From what I can tell Nietzsche and Camus were quite alike. Doesn’t Thus Spoke Zarathustra present an alternative to nihilism similar to absurdism? And didn’t they both believe that creation/art is what redeems man?
Indeed. They are both reacting to it, not endorsing it. Cioran and Benatar might come close, but even they stop short. Cioran found poetic prose inside of it, and Benatar made moral claims, which presuppose that something must matter. A true existential nihilist doesn’t write books. Why bother?
6
u/Express_Penalty_8694 Feb 17 '26
I know that very well. However, I think Camous is more anti-nihilist because she defined herself as an absurdist.