French writer and thinker, Nobel Prize winner (1957), one of the brightest representatives of the literature of existentialism. In his artistic and philosophical work, he developed the existential categories of "existence", "absurdity", "rebellion", "freedom", "moral choice", "limiting situation", and also developed the traditions of modernist literature. Depicting a person in a "world without God", Camus consistently considered the positions of "tragic humanism". In addition to artistic prose, the author's creative heritage includes dramaturgy, philosophical essays, literary critical articles, publicistic speeches.

He was born on November 7, 1913 in Algiers, in the family of a rural worker who died from a severe wound received at the front in the First World War. Camus studied first at a communal school, then at the Algiers Lyceum, and then at the University of Algiers. He was interested in literature and philosophy, devoted his thesis to philosophy.

In 1935 he created the amateur Theater of Labor, where he was an actor, director and playwright.

In 1936 he joined the Communist Party, from which he was expelled already in 1937. In the same 1937, he published the first collection of essays, The Inside Out and the Face.

In 1938, the first novel, Happy Death, was written.

In 1940 he moved to Paris, but because of the German offensive, he lived and taught for some time in Oran, where he completed the story "The Outsider", which attracted the attention of writers.

In 1941 he wrote the essay "The Myth of Sisyphus", which was considered a programmatic existentialist work, as well as the drama "Caligula".

In 1943, he settled in Paris, where he joined the resistance movement, collaborated with the illegal newspaper Komba, which he headed after the resistance, which threw the occupiers out of the city.

The second half of the 40s - the first half of the 50s - a period of creative development: the novel The Plague (1947) appeared, which brought the author world fame, the plays The State of Siege (1948), The Righteous (1950), the essay Rebel Man "(1951), the story "The Fall" (1956), the landmark collection "Exile and the Kingdom" (1957), the essay "Timely Reflections" (1950-1958), etc. The last years of his life were marked by a creative decline.

The work of Albert Camus is an example of a fruitful combination of the talents of a writer and a philosopher. For the formation of the artistic consciousness of this creator, acquaintance with the works of F. Nietzsche, A. Schopenhauer, L. Shestov, S. Kierkegaard, as well as with ancient culture and French literature, was of significant importance. One of the most important factors in the formation of his existentialist worldview was the early experience of discovering the proximity of death (while still a student, Camus fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis). As a thinker, he is attributed to the atheistic branch of existentialism.

Paphos, denial of the values ​​of bourgeois civilization, concentration on the ideas of the absurdity of being and rebellion, characteristic of the work of A. Camus, were the reason for his rapprochement with the pro-communist-minded circle of the French intelligentsia, and in particular with the ideologist of "left" existentialism, J. P. Sartre. However, already in the post-war years, the writer went to break with his former associates and comrades, because he had no illusions about the "communist paradise" in the former USSR and wanted to reconsider his relationship with "left" existentialism.

While still a novice writer, A. Camus drew up a plan for the future creative path, which was to combine the three facets of his talent and, accordingly, the three areas of his interests - literature, philosophy and theater. There were such stages - "absurd", "rebellion", "love". The writer consistently implemented his plan, alas, at the third stage, his creative path was cut short by death.

Albert Camus; France Paris; 11/07/1913 - 01/04/1960

Albert Camus is one of the most famous French writers and philosophers of the 20th century. In 1957 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, his works were translated into many languages ​​of the world, and in the USSR he received the nickname "Conscience of the West." Although in the mature period of his work he opposed the totalitarian regime of the USSR in every possible way.

Biography of Albert Camus

Albert Camus was born in the town of Drean in northeastern Algeria. With the outbreak of the First World War, Albert's father was drafted into the army and soon died. By this time, the boy was not even one year old. Illiterate and semi-deaf mother Camus decides to move to the port city of Bellecour, where Albert's grandmother lived. The family lived rather poorly, but this did not stop them from sending Albert to school at the age of five. A talented and promising boy was almost immediately noticed by one of the teachers - Louis Germain. It was he who, in 1923, after graduating from school, insisted on Albert's further education and knocked out a scholarship for him.

At the Lyceum, Albert Camus gets acquainted with French literature and is fond of football. But when the boy was 17 years old, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He spent two months in sanatoriums and was cured of the disease, but the consequences of the illness reminded him of himself for the rest of his life. In 1932, the future writer entered the University of Algiers. Here he studies philosophy, gets acquainted with, meets his first love - Simone Iye, whom he divorced after five years. During his studies, he had to earn extra money as a teacher, salesman and assistant at the institute. At the same time, work began on Camus' first book, A Happy Death.

