Is life meaningless? And other absurd questions - Nina Medvinskaya

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Yi-Ping Cho (Marssi)

Albert Camus grew up surrounded by violence.

卡繆在暴力的環境中成長。

His homeland of Algeria was mired in conflict between native Algerians

他的家鄉阿爾及利亞

深陷在本地阿爾及利亞人 與法國歐洲殖民者之間的衝突中。

and colonizing French Europeans.

He lost his father in the First World War,

他在一次大戰中失去了父親，

and was deemed unfit to fight in the second.

在二次大戰中又被認為不適合作戰。

Battling tuberculosis in France and confronting the war's devastation

卡繆在法國對抗結核病，

並以反抗軍記者的身分 面對戰爭的蹂躪，

as a resistance journalist, Camus grew despondent.

這些事讓他越來越沮喪。

He couldn’t fathom any meaning behind all this endless bloodshed and suffering.

他無法在這無止境的殺戮和苦難背後

找到任何意義。

He asked: if the world was meaningless,

他問：如果世界沒有意義，

could our individual lives still hold value?

我們個人的生命還會有價值嗎？

Many of Camus’ contemporaries were exploring similar questions

許多和卡繆同時代的人 都在「存在主義」

under the banner of a new philosophy called existentialism.

這個新哲學的旗號下 探究類似的問題。

Existentialists believed people were born as blank slates,

存在主義者相信 人在出生時是一張白紙，

each responsible for creating their life’s meaning amidst a chaotic world.

每個人都要負責在這混亂的世界中 為自己的人生創造出意義。

But Camus rejected their school of thought.

但卡繆不認同這個學派的思想。

He argued all people were born with a shared human nature

他主張所有人在出生時 都有共同的人類天性，

that bonded them toward common goals.

讓大家結合在一起， 朝共同目標邁進。

One such goal was to seek out meaning despite the world’s arbitrary cruelty.

其中一個目標

就是即便世界有著無常的殘酷，

也要去尋找意義。

Camus viewed humanity’s desire for meaning and the universe’s silent indifference

卡繆認為人類對於意義的渴望

以及宇宙沉默的冷漠

as two incompatible puzzle pieces,

是兩片不相容的拼圖，

and considered trying to fit them together to be fundamentally absurd.

硬把它們拼在一起

是很荒謬的事情。

This tension became the heart of Camus’ Philosophy of the Absurd,

這種張力成了卡繆 「荒謬哲學」的核心，

which argued that life is inherently futile.

他的哲學主張是： 人生在本質上就是微不足道。

Exploring how to live without meaning

探究沒有意義時要如何活下去

became the guiding question behind Camus’ early work,

成了卡繆早期作品背後的導引問題，

which he called his “cycle of the absurd.”

他將這些問題稱為 他的「荒謬的循環」。

The star of this cycle, and Camus’ first published novel,

這個循環的明星， 也是卡繆出版的第一本小說，

offers a rather bleak response.

提供的是很無望的回應。

"The Stranger" follows Meursault, an emotionally detached young man

《異鄉人》的主人翁是莫梭， 他是個情緒疏離的年輕人，

who doesn’t attribute much meaning to anything.

在他眼中凡事都沒有什麼意義。

He doesn’t cry at his mother’s funeral,

他在母親的葬禮上沒有哭泣，

he supports his neighbor’s scheme to humiliate a woman,

他支持鄰居去羞辱一位女子，

he even commits a violent crime — but Meaursault feels no remorse.

他甚至犯下暴力的罪行——

但莫梭都沒有感到後悔。

For him the world is pointless and moral judgment has no place in it.

對他而言，世界沒有意義，

道德判斷在世界上也沒有容身之處。

This attitude creates hostility between Meursault

這種態度讓莫梭 和他所處井然有序的社會

and the orderly society he inhabits,

之間產生了敵意，

slowly increasing his alienation until the novel’s explosive climax.

讓他越來越疏遠，

直到小說極具爆發力的高潮。

Unlike his spurned protagonist, Camus was celebrated for his honest philosophy.

