Albert Camus's Philosophy of Communication: Making Sense in an Age of Absurdity
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Albert Camus's Philosophy of Communication: Making Sense in an A ...

Chapter 1:  The Fall
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Existential Homelessness

The metaphor of existential homelessness is introduced in the work of Ronald C. Arnett (“Existential” 229), who sought to establish the importance of dialogue within human communication. According to Arnett, existential homelessness emerges in moments when there are “lost common centers and moral stories that provide a publicly known base from which conversation can begin” (“Existential” 232). A loss of such stories “contributes to uncertainty and mistrust” (232) and also leads one to make decisions and ethical evaluations based upon a position of emotivism which, according to Alasdair MacIntyre, is a time in which “all moral judgments are nothing but expressions of preference, expressions of attitude or feeling” (12). As the main character of The Fall, Jean-Baptiste Clamence, demonstrates, when left with no common center or story as a guide, “a person can lose a sense of direction. A person no longer knows which way to turn and what option to pursue when personal preferences clash” (Arnett, “Existential” 233). Building upon the foundation of Arnett’s work, Annette Holba wrote,

Rootlessness fuels “existential homelessness” (Arnett, 1994, p. 229). In feeling a sense of existential homelessness one feels embedded in existential mistrust of others and of the world. In the communicative space of existential homelessness one feels in between, disrupted, or like an existential stranger trying to negotiate though a era of “parenthesis” (Arnett, 1994, p. 230). In this experience uncertainty manifests feelings of homelessness, physically and emotionally. In this state of existential homelessness one might feel stagnant or motionless, meandering about without arriving anywhere. It is in this experience that one feels a sense of failure permeating one’s existential existence. From experiences of both uncertainty and hopelessness one might describe her or his communicative exchanges occurring within a monologic vacuum. (“Revisiting” 495).

In order to build upon the work of Arnett and Holba and establish a framework for interpreting The Fall, I next explain four metaphors in relation to the concept of existential homelessness: common center, dialogue, public sphere, and responsibility.