Albert Camus By: Jordan, Natalie, Amauri, and Emily

Biographical Information Albert Camus was born in Mondovi, Algeria on 7th November His father worked as a cellarman and his mother was a cleaning woman. Camus spent his childhood in a three bedroom apartment in Belcourt. In 1923, Camus started going to school; however, he was soon expected to dropout to follow in the footsteps of his brothers by getting a job. He loved swimming, playing football, and the school work. Camus became political during his student years, joining first the Communist Party and then the Algerian People's Party. Camus went to the University of Algiers, where he studied philosophy and played soccer.

Biographical Information Continued... Camus won the Nobel Prize for Literature in Camus married and divorced twice as a young man, stating his disapproval of the institution of marriage throughout. He died on January 4, 1960, in a traffic collision.

Spiritual History He was born and raised Catholic. Even though his father was Protestant he received communion at age 11. He believed religion was “philosophical suicide.” He said: “We turn toward god only to obtain the impossible” He believed that religion was just an attempt by humans to rationalize an Irrational universe. He died atheist.

Aesthetic/existential Point-of-view Camus was know more of a absurdist rather than an existentialist. He even rejected the idea of being of an existentialist all together. However, both are present in his writings. The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), The Stranger (1942), and The Plague (1947) represent absurdism the most.

Camus’ Ethical Point of View Camus believed that we are never at home on the earth. The universe is unconcerned with humans and unyielding, and there is no reason for humans to be here. We are constantly adjusting to our surrounding and those around us. He believed there are three moral choices humans can make. They can choose to commit suicide, which is to quit physically. People can have faith in religion, which he believed was quitting mentally. Finally, humans can create meaning. According to Camus, we are trying to rationalize an irrational place, and once we stop trying to figure everything out, we can start to create our own meaning. He believed that identifying ourselves and others with titles is self deception. Camus said that the person who uses another to identify their self worth has lost their true self.

Camus’ Ethical Point of View continued... He believed in absurdity, which is a separation from the world and yourself. He said that you are more than the opportunities your environment presents you with. In fact, they are no real opportunities because the world provides no real choices.

The Effects of Fellow Philosophers on Camus Camus followed the works of Nietzsche closely, which is where he got the idea of hope being disastrous for humans. He said that we should accept that Nietzsche is right about god being dead. Camus and Sartre were intellectual stars during the post war period in Paris. They both received the nobel prize in literature for their work in existentialism. Their close friendship turned into a bitter feud when they voiced their different views on communism and violence. Sartre believed that violence was a necessary tool for peace, while Camus was outraged by the atrocities of war. They repeatedly attacked each other in their literary works until Camus untimely death.

Informal Bibliography