After graduating from university, Albert Camus worked as an editor in various publications, writing the book "Marriage" and the play "Caligula". In 1940, together with his future wife, Francis Faure moved to France. Here he works as a technical editor at Pari-Suar, and also approaches the left-wing underground organization Komba. During World War II, he was declared unfit for service and concentrated on his literary work. But most of Albert Camus' books written at that time came out after the end of the war. So in 1947, one of the most famous works of Camus, The Plague, was published. At the same time, a departure from leftist ideas began, which was finally embodied in the book "Rebel Man", which was published in 1951. Around the same time, Albert became more and more interested in the theater and wrote a number of plays.

In 1957, Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He dedicates it to his school teacher Louis Germain, who many years ago insisted on continuing the boy's education. Albert Camus died in January 1960 as a result of a car accident. He, along with a friend and his family, were traveling from Provence to Paris. As a result of an accident, they went off the road and crashed into a plane tree. Albert Camus died on the spot.

Books by Albert Camus at Top Books

Books by Albert Camus are still popular to read now. The reason for this is largely the presence of his works in the curriculum. But even without this, the works of Camus are quite popular and most likely will fall into our rating more than once. At the same time, several novels of the writer can be presented in the rating at once.

Albert Camus book list

1. marriage feast
2. Rebellious man
3. Wind in Jemil
4. Return to Tipasa
5. Revolt in Asturias
6. exile and kingdom
7. Backside and face
8. Caligula
9. Misunderstanding
10. state of siege
11. A fall
12. First man

French writer, essayist and playwright Albert Camus was a literary representative of his generation. The obsession with philosophical problems of the meaning of life and the search for true values ​​provided the writer with a cult status among readers and brought the Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44.

Childhood and youth

Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in Mondovi, Algeria, then part of France. His French father was killed during the First World War when Albert was one year old. The boy's mother, who is of Spanish origin, was able to provide a small income and housing in a poor area of ​​Algiers through unskilled labor.

Albert's childhood was poor and sunny. Living in Algeria made Camus feel wealthy due to the temperate climate. Judging by the statement of Camus, he "lived in poverty, but also in sensual delight." His Spanish heritage gave him a sense of dignity in poverty and a passion for honor. Camus began writing at an early age.

At the University of Algiers, he brilliantly studied philosophy - the value and meaning of life, emphasizing the comparison of Hellenism and Christianity. While still a student, the guy founded the theater, at the same time directed and played in performances. At the age of 17, Albert fell ill with tuberculosis, which did not allow him to engage in sports, military and teaching activities. Camus worked in various positions before becoming a journalist in 1938.

His first published works were Backside and Face in 1937 and The Wedding Feast in 1939, a collection of essays on the meaning of life and its joys, as well as its meaninglessness. Albert Camus' writing style marked a break with the traditional bourgeois novel. He was less interested in psychological analysis than in philosophical problems.

Camus developed the idea of ​​absurdism which provided the theme for much of his early work. Absurdity is the gulf between man's desire for happiness and a world that he can understand rationally, and the real world, which is confusing and irrational. The second stage of Camus' thought arose from the first: man must not only accept the absurd universe, but also "revolt" against it. This uprising is not political, but in the name of traditional values.

Books

Camus' first novel, The Outsider, published in 1942, dealt with the negative aspect of man. The book is about a young clerk named Meursault, who is the narrator and main character. Meursault is alien to all the expected human emotions, he is a "lunatic" in life. The novel's crisis unfolds on a beach when the hero, embroiled in a quarrel through no fault of his own, shoots an Arab.

The second part of the novel is devoted to his trial for murder and sentence to death, which he understands in much the same way as why he killed an Arab. Meursault is absolutely honest in describing his feelings, and it is this honesty that makes him a "stranger" in the world and secures a guilty verdict. The overall situation symbolizes the absurd nature of life, and this effect is enhanced by the book's intentionally flat and colorless style.

Camus returned to Algeria in 1941 and completed his next book, The Myth of Sisyphus, also published in 1942. This is a philosophical essay on the nature of the meaninglessness of life. The mythical character Sisyphus, sentenced to eternity, lifts a heavy stone uphill only to have it roll down again. Sisyphus becomes a symbol of humanity and in his constant efforts achieves a certain sad victory.

