actually occupies. People say it. Nobody lives it. The moment you open your mouth to explain that nothing matters, you have contradicted yourself in a hopeful direction. You are not as empty as your worst hour tells you that you are.
If you catch yourself saying nothing matters, look at what you are still trying to get right. Start there.
