Albert Camus’ Philosophy of Love

Abstract

Albert Camus does not provide a direct or sustained exploration of romantic love. Instead, love is addressed only indirectly in The Myth of Sisyphus, and sporadically in other writings. This article analyses the experience of absurdity in love. Absurdity clears away the social, cultural, and philosophical ideals of love to focus on the actual experience of love. With this in mind, a positive account of Camus’ philosophy of love is developed from several different works. This shows that Camus’ philosophy of love centres on the biological feelings of love, which are temporary, non‐exclusive, and do not imply commitment.