Pragmatism Meets Absurdity

At the streetcorner ...

| At any streetcorner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face.
| As it is, in its distressing nudity, in its light without effulgence, it is
| elusive.  But that very difficulty deserves reflection.  It is probably true
| that a man remains forever unknown to us and that there is in him something
| irreducible that escapes us.  But practically I know men and recognize them
| by their behavior, by the totality of their deeds, by the consequences caused
| in life by their presence.  Likewise, all those irrational feelings which
| offer no purchase to analysis.  I can define them practically, appreciate
| them practically, by gathering together the sum of their consequences in
| the domain of the intelligence, by seizing and noting all their aspects,
| by outlining their universe.  (pp. 10–11).

Albert Camus, ''The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays'',
Justin O’Brien (trans.), Random House, New York, NY, 1991.
Originally published in France as ''Le Mythe de Sisyphe''
by Librairie Gallimard, 1942.  First published in the
United States by Alfred A. Knopf, 1955.

http://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2013/03/30/pragmatism-meets-absurdity/

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