1001Philosophers

Albert Camus vs Jean-Paul Sartre

Camus and Sartre were friends, allies, and the two most prominent French existentialists of the postwar era until their public break in 1952 over Camus's The Rebel. The break, ostensibly over communism, was also a philosophical disagreement about what the absurd allows.

At a glance

Albert CamusJean-Paul Sartre
Dates1913 – 19601905 – 1980
NationalityFrenchFrench
EraContemporaryContemporary
Movements Absurdism, Existentialism, Continental Philosophy Existentialism, Continental Philosophy, Marxism
Profile Albert Camus → Jean-Paul Sartre →

Where they agree

Both held that meaning is not given by the world or by God but must be confronted in its absence, both wrote across the conventional boundaries of philosophy and literature, and both treated political engagement as a serious test of philosophical seriousness. Each was decisively shaped by the experience of the German occupation.

Where they disagree

Sartre held that the human situation is radical freedom under conditions of contingency: we are condemned to choose, and authentic existence requires committing oneself to projects, including political projects. Camus held that the human situation is absurdity: the demand for meaning meets the silence of the world, and the proper response is not commitment but lucid revolt — a refusal to accept either suicide or false consolation. Sartre's existentialism led him to defend Soviet communism for years; Camus's absurdism led him to reject it as totalitarian, an early stand that cost him Sartre's friendship.

Representative quotes

Albert Camus

  • “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

    Original French: La lutte elle-même vers les sommets suffit à remplir un cœur d'homme; il faut imaginer Sisyphe heureux. | Variant translation: The fight itself towards the summits suffices to fill a heart of man; it is necessary to imagine Sisyphus happy.

  • “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”

    O light ! This is the cry of all the characters of ancient drama brought face to face with their fate. This last resort was ours, too, and I knew it now. In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer .

  • “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.”

    Original French: La lutte elle-même vers les sommets suffit à remplir un cœur d'homme; il faut imaginer Sisyphe heureux. | Variant translation: The fight itself towards the summits suffices to fill a heart of man; it is necessary to imagine Sisyphus happy.

Jean-Paul Sartre

  • “Hell is other people.”

    Alors, c'est ça l'enfer. Je n'aurais jamais cru... vous vous rappelez: le soufre, le bûcher, le gril... ah! Quelle plaisanterie. Pas besoin de gril, l'enfer, c'est les autres.

  • “Existence precedes essence.”

    L'existence précède et commande l'essence.

  • “Man is condemned to be free.”

    Existentialism Is a Humanism, 1946

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