TALISIK: An Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy From Solitude to Solidarity: The Significance of Love in Camus’ Philosophy of Affirmation1 Myreen C. Raginio University of Santo Tomas
[email protected] Abstract: Albert Camus sought to envision his works to express negation, affirmation, and love in a progressive manner. Negation found its expression in The Myth of Sisyphus, The Stranger and Caligula; while affirmation was conveyed in The Rebel, The Plague, and The State of Siege. Love, however, was left unexpressed due to Camus’ untimely death. When Camus died on January 4, 1960, a draft of an autobiographical work entitled Le Premiere Homme (The First Man), was found inside his suitcase. This work was supposed to be part of the third phase of Camus’ works which would purportedly discuss about love. The main aim of this research project therefore is to expose Camus’ notion of love and prove its significance in his philosophy of affirmation. It will make use of the triads included in Camus’ projected works – finished and unfinished – in extracting the meaning of love and in proving that love has a vital role in his philosophy. The work desires to address the main problem in three ways: firstly, to discuss Camus’ philosophy of affirmation; secondly, to elucidate his notion of love by extracting its meaning from The First Man; and thirdly, to bridge the two by attempting to articulate the role that the notion of love plays in the development of his philosophy of affirmation via the articulation of the close connection of Camus’ political intentions and activities to his philosophical thoughts.