Lexipunks
mattd
mattd at useoz.com
Fri Jan 4 05:45:43 PST 2002
>>Closest in meaning in CP; abstracted from 4 a to mean a rebellious person
Camus' lexicon define "revolt" as a peaceful, evolutionary process. He had
hoped that mankind would evolve toward improved societies. In his ideal,
socialism is the result of a natural historical process that does require
effort and leadership, but not violence.
"Remarque sur la rivolt" begins with a civil servant refusing an order. For
Camus, revolt begins with a single person refusing an immoral choice. Laws
and rule are not defensible for Camus unless they are meant to help society
at all levels. The civil servant in the opening parable is an existential
hero, though Camus would have rejected such a label. The bureaucrat makes a
decision based not upon what is easiest for him but what is best for him
and society as a whole. This man's revolt is resistance, not violence.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's works are the primary target of The Rebel.
While not a perfect treatment of Hegel, Camus argues that Hegel's works
glorified the state and power over personal morality and social ethics.
Worse, according to Camus, Marxism co-opts Hegel and extends his theories
to allow any means to an end. In Marxism, as embodied by the Soviet Union
and its Communist Party, the state is always "right." Humanism and equality
were important to Camus, not an artificial organization.
Camus further offended some leftists by opposing what he considered a trend
toward nihilism in European thought. Life was "meaningless" for Camus, but
each person did have the opportunity to define a role for himself or
herself in life. Nihilism rendered living pointless, which Camus could not
accept. Mankind, by its very existence, was in the unique position of
defining itself through choice.
Attacking Hegel, Marxism and nihilism resulted in a resounding rejection by
the left. Leftist critics hated The Rebel and described it as an act of
intellectual treason. The May 1952 issue of Les Temps Modernes featured a
review of The Rebel by Francis Jeanson. The review affected Camus deeply.
Camus found himself described as a traitor to the left
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