Albert Camus
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Albert Camus was a French philosopher, novelist, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, t
Portrait from New York World-Telegram and The Sun Photograph Collection, 1957
A 20th-century postcard of the University of Algiers
Camus crowning Stockholm's Lucia on 13 December 1957, three days after accepting the Nobel Prize in Literature
Albert Camus's gravestone
Absurdism
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Absurdism is the philosophical theory that the universe is irrational and meaningless. It states that trying to find meaning leads people into conflict with a seemingly meaningless world. This conflic
Albert Camus
…pluralistic Algeria, a position that was rejected by most parties. Philosophically, Camus's views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. Some consider Camus's work to show him to be an existentialist, even though he himself firmly rejected the term throughout his lifetime. Albert Camus…
Sisyphus, the symbol of the absurdity of existence, painting by Franz Stuck (1920)
Thomas Nagel examined the nature of the absurd, considering arguments and responses to it.
Franz Kafka's book The Trial (German: Der Prozess) examines the absurdity of life through the lens of an impenetrable judicial system.
Kierkegaard designed the relationship framework based (in part) on how a person reacts to despair. Absurdist philosophy fits into the 'despair of defiance' rubric.