Philosophy Feuds: Sartre vs Camus

the most Petty and dramatic feuds are those that come between friends and there's no better bust up in the annals of philosophy than the row between two Titans of existentialism Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sarge kamu was from a poor Algerian family Sarge from a Bourgeois French background they both sided with the French Resistance during World War II had communist sympathies and thought cigarettes were extraordinarily dope they womanized together and liked each other the only bump before the blow up came when Simone de Beauvoir sartre's lover offered to sleep with kamu but what displeased Sartre was that kemu turned her down not that she'd offered in the first place both men were existentialists although they disliked the term I am not what I am said sarch I am a stranger to myself kamu echoed they worried about how to make meaning in an essentially absurd Godless world it must be created authentically from within they claimed because we are all condemned to be free it was this last bit that sparked the breakup in 1952. as an existentialist sarcha cared about the radical freedom of man but he was also a Marxist who thought history was at the mercy of material historical forces leaving little room for personal autonomy at the time he was a fan of the Soviet Union and Stalin the guy that crushed Eastern Europe and imprisoned his people in gulags Camus couldn't wrap his head around Sarge's support for Russia's Twisted version of communism pointed out the contradiction Sartre told him to shove it so what's the real issue on one level it was about the value of human life is it all right to sacrifice people for the sake of principles or is life so valuable that killing can't be justified in the name of an ideal looked at another way the dispute was about pessimism versus optimism Sartre didn't think much of human nature hell is other people he wrote but Camus had a slightly more upbeat humanist Outlook because sarcher valued individual humans less it was easier for him to embrace the killing that came with Communism Camus thought that was nuts it was the end a few years later when Camus was receiving his Nobel Prize he set his relationship to surgery was outstanding because the best relationships are those in which we do not see one another [Applause] kamu died in a car accident in 1960. a few years before his own death 20 years later Sartre reflected on his former rival he was probably my last good friend he said [Music]

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Keywords: aeon, aeon video, aeon magazine, philosophy, philosophy feuds, camus, sartre, albert camus, jean-paul sartre, communism, stalinism, paris, existentialism, existentialists, freedom, andrew khosravani, Sartre vs Camus, Camus vs Sartre, Camus v Sartre, Sartre v Camus, animation, sam dresser, world war 2, second world war, french, france, sartre and camus, 20th century, history

Id: MAQoTlgT8_Q

Length: 3min 27sec (207 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 31 2017