Existentialism is a doctrine that emphasizes the singularity and isolation of the single experience in a hostile or apathetic existence. respects human being as unaccountable. and stresses freedom of pick and duty for the effects of one’s Acts of the Apostless. This doctrine is basically the Southern Cross of the novel The Stranger and non merely serves as one of the subjects but likely the chief ground Albert Camus wrote the book wholly.

Presented in first individual narrative through the eyes of Meursault. the indifferent and apathetic chief character. the fresh serves to arouse the credo of existential philosophy through the incarnation of the doctrine in a individual. Meursault’s address. thought. and actions are what Camus believed a individual who innately possessed the dogmas of existential philosophy would hold. Existentialism. what it represents. the consequences of its incarnation in a individual. and the cogency of the philosophy wholly are all of import facets explored in The Stranger by Albert Camus.

“Maman died today or yesterday possibly. I don’t know” . These opening lines of the novel service non merely to present the novel but to sum up it every bit good. Rather than concentrating on what is important-his mother’s death-Meursault is focused on when precisely she died ; whether it was yesterday or today. since the telegraph merely stated the funeral would be tomorrow. Right off. within the really first sentence. the reader is introduced to existentialism incarnate. Meursault exhibits a complete and arrant indifference to life manifested by a profound deficiency of emotion.

He doesn’t attention when his female parent died. in fact the fact that he has to go to the funeral raw is the most distressing portion of this whole ordeal to him. When he eventually gets to the funeral. he couldn’t attention less about his mother-as he rejects the offer to open the casket-but is absolutely consumed by the yearss heat. Camus does a great occupation in the first portion of the novel of showing to the reader non merely the doctrine of existential philosophy. but a bodily representation of it every bit good.

This bodily representation of existential philosophy is what makes The Stranger the alone book it is. As opposed to the battalion of books and pronunciamentos nearing existential philosophy from an academic position. The Stranger approaches the doctrine by detailing a character with the belief innately in him and demoing how person like this might act. Neither the external universe in which Meursault lives nor the internal universe of his ideas and attitudes possesses any rational order.

Meursault has no discernible ground for his actions. such as his determination to get married Marie and his determination to kill the Arab. The book. narrated by Meursault. is fundamentally life detailed superficially by him. He talks about the conditions. the nutrient he’s feeding. about the things he did that twenty-four hours instead than how he feels or thinks of other people. topographic points and things. This is how a individual consumed with existential philosophy would act and think-indifferently and apathetically. Meursault passes no judgement on people and is ultimate executed for killing an Arab for no evident ground.

The doctrine or theory of Existentialism is slightly controversial. but however in many respects it has some noteworthy and legitimate points. If one were to truly take a expression at the existence. it would look purposeless. And worlds do in fact possess the unconditioned desire. or instead irresistible impulse. to explicate things and have things figured out-thus explicating their demand to tie in a intent with the existence. even when it doesn’t needfully exist. But what made this theory semen about in the nineteenth century when it could hold been realized centuries before?

The ground is the calamity and desolation the universe proverb at this time-several universe wars in particular. If we take a expression at the life of Albert Camus himself. it’s difficult to deny the fact that there is a connexion between the existentialism’s origin and personal calamity. In 1914. Camus’ Father was drafted into WWI and killed in France. In 1934 he Married Simone Hie. but divorced her two old ages subsequently. In 1939 he volunteered for service in WWII. but was rejected due to illness. In 1940 he wrote an essay on the province of Muslims in Algeria doing him to lose his occupation and travel to Paris.

In 1941 he joined the Gallic opposition against the Nazis and became an editor of Combat. an belowground newspaper. These. every bit good as many other incidents and events in Camus’ life influenced him in the sense that they formed in him a bleak. pessimistic position of life. This perspective doubtless set the foundation for his acceptance of the theory of existential philosophy. “If there is a wickedness against life. it consists possibly non so much in despairing of life as in trusting for another life and in evading the implacable magnificence of this life.

” The point illuminated in this quotation mark by Camus is that although some consider sing life with desperation to be incorrect. or iniquitous. in world hoping for an after life. “another life” . or populating a life of implacable magnificence is the existent wickedness. Camus held strong to the belief of Absurdism. or the belief that humanity’s attempt to happen significance in the existence will finally fail-thus it is absurd to seek to happen significance or to populate as though there is a significance because no such significance exists.

While Absurdism might look like a equivalent word for Existentialism. the two are somewhat different. Existentialism makes the point that there is no intent or significance in the existence. Absurdism goes a measure farther to state that non merely is life purposeless. but any effort at happening significance is utterly absurd. Albert Camus. being the polarized adult male that he was. held more steadfastly to the belief of Absurdism than existential philosophy. In composing The Stranger. Albert Camus championed the thought of existential philosophy. a doctrine he genuinely believed in it.

But the doctrine of existential philosophy is non free of unfavorable judgment. Herbert Marcuse criticized existential philosophy. particularly in Sartre’s Being and Nothingness. for projecting certain characteristics of life in a modern. oppressive society. such as anxiousness and nonsense. onto the nature of being itself: “In so far as Existentialism is a philosophical philosophy. it remains an idealistic philosophy: it hypothesizes specific historical conditions of human being into ontological and metaphysical features.

Existentialism therefore becomes portion of the very political orientation which it attacks. and its radicalism is illusory” What Marcuse is stating here is that existential philosophy makes the error of believing that merely because human conditions are tragic and seem to miss a intent. that they in fact do. Whether or non there is purpose to the existence is an ontological and metaphysical topic. non one that can be realized through historical events.

Existentialism and its brother doctrine Absurdism are doctrines that emphasize the singularity and isolation of the person in a hostile and apathetic universe. and emphasize the fact the existence has no discernible intent. This doctrine is basically the Southern Cross of the novel The Stranger as Meursault. the indifferent and apathetic chief character. embodies the dogmas of existential philosophy per se. Existentialism. what it represents. the consequences of its incarnation in a individual. and the cogency of the philosophy wholly are all of import facets explored in The Stranger by Albert Camus.

Bibliography1. “Existentialism. ” The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language. Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2004. Answers. com 28 Mar. 2007. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. replies. com/topic/existentialism2. Marcuse. Herbert. “Sartre’s Existentialism” . Printed in Surveies in Critical Philosophy. Translated by Joris De Bres. London: NLB. 1972. p. 1613. Camus. Albert. The Stranger. Middlesex: UK Penguin Classics. 1943. 4. Sartre. Jean P. Existentialism is a Humanism. World Company. 1956. 5. “Albert Camus. ” 28 Mar. 2007. 6. White. Ray. “The Meaning of Life. ” 2004. 29 Mar. 2007.