In 1942, returning to France, Camus joined the Resistance group and was engaged in underground journalism until the Liberation in 1944, when he became editor of the Boy newspaper for 3 years. Also during this period, his first two plays were staged: "Misunderstanding" in 1944 and "Caligula" in 1945.

The main role in the first play was played by the actress Maria Cazares. Working with Camus turned into a deeper relationship lasting 3 years. Maria remained on friendly terms with Albert until his death. The main theme of the plays was the meaninglessness of life and the finality of death. It was in dramaturgy that Camus felt most successful.

In 1947, Albert published his second novel, The Plague. This time, Camus focused on the positive side of man. Describing a fictional bubonic plague attack in the Algerian city of Oran, he revisited the theme of absurdism, expressed by the senseless and completely undeserved suffering and death caused by the plague.

The narrator, Dr. Rieux, explained his ideal of "honesty" - that of a man who retains strength of character and tries his best, even if unsuccessfully, to fight against an outbreak of disease.

On one level, the novel can be seen as a fictional representation of the German occupation in France. "The Plague" was most widely known among readers as a symbol of the struggle against evil and suffering - the main moral problems of mankind.

Camus' next important book was The Rebellious Man. The collection includes 3 important philosophical works of the writer, without which it is difficult to fully understand his concept of existentialism. In his work, he asks questions: what is freedom and truth, what does the existence of a truly free person consist of. Life according to Camus is a rebellion. And it is worth arranging an uprising in order to truly live.

Personal life

On June 16, 1934, Camus married Simone Hee, who had previously been engaged to the writer's friend Max-Paul Fouche. However, the happy personal life of the newlyweds did not last long - the couple broke up by July 1936, and the divorce was finalized in September 1940.

On December 3, 1940, Camus married Francine Faure, a pianist and mathematics teacher whom he met in 1937. Although Albert loved his wife, he did not believe in the institution of marriage. Despite this, the couple had twin daughters Catherine and Jean, born on September 5, 1945.

Death

In 1957, Camus received the Nobel Prize in Literature for his writings. In the same year, Albert began work on a fourth important novel, and was also about to become director of a major Parisian theatre.

On January 4, 1960, he died in a car accident in the small town of Vilblevin. The writer was 46 years old. Although many have speculated that the cause of the writer's death was a Soviet-sponsored accident, there is no evidence for this. Camus was survived by his wife and children.

Two of his works were published posthumously: "A Happy Death", written in the late 1930s, and published in 1971, and "The First Man" (1994), which Camus wrote at the time of his death. The death of the writer was a tragic loss for literature, since he still had to write works at a more mature and conscious age and expand his creative biography.

After the death of Albert Camus, many world directors took up the works of the Frenchman to film them. There have already been 6 films based on the books of the philosopher, and one fictional biography, which contains original quotes from the writer and shows his real photos.

Quotes

"It is common for every generation to consider themselves called to remake the world"

"I don't want to be a genius, I have enough of the problems that I face trying to be just a man"

"Knowing that we are going to die makes our life a joke"

"Travel as the greatest and most serious science helps us rediscover ourselves"

Bibliography

• 1937 - "Inside out and face"
• 1942 - "Outsider"
• 1942 - "The Myth of Sisyphus"
• 1947 - "Plague"
• 1951 - "Rebel Man"
• 1956 - "Fall"
• 1957 - "Hospitality"
• 1971 - "Happy Death"
• 1978 - "Journey Diary"
• 1994 - "First Man"

Camus, Albert (Camus, Albert) (1913-1960). Born November 7, 1913 in the Algerian village of Mondovi, 24 km south of the city of Bon (now Annaba), in the family of an agricultural worker. His father, an Alsatian by birth, died in the First World War. His mother, a Spaniard, moved with her two sons to Algiers, where Camus lived until 1939. In 1930, graduating from high school, he fell ill with tuberculosis, the consequences of which he suffered all his life. Becoming a student at the University of Algiers, he studied philosophy, interrupted by odd jobs.

Concerns about social problems led him to the Communist Party, but a year later he left it. He organized an amateur theater, from 1938 he took up journalism. Released in 1939 from military conscription for health reasons, in 1942 he joined the underground organization of the Resistance "Komba"; edited her illegal newspaper of the same name. Leaving in 1947 work in "Comba", he wrote journalistic articles for the press, subsequently collected in three books under the title Topical Notes (Actuelles, 1950, 1953, 1958).

