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The invincible summer : on Albert Camus’ philosophical neoclassicism

Sharpe, Matthew 2011, The invincible summer : on Albert Camus’ philosophical neoclassicism, Sophia, vol. 50, no. 4, Special issue on Camus in our Time, pp. 577-592.

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Title The invincible summer : on Albert Camus’ philosophical neoclassicism
Author(s) Sharpe, Matthew
Journal name Sophia
Volume number 50
Issue number 4
Season Special issue on Camus in our Time
Start page 577
End page 592
Publisher Springer Netherlands
Place of publication Dordrecht, Netherlands
Publication date 2011
ISSN 0038-1527
1873-930X
Keyword(s) Camus
philosophy
classicism
absurd
rebellion
moderation
Summary What follows is a work of critical reconstruction of Camus' thought. It aims to answer to the wish Camus expressed in his later notebooks, that he at least be read closely. Specifically, I hope to do three things. In Part I, we will show how Camus' famous philosophy of the absurd represents a systematic scepticism whose closest philosophical predecessor is Descartes' method of doubt, and whose consequence, as in Descartes, is the discovery of a single, orienting certainty, on the basis of which Camus would proceed to pass beyond the 'nihilism' that conservative critics continued to level against him (MS 34). Part II will unfold the central tenets of Camus' mature thought of rebellion, and show how Camus' central political claims follow from his para-Cartesian claim to have found an irreducible or 'invincible' basis for a post-metaphysical ethics, consistent with the most thoroughgoing epistemic scepticism. Part III then undertakes to show that the neoclassical rhetoric and positioning Camus claimed for his postwar thought—as a thought of moderation or mesure, and a renewed Greek or Mediterranean naturalism—is more than a stylistic pretension. It represents, so I argue, a singular amalgam of modern and philosophical classical motifs which makes Camus' voice nearly unique in twentieth century ideas, and all the more worth reconsidering today. So let us proceed.
Language eng
Field of Research 220209 History of Ideas
Socio Economic Objective 970122 Expanding Knowledge in Philosophy and Religious Studies
HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal
ERA Research output type C Journal article
HERDC collection year 2011
Copyright notice ©2011, Springer Science+Business Media B.V
Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30042742

Document type: Journal Article
Collection: School of International and Political Studies
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