Camus and the Challenge of Political Thought

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

   PDF

2. Situating Camus

   • Patrick Hayden

   Pages 1-20

3. Human Existence and the Tragic Beauty of the Absurd

   • Patrick Hayden

   Pages 21-41

4. Rebellion and an Ethics of Measure

   • Patrick Hayden

   Pages 42-65

5. Politics and the Limits of Violence

   • Patrick Hayden

   Pages 66-90

6. From Justice to Solidarity

   • Patrick Hayden

   Pages 91-110

7. Cosmopolitanism without Hope

   • Patrick Hayden

   Pages 111-128

8. Epilogue

   • Patrick Hayden

   Pages 129-132

9. Back Matter

   Pages 133-142

   PDF

Albert Camus was a formative artist, writer and public figure whose work defies conventional labels, and whose legacy is controversial but substantial. His distinctive contribution to modern ethical and political thought remains far from settled. Camus and the Challenge of Political Thought comprehensively yet concisely explores how Camus's compelling ideas of absurdity and rebellion emerged, how his complex political engagements and positions developed, and how his conception of an ethics of limits and measure retains a vital, contemporary resonance in an era of unsettling global politics. Drawing upon the full range of Camus's notebooks, novels, plays and philosophical essays, Hayden shows Camus to be an original political thinker of human dignity and freedom whose life and work sought to navigate between the twin dangers of idealistic optimism and nihilistic despair.

• Albert Camus
• Philosophy
• Existentialism
• Cosmopolitanism
• Dialogue
• Dignity
• Globalization
• Justice
• Nihilism
• Rebellion
• Revolt
• Revolution
• Solidarity
• Violence
• desegregation
• existentialism
• globalization
• Political Thought
• politics
• revolution
• violence
• work

• University of St Andrews, UK

  Patrick Hayden

Patrick Hayden is Professor of Political Theory and International Relations at the University of St Andrews, UK. His books include Recognition and Global Politics: Critical Encounters between State and World (2015, with Kate Schick); Hannah Arendt: Key Concepts (2014) ; Political Evil in a Global Age: Hannah Arendt and International Theory (2009); Critical Theories of Globalization (2006), with Chamsy el-Ojeili); and Cosmopolitan Global Politics (2005).

Policies and ethics