Books (10)

Backside and face. Compositions

This book presents the philosophical legacy of the Nobel Prize winner Albert Camus.

The philosophy of Camus, like all good literature, is impossible to retell. You can talk to her, agreeing and objecting, but putting at stake not abstract arguments, but the experience of your own "existence", the metaphysical alignment of your fate, in which a wise and deep interlocutor will appear.

Caligula

"Caligula". The play, which has become a kind of creative manifesto of French existentialist literature - and still does not leave the stages of the whole world. A play in which, in the words of Jean Paul Sartre, "freedom becomes pain, and pain sets you free."

Years, decades have passed, but both literary critics and readers are still trying - each in his own way! — to comprehend the essence of the tragedy of the insane young emperor, who dared to look into the abyss of eternity...

The myth of Sisyphus

According to Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of mortals. True, according to another source, he traded in robbery. I don't see a contradiction here. There are different opinions about how he became the eternal worker of hell. He was reproached primarily for his frivolous attitude towards the gods. He divulged their secrets. Aegipah, the daughter of Ason, was abducted by Jupiter. The father was surprised at this disappearance and complained to Sisyphus. He, knowing about the abduction, offered Asop help, on the condition that Asop would give water to the citadel of Corinth. He preferred the blessing of earthly waters to heavenly lightning. The punishment for this was hellish torment. Homer also tells that Sisyphus shackled Death.

A fall

Be that as it may, after a long study of myself, I have established the deep duplicity of human nature.

Digging through my memory, I realized then that modesty helped me to shine, humility to win, and nobility to oppress. I waged war by peaceful means and, showing disinterestedness, I achieved everything that I wanted. For example, I never complained that I was not congratulated on my birthday, that this significant date was forgotten; my acquaintances were surprised at my modesty and almost admired it.

Outsider

A kind of creative manifesto that embodies the image of the search for absolute freedom. "Outsider" denies the narrowness of the moral standards of modern bourgeois culture.

The story is written in an unusual style - short phrases in the past tense. The cold style of the author later had a huge impact on European authors of the second half of the 20th century.

The story reveals the story of a man who committed a murder, who did not repent, refused to defend himself in court and was sentenced to death.

The opening line of the book became famous, “My mother died today. Maybe yesterday, I don't know for sure. Bright work full of existence, which brought Camus worldwide fame.

(1913 - 1960) in the 50s. was one of the "rulers of thoughts" of the world intelligentsia. The first publications that opened the first period of creativity, two small books of short lyrical essays “Inside Out and Face” (1937) and “Marriages” (1939) were published in Algeria. In 1938 Camus wrote the play "Caligula".

At the time, he was an active participant in the resistance. In those years, he published the essay "The Myth of Sisyphus" and the story "The Outsider" (1942), ending the first period of creativity.

Appeared in 1943 - 1944. “Letters to a German Friend” opens the second period of creativity, which lasted until the end of his life. The most significant works of this period are: the novel The Plague (1947); theatrical mystery "State of Siege" (1948); the play The Righteous (1949); the essay "Rebellious Man" (1951); the story "The Fall" (1956); a collection of short stories "Exile and Kingdom" (1957), etc. Camus also published three books of "Topical Notes" during this period (1950, 1953, 1958). In 1957, Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize. His novel Happy Death and Notebooks were published posthumously.

It is not easy to get an idea of ​​the philosophy of Albert Camus, since the views expressed in his literary and philosophical works “provide an opportunity for a wide variety of interpretations.” For all that, the nature of this philosophy, its problems and orientation have allowed historians of philosophy to unanimously evaluate it as a kind of existentialism. The worldview of A. Camus and his work reflected the features of the development of the European philosophical tradition.

Camus did not doubt the reality of the world, he was aware of the importance of movement in it. The world, in his opinion, is not arranged rationally. It is hostile to man, and this hostility goes back to us through the millennia. Everything we know about him is unreliable. The world is constantly eluding us. In his conception of being, the philosopher proceeded from the fact that "being can reveal itself only in becoming, while becoming is nothing without being." Being is reflected in consciousness, but “as long as the mind is silent in the motionless world of its hopes, everything reciprocally echoes and is ordered in the unity it so desires. But at the very first movement, this whole world cracks and collapses: an infinite number of shimmering fragments offer themselves to knowledge. Camus considers knowledge as a source of transformation of the world, but he warns against the unreasonable use of knowledge.

