Camus, Nietzsche, and the Absurd: Rebellion and Scorn versus Humor and Laughter

In this essay, I compare Albert Camus’s conception of rebellion as a response to the absurd to Friedrich Nietzsche’s notion that humor can become rebellious and assist us in the struggle against nihilism. I show that Camus advocated rebellion as a response to nihilism and vehemently opposed the tendency to become hopeless or cynical. Unlike Camus, Nietzsche supported responding to nihilism with humor and laughter rather than with defiance or scorn. I conclude by examining the type of humor that is rebellious in nature, and show that it can assist us in the struggle against nihilism.