Most philosophers, like Greece's Plato have claimed that the highest ethical good is universal. They believed in objective values or pre-determined moral codes. The Nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard reacted against this tradition, claiming that the individual's highest good is to find his or her own purpose in life. In terms of moral choice, philosophers like Kierkegaard have argued that there is no objective or rational basis for decisions; they stress the importance of individualism in deciding questions of morality and truth. They also argued that life's most important questions are not accessible to reason or science. According to philosophers like Kierkegaard, man is nothing else but his own conscious existence. So it is up to the individual to choose what his or her meaning of life is. All of these ideas are considered subjective. They take place within one's own consciousness, unaffected by outside or material forces. On the contrary, objective principles are actual ideals such as Christianity. The religion establishes the moral codes and deciphers right vs. wrong rather than the individual. This distinction between subjective and objective values i

When I get to "This is what we are," the trick has been played and I can

with piercing eyes, I stand before all humanity recapitulating my shames

Throughout Jean-Baptiste Clamence's confession he exposes various existentialist ideas, the main being the conflict between subjective and objective ideas. His stories and theories show these ideas and those of a true existentialist. All of which pertain to the author, Albert Camus. The narrator and the main character, Clamence, is essentially Albert Camus. Camus, being a true existentialist, uses Clamence to reflect his own life and his own ideas, above all, the clash between subjective and objective values. The women who plunged of the bridge, the daughter who committed suicide to get back at her father, and the challenge of Christianity are all prime examples of how subjective and objective values conflict.

After walking away, he was never able to forget the suicide he might have prevented. This memory was the beginning of this notorious lawyer's fall. From this time on, Clamence began to see within himself the arrogance and the hollowness that he possessed. He began to realize that his former good deeds had been done only for the sake of popular approval. He could not remember any moral or courteous acts that he had performed when there were no witnesses present to applaud his actions. Over come by the emptiness of his existence, he decided to protect himself against the artificial fulfillment he once acquired. One day, while aboard a ship, he saw a black speck on the ocean, which reminded him of a drowning person. At this point he recognized that he could not escape the cry, which had sounded over that bridge many years before. He had to admit to a guilt that would await him ubiquitously. Aware of the fact that human's have an essential deceptiveness in behavior and the fact that "the keenest of human torments is to be judged without a law" (Camus 117), Meaning that no punishment by law could amount to the pain he has felt. Clamence devoted himself to the role of judge penitent. From then on he made the fraudulence he had discovered within himself endurable by persuading his listeners that they too were guilty of the same astonishing and appalling acts. Solely by judging himself he could escape the judgment of others, and he could only explain this discovery to others through his own confession:

then. "Too late, too far..." or something of the sort. I was still

irresistible weakness steal over me. I have forgotten what I thought

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1756
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)