1. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 1 Albert Camus: Life zAlbert Camus (1913-1960) yBorn in a small village in Algeria of a French father & a Spanish mother; he spent most of his early life in the city of Algiers. xAlgeria became a French colony in 1848. xA war for independence began in 1954 and lasted until 1962.

2. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 2 Albert Camus: Life yHis father was killed in WWII. yHis mother supported herself and her two sons doing cleaning. yWon a scholarship to the local lycée (college preparatory school)

3. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 3 Albert Camus: Life yIn 1930, at the age of seventeen, suffered an attack of tuberculosis. Affected his health for the remainder of his life. yAttended the University of Algiers between 1932 and 1936 where he studied philosophy. yMarried in 1933; lasted briefly. yIn 1934, joined the Community Party; left the Party a few years later.

4. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 4 Albert Camus: Life yJoined a theatrical company from 1935 to 1939. yThen decided to become a journalist. Worked first for the Alger-Républicain; then moved to Paris and worked for Paris- Soir. yWith the invasion of France in 1940, he with the staff of Paris-Soir moved to Lyons.

5. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 5 Albert Camus: Life yAlbert Camus in the late 1930s with his colleagues at the Alger Républicain

6. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 6 Albert Camus: Life yIn Lyons, in 1940, he married Francine Faure yIn 1941, for reasons of health, he moved to Oran and then Algiers. ySuffered another attack of tuberculosis in 1942. Went to the mountains of central France to recover. yThe allied landings cut him off from his wife, who had remained in Oran.

7. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 7 Albert Camus: Life y1942 - published L’Etranger & in 1943, Le Mythe de Sysyphe. yThese two works brought him fame y1943 - he joined the resistance and became the editor of the movements newspaper, Combat ySeptember 1945 - birth of twins, Jean & Catherine y1946 - lecture tour of the United States y1947 - publication of La Peste

8. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 8 Albert Camus: Life yCamus in 1944, at age 31

9. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 9 Albert Camus: Life y1950 - L’Homme révolté - a collection of essays expressing his political philosophy; strongly anti-Marxist (see the character Tarrou in The Plague) y1956 - publication of La Chute y1957 - awarded the Nobel prize for literature y1960 - killed in an automobile accident

10. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 10 Albert Camus: Life yCamus & his wife, Francine, December 1957, Stolkholm. Reception on the occasion of the Nobel prize.

11. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 11 Background: Existentialism zBackground to The Plague yExistentialism xHistorical roots Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) åTheme of the necessity of making decisions in the face of inadequate knowledge--e.g., choice of spouse, religious commitment

12. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 12 Background: Existentialism åThis brings with it deep anxiety. This anxiety is “the dizziness of freedom which occurs when freedom looks down into its own possibility.” åWe touch reality most deeply at times of painful decision.

13. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 13 Background: Existentialism Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) åThe theme of the death of God & the resulting disorientation & experience of nothingness (meaninglessness). å“Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried [more]

14. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 14 Background: Existentialism åincessantly, ‘I seek God! I seek God!’... ‘Whither is God’ he cried. ‘I shall tell you. We have killed him--you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizen? What did we do when we unchained this [more]

15. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 15 Background: Existentialism åearth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we now plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing?... God is dead.... And we [more]

16. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 16 Background: Existentialism åhave killed him.... Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must not we ourselves become gods simply to seem worthy of it?’” (from The Gay Science, 1882) åWhat kind of a statement is Nietzsche’s declaration of the death of God?

17. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 17 Background: Existentialism åOne can overcome the meaninglessness brought about by the death of God by an act of will--a superhuman effort of will.

18. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 18 Background: Existentialism xExistentialism is a European school of philosophy which begins with the publication of Martin Heidegger’s (1889- 1976) Being and Time in 1927 & lasted into the 1960s. Some leading Existentialists åMartin Buber (Israeli, 1878-1965) åJean Paul-Sartre (French, 1905- 1980)

19. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 19 Background: Existentialism åSimone de Beauvoir (French, 1908-1986) åThe word Existentialism -- concern with the concrete, the individual, & the unique vs essentialism - concern with the universal, the general.

20. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 20 Background: Existentialism The principal themes of Existentialism (6) 1. The primacy of the individual åRejection of all attempts at a universal definition of humanness. åDescription of specific moods & feelings.

21. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 21 Background: Existentialism 2. Critique of reason & an emphasis on will åWestern philosophy has been dominated by reason to the neglect of will & feelings. åMiguel de Unamuno (Spanish, 1864-1936): “Man is said to be a reasoning animal. I do not know why he has not been defined as

22. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 22 Background: Existentialism åan effective or feeling animal. Perhaps what differentiates him from other animals is feeling rather than reason.” åOn the most important issues of life, one must often make a choice (act of the will) which goes beyond reason (a Kierkegaardian theme).

23. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 23 Background: Existentialism åNietzsche interpreted Socrates as a villain of Western thought because of his emphasis on reason over the tragic view of life as expressed in Greek drama.

24. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 24 Background: Existentialism 3. An emphasis on will, choice åSartre: Humans are free to choose their nature. Humans make themselves through their choices. åKierkegaard: religious faith requires a leap of faith

25. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 25 Background: Existentialism 4. Inauthentic ways of living åLiving entirely according to routine and according to roles åLossing one’s uniqueness & individuality

26. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 26 Background: Existentialism åWhat is living authentically? The Existentialists were reluctant to answer this question with a specific position. Minimally, it means self-awareness, especially on the level of feeling. Cf. Socrates’ “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

27. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 27 Background: Existentialism 5. Boundary situations åSpecial events which break one out of routine and roles åThese are an opportunity for reflection and change

28. Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 28 Background: Existentialism 6. Encounter with nothingness åA deep sense of the meaninglessness of life