卡繆的主人翁受到唾棄，

卡繆卻因為誠實的哲學而受到讚揚。

"The Stranger" catapulted him to fame, and Camus continued producing works

《異鄉人》讓卡繆快速成名，

他繼續不斷產出作品，

that explored the value of life amidst absurdity

在荒謬中探究生命的價值，

many of which circled back to the same philosophical question:

這些作品中，有許多 都繞回到同樣的哲學問題：

if life is truly meaningless,

人生真的無意義嗎？

is committing suicide the only rational response?

自殺是唯一理性的回應嗎？

Camus’ answer was an emphatic “no.”

卡繆果斷地回答「不是」。

There may not be any explanation for our unjust world,

雖然可能沒有辦法解釋 這個不公平的世界，

but choosing to live regardless is the deepest expression

但儘管如此仍然選擇活下去，

就是將真實自由做最深刻的表現。

of our genuine freedom.

Camus explains this in one of his most famous essays

卡繆藉著希臘神話中薛西弗斯的故事

which centers on the Greek myth of Sisyphus.

在他一篇知名的短文中解釋了這一點。

Sisyphus was a king who cheated the gods,

薛西弗斯是欺騙了神的國王，

and was condemned to endlessly roll a boulder up a hill.

他受罰要永無止境地 將大石頭滾上山丘。

The cruelty of his punishment lies in its singular futility,

他受到的懲罰的殘酷之處， 在於怎麼做都是徒勞，

but Camus argues all of humanity is in the same position.

但卡繆主張全人類 都身在這個處境中。

And only when we accept the meaninglessness of our lives

唯有接受人生是無意義的，

can we face the absurd with our heads held high.

我們才有可能抬頭挺胸去面對荒謬。

As Camus says, when the king chooses to begin his relentless task once more,

如卡繆所言，

當國王選擇再重新開始一次 那沒完沒了的任務時，

“One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

「我們必須要想像 薛西弗斯是快樂的。」

Camus’ contemporaries weren’t so accepting of futility.

卡繆那個時代的人 並不那麼願意接受徒勞。

Many existentialists advocated for violent revolution

許多存在主義者 提倡推動暴力的革命，

to upend systems they believed were depriving people of agency and purpose.

推翻那些被他們認為在剝奪 人的動力及目的的體制。

Camus responded with his second set of work: the cycle of revolt.

卡繆用他的第二系列作品作為回應：

反抗的循環。

In "The Rebel," he explored rebellion as a creative act,

在《反抗者》中，他把反抗 當作一種創意舉動來探究，

rather than a destructive one.

而不是毀滅性的舉動。

Camus believed that inverting power dynamics

卡繆相信，反轉權力的動態，

only led to an endless cycle of violence.

只會導致無盡的暴力循環。

Instead, the way to avoid needless bloodshed

反之，若要避免不必要的殺戮，

is to establish a public understanding of our shared human nature.

要做的是讓公眾了解 大家共有的人類天性。

Ironically, it was this cycle of relatively peaceful ideas

諷刺的是，正是這個相對顯得 和平的想法所形成的循環，

that triggered his fallout with many fellow writers and philosophers.

讓他和許多作家及哲學家夥伴失和。

Despite the controversy,

儘管有爭議，

Camus began work on his most lengthy and personal novel yet:

卡繆仍然開始致力投入 他寫過最長、最個人化小說：

an autobiographical work entitled "The First Man."

他的自傳《第一人》。

The novel was intended to be the first piece in a hopeful new direction:

他希望用這本小說 來展開一個新方向：

the cycle of love.

愛的循環。

But in 1960, Camus suddenly died in a car accident

但在 1960 年，

卡繆突然死於車禍，

that can only be described as meaningless and absurd.

這個結果只能說是無意義又荒謬。

While the world never saw his cycle of love,

雖然世界從來沒有 看到他的「愛的循環」，

his cycles of revolt and absurdity continue to resonate with readers today.

他的「反抗和荒謬的循環」

至今仍然持續引起讀者共鳴。

His concept of absurdity has become a part of world literature,

他對於荒謬的概念，成為世界文學、

20th century philosophy, and even pop culture.

二十世紀哲學， 甚至流行文化的一部分。

Today, Camus remains a trusted guide for moments of uncertainty;

現今，

卡繆在不確定的時刻中 仍然是個值得信賴的引領者，

his ideas defiantly imbuing a senseless world with inspiration

他的想法大膽地帶給無意義的世界

鼓舞而非挫敗。

rather than defeat.