Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2020 February 23

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February 23

What is the mayor difference between Sartre und Camus?

I do not understand the great difference between Sartre und Camus. Both see the world as fundamental meaningless and the human being in the duty to creat a new significance. Can someone explain me the difference?--82.82.76.198 (talk) 23:42, 23 February 2020 (UTC)

Just glancing at our articles while still waking up, I could see the potential argument that Sarte believed that authenticity can be earned, while Camus thought we should accept absurdity. But in typing that, the ghost of Kierkegaard asked me "what's the difference?" Ian.thomson (talk) 23:56, 23 February 2020 (UTC)

One difference between the two is that Sartre became, so to speak, much more a "professional" philosopher who built a bulwark out of his particular version of existentialism. Camus was and remained foremost a political activist and author, and while his philosophy was reflected in both his actions and his writings, he never attempted to cast his views into a closed system. His most philosophical work, The Rebel (aka Man in Revolt), is mainly an examination of the contradictions that make up the human condition; any conclusions reached can best be described as tentative. Camus did not agree with some aspects of Sartre's existentialism, in particular of its willingness to sacrifice individual freedom for participation in a grand project. This also led to a political split: Sartre not only embraced Marxism but also defended, or refused to criticize, illiberal events in the Soviet Union. Camus. more of an anarchist, condemned this. Conversely, Sartre did not agree with Camus' views on the role of "the absurd" in the human condition – Camus viewed it as inevitable, something we should make the best of, not try to vanquish it. Sartre saw the struggle for a better society as a way out to transcend the absurd. Camus, on the other hand, found that such struggles for the perfect society had always led to terror, and could not accept Sartre's view.  --Lambiam 07:50, 24 February 2020 (UTC)