9781844651405_A01_Acumen.qxd 10/09/2008 04:34PM Page i ALBERT CAMUS 9781844651405_A01_Acumen.qxd 10/09/2008 04:34PM Page ii Page Intentionally Left Blank 9781844651405_A01_Acumen.qxd 10/09/2008 04:34PM Page iii ALBERT CAMUS FROM THE ABSURD TO REVOLT John Foley 9781844651405_A01_Acumen.qxd 10/09/2008 04:34PM Page iv First published 2008 by Acumen Published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © John Foley 2008 This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, c ontributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. ISBN 978-1-84465-140-5 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-84465-141-2 (paperback) British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Typeset by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong. 9781844651405_A01_Acumen.qxd 10/09/2008 04:34PM Page v For my mother and for Farah 9781844651405_A01_Acumen.qxd 10/09/2008 04:34PM Page vi Page Intentionally Left Blank 9781844651405_A01_Acumen.qxd 10/09/2008 04:34PM Page vii It may be that the ideal of freedom to choose ends without claiming eternal validity for them, and the pluralism of values connected with this, is only the late fruit of our declining capitalist civilization: an ideal which remote ages and primitive societies have not recognized, and one which posterity will regard with curiosity, even sympa- thy, but little comprehension. This may be so; but no sceptical conclusions seem to me to follow. Principles are not less sacred because their duration cannot be guaran- teed. Indeed, the very desire for guarantees that our values are eternal and secure in some objective heaven is perhaps only a craving for the certainties of childhood or the absolute values of our primitive past. “To realise the relative validity of one’s con- victions,” said an admirable writer of our time, “and yet stand for them unflinchingly, is what distinguishes a civilised man from a barbarian.” To demand more than this is perhaps a deep and incurable metaphysical need; but to allow it to determine one’s practice is a symptom of an equally deep, and more dangerous, moral and political immaturity. Isaiah Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty” (1958) 9781844651405_A01_Acumen.qxd 10/09/2008 04:34PM Page viii Page Intentionally Left Blank 9781844651405_A01_Acumen.qxd 10/09/2008 04:34PM Page ix CONTENTS Acknowledgements xi Notes on the text and abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 1 The absurd 5 The Myth of Sisyphus 5 The Outsider 14 Caligula 22 Between nihilism and hope 26 2 Camus and Combat 29 Camusian rebellion and political engagement 29 Letters to a German Friend 30 Camus and Combat 33 “Neither Victims nor Executioners” 38 The Plague 50 3 The Rebel 55 Introduction 55 Metaphysical rebellion 58 Historical rebellion 60 Hegel 63