Man is alone, forlorn, and without excuses in being utterly responsible for his life. Life itself is absurd. Only we can bring meaning to it. Thinkers like Sartre and Albert Camus took on themes that were intensely personal, such as dread, boredom, alienation, the absurd, freedom, commitment, and nothingness. All of this was wildly different from traditional philosophies like rationalism and empiricism.