The Ethics of Quantity

The Myth of Sisyphus

This flow traces the conflict between equal values, accumulated experience, and the demand to live as fully as possible.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

Values Flattened Values Flattened from "The Myth of Sisyphus". Values Flattened No Higher Measure If life has no transcendent meaning, no experience possesses an absolute rank supplied from above.

Values Flattened from "The Myth of Sisyphus". Values Flattened No Higher Measure If life has no transcendent meaning, no experience possesses an absolute rank supplied from above.

Values Flattened No Higher Measure If life has no transcendent meaning, no experience possesses an absolute rank supplied from above. Ethical hierarchies lose their guaranteed foundation. Factual Judgment The argument shifts from deciding what is noble in theory to observing what is actually lived. Quantity becomes a provisional measure of engagement.

Experience Multiplied Experience Multiplied from "The Myth of Sisyphus". Experience Multiplied More Life The absurd person seeks the greatest possible number and variety of experiences.

Experience Multiplied from "The Myth of Sisyphus". Experience Multiplied More Life The absurd person seeks the greatest possible number and variety of experiences.

Experience Multiplied More Life The absurd person seeks the greatest possible number and variety of experiences. The aim is not consumption alone, but conscious contact with the world. No Romanticism Circumstances do not determine everything. Awareness can enlarge experience even when external opportunities remain limited.

Contradictory Rule Contradictory Rule from "The Myth of Sisyphus". Contradictory Rule Equality and Preference If all experiences are indifferent, choosing a life of maximal experience seems to reintroduce a value hierarchy.

Contradictory Rule from "The Myth of Sisyphus". Contradictory Rule Equality and Preference If all experiences are indifferent, choosing a life of maximal experience seems to reintroduce a value hierarchy.

Contradictory Rule Equality and Preference If all experiences are indifferent, choosing a life of maximal experience seems to reintroduce a value hierarchy. The argument openly confronts this contradiction. Consciousness as Difference What distinguishes experiences is not an eternal quality but the degree to which they are consciously lived. Awareness becomes the practical criterion.

Premature Death Premature Death from "The Myth of Sisyphus". Premature Death Irrecoverable Loss No depth or intensity can compensate for years of consciousness never lived.

Premature Death from "The Myth of Sisyphus". Premature Death Irrecoverable Loss No depth or intensity can compensate for years of consciousness never lived.

Premature Death Irrecoverable Loss No depth or intensity can compensate for years of consciousness never lived. Death is the one deprivation that cannot be balanced by another experience. Luck and Limits The quantity of life depends partly on chance rather than will. The absurd person must consent to this fact without turning it into a doctrine of despair.

Present Succession Present Succession from "The Myth of Sisyphus". Present Succession Conscious Days The ideal is not an abstract perfect life but a succession of presents held by an alert mind.

Present Succession from "The Myth of Sisyphus". Present Succession Conscious Days The ideal is not an abstract perfect life but a succession of presents held by an alert mind.

Present Succession Conscious Days The ideal is not an abstract perfect life but a succession of presents held by an alert mind. Every day becomes a complete field of attention. Passionate Return The argument returns from arithmetic to human revolt. Quantity matters because consciousness gives each finite moment its intensity.

opening of the quantity argument

early quantity argument

middle quantity argument

late quantity argument

end of the quantity argument