Philosopher agreed that science deepens our knowledge about the world and man, but he pointed out that this knowledge is still imperfect. In his opinion, science still does not give an answer to the most urgent question - the question of the purpose of existence and the meaning of everything that exists. People are thrown into this world, into this story. They are mortal, and life appears before them as an absurdity in an absurd world. What is a person to do in such a world? Camus suggests in the essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” to concentrate and, with maximum clarity of mind, realize the fate that has fallen and courageously bear the burden of life, not resigning itself to difficulties and rebelling against them. At the same time, the question of the meaning of life acquires special significance; the thinker calls it the most urgent. From the very beginning, a person must “decide whether or not life is worth living”. To answer this “ ” means to solve a serious philosophical problem. According to Camus, “everything else…. secondary." The desire to live, the philosopher believes, is dictated by a person's attachment to the world, in it "there is something more: stronger than all the troubles of the world." This attachment enables a person to overcome the discord between himself and life. The feeling of this discord gives rise to a sense of the absurdity of the world. Man, being reasonable, seeks to streamline, “transform the world in accordance with his ideas of good and evil. The absurd connects man with the world.”

He believed that to live means to explore the absurdity, to rebel against it. “I extract from the absurd,” the philosopher wrote, “three consequences—my rebellion, my freedom and my passion. Through the work of the mind alone, I turn into a rule of life that which was an invitation to death - and reject suicide.

According to A. Camus, a person has a choice: either live in his time, adapting to it, or try to rise above it, but you can also make a deal with it: “live in your age and believe in the eternal.” The latter does not impress the thinker. He believes that one can hide from the absurd by immersion in the eternal, escape into the illusion of everyday life or by following some idea. In other words, you can reduce the pressure of the absurd with the help of thinking.

People who try to rise above the absurd, Camus calls the conquerors. Camus found classic examples of conquering people in the works of the French writer A. Malraux. According to Camus, the conqueror is god-like, “he knows his slavery and does not hide it”, knowledge illuminates his path to freedom. The conqueror is the ideal person for Camus, but to be such, in his opinion, is the lot of the few.

In an absurd world, creativity is also absurd. According to Camus, “creativity is the most effective school of patience and clarity. It is also a stunning testimony to the only dignity of man: stubborn rebellion against his destiny, perseverance in fruitless efforts. Creativity requires everyday efforts, self-control, an accurate assessment of the boundaries of truth, it requires measure and strength. Creativity is a kind of asceticism (i.e., detachment from the world, from its joys and blessings - S.N.). And all this is “for nothing”... But it may be important not the great work of art itself, but the test that it requires from a person.” The Creator is similar to the character of ancient Greek mythology, Sisyphus, punished by the gods for disobeying a huge stone rolling up a high mountain, which every time rolls down from the top to the foot of the mountain. Sisyphus is doomed to eternal torment. And yet, the spectacle of a stone block rolling down from a high mountain personifies the greatness of the feat of Sisyphus, and his endless torment serves as an eternal reproach to the unjust gods.

In the essay " Rebellious man”, reflecting on his time as the time of the triumph of the absurd, Camus writes: “We live in an era of masterfully executed criminal plans.” The previous era, in his opinion, differs from the current one in that “previously, atrocity was lonely, like a cry, and now it is as universal as science. Just yesterday prosecuted, today crime has become law.” The philosopher notes: “In modern times, when evil intent dresses up in the robes of innocence, according to the terrible perversion characteristic of our era, it is innocence that is forced to justify itself.” At the same time, the boundary between false and true is blurred, and the rules are dictated by force. Under these conditions, people are divided "not into righteous and sinners, but into masters and slaves." Camus believed that our world is dominated by the spirit of nihilism. Awareness of the imperfection of the world gives rise to rebellion, the purpose of which is the transformation of life. The time of the domination of nihilism forms a rebellious person.

According to Camus, rebellion is not an unnatural state, but quite natural. In his opinion, “in order to live, a person must rebel,” but this must be done without being distracted from the initially put forward noble goals. The thinker emphasizes that in the experience of the absurd, suffering has an individual character, while in a rebellious impulse it becomes collective. Moreover, “the evil experienced by one person becomes a plague that infects everyone.”

