Camus says that this question of suicide is the most basic philosophical question. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories comes afterwards. Man is caught in a paradox. On the one hand, all empirical evidence shows that the world is unpredictable and chaotic.
Lives come into existence and pass.
Ideas are proven to be true then determined to be false. One belief is held than another. Even our own moods are constantly shifting. On the other hand, man has a persistent nostalgia for unity, a need to make sense of the world. This is the human condition, Camus suggests, a constant attempt to derive meaning from meaninglessness.