Albert camus existentialism beliefs

Intro

Albert Camus (caMOO) was a French author and essayist, as much a literary figure as a philosopher. Though he never accepted the label himself, he was a major figure in 20^th-century existentialism, a literary-philosophical movement that accepts and even embraces the fundamental meaninglessness of life.

Existentialism consists of two insights: first, nothing means anything.

Life is pointless.

Albert camus existentialism beliefs

There is no God and no absolute morality. It’s all nonsense and chaos. And, second, we have to be OK with that state of affairs. The first part is a lot like nihilism, but existentialism differs from nihilism in its attitude.

Albert camus existentialism beliefs and practices

The nihilist might give up or retreat into mere self-serving pleasure. The existentialist embraces meaninglessness because it brings with it a kind of freedom: if there is no absolute meaning to anything, then we are free to come up with our own meanings.

And that, in itself, might be all there is to the meaning of life.

Bio

Camus spent much of