In an imperfect world, rebellion is a means of preventing the decline of society and its ossification and decay. “I rebel, therefore we exist,” writes the philosopher. He considers rebellion here as an indispensable attribute of human existence, uniting the individual with other people. The result of the rebellion is a new rebellion. The oppressed, having turned into oppressors, by their behavior prepare a new revolt of those whom they turn into the oppressed.

According to Camus, "in this world there is one law - the law of force, and it is inspired by the will to power", which can be implemented through violence.

Reflecting on the possibilities of using violence in revolt, Camus was not a supporter of non-violence, since, in his opinion, "absolute non-violence passively justifies slavery and its horrors." But at the same time, he was not a supporter of excessive violence. The thinker believed that "these two concepts need self-restraint for the sake of their own fruitfulness."

Camus differs from a simple rebellion by a metaphysical rebellion, which is a "revolt of man against the whole universe." Such rebellion is metaphysical because it challenges the ultimate goals of humans and the universe. In the ordinary rebellion, the slave protests against oppression, "the metaphysical rebel rebels against the lot prepared for him as a representative of the human race." In metaphysical rebellion, the formula "I rebel, therefore we exist," characteristic of ordinary rebellion, changes to the formula "I rebel, therefore we are alone."

The logical consequence of metaphysical rebellion is revolution. At the same time, the difference between a rebellion and a revolution is that “... a rebellion kills only people, while a revolution destroys both people and principles at the same time.” According to Camus, the history of mankind has known only riots, but there have not yet been revolutions. He believed that “if a true revolution had taken place only once, then history would no longer exist. There would be blissful unity and calm death.”

The limit of the metaphysical rebellion is, according to Camus, the metaphysical revolution, during which the great inquisitors become the head of the world. The idea of ​​the possibility of the appearance of the Grand Inquisitor was borrowed by A. Camus from F. M. Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov. The Grand Inquisitors establish the kingdom of heaven on earth. They can do what God couldn't do. The kingdom of heaven on earth as the embodiment of universal happiness is possible "not thanks to the complete freedom of choice between good and evil, but thanks to power over the world and its unification."

Developing this idea on the basis of the analysis of the representations of F. Nietzsche about the nature of freedom, A. Camus comes to the conclusion that “the absolute power of the law is not freedom, but absolute freedom from law is no greater freedom. Empowerment does not give freedom, but lack of opportunity is slavery. But anarchy is also slavery. Freedom exists only in a world where both the possible and the impossible are clearly defined.” However, "today's world, apparently, can only be a world of masters and slaves." Camus was sure that “domination is a dead end. Since the master can in no way give up dominion and become a slave, the eternal fate of masters is to live unsatisfied or be killed. The role of the master in history comes down only to reviving the slave consciousness, the only one that creates history. According to the philosopher, "what is called history is only a series of long-term efforts undertaken for the sake of gaining true freedom." In other words, “... history is the history of labor and rebellion” of people striving for freedom and justice, which, according to Camus, are connected. He believed that it was impossible to choose one without the other. The philosopher emphasizes: “If someone deprives you of bread, he thereby deprives you of freedom. But if your freedom is taken away, then be sure that your bread is also under threat, because it no longer depends on you and your struggle, but on the whim of the owner.

He considers bourgeois freedom an invention. According to Albert Camus, “freedom is the cause of the oppressed, and its traditional defenders have always been people from the oppressed people”.

Analyzing the prospects of human existence in history, Camus comes to a disappointing conclusion. In his opinion, there is nothing left for a person in history but “to live in it ... adjusting to the topic of the day, that is, either to lie or to remain silent.”

In his ethical views, Camus proceeded from the fact that the realization of freedom must be based on realistic morality, since moral nihilism is destructive.

Formulating his moral position, Albert Camus wrote in "Notebooks": "We must serve justice, because our existence is arranged unfairly, we must multiply, cultivate happiness and joy, because our world is unhappy."

The philosopher believed that wealth is not necessary to achieve happiness. He was against achieving individual happiness by bringing misfortune to others. According to Camus, "Man's greatest merit is to live in solitude and obscurity."

The aesthetic in the work of the philosopher serves as an expression of the ethical. Art for him is a means of discovering and describing the disturbing phenomena of life. It, from his point of view, can serve to improve society, as it is able to interfere with the course of life.