Albert Camus' Critique of Modernity

Abstract

<p>The aim of my study of Camus is twofold. The first aspect concerns the content of his books, the second their formal structure or organization. In contrast to much current scholarship, which interprets Camus' primary concerns as modern and even post-modern, I argue that his ambition runs in the opposite direction historically: Camus' principal aim is to articulate a Greek anthropology and political philosophy. This positive ambition has a critical component as well. Camus's Hellenism is formulated in part through a critical engagement with modernity and an exploration of its Christian origins.</p> <p>The second aim of my study is to explore the structure of Camus' corpus. The fact that Camus organized his books into several different stages or "cycles" is well known and often discussed by commentators in the context of other interpretive matters. However, it is rarely examined in its own right and almost never interpreted in detail. The most common way that it is understood is as straight autobiography. In this view the absurd, rebellion, and love - the guiding themes of the three principal cycles of Camus' books - are understood as stages in his personal philosophical development. The account contradicts Camus' own explicit statements about the allegedly autobiographical character of his work and skirts the fundamental question of interpretation by assuming that it has already been answered. Contrary to this account I argue that the organization of Camus' books is an intentional literary device that contributes significantly to our understanding of the content of his work.</p> <p>My study amounts to new interpretation of Camus that hopefully will open up new and fruitful avenues of research regarding his accomplishments as a philosopher and writer. </p>