Camus and the Challenge of Political Thought: Between Despair and Hope (Global Political Thinkers)

Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. "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"-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-viii Situating Camus....Pages 1-20 Human Existence and the Tragic Beauty of the Absurd....Pages 21-41 Rebellion and an Ethics of Measure....Pages 42-65 Politics and the Limits of Violence....Pages 66-90 From Justice to Solidarity....Pages 91-110 Cosmopolitanism without Hope....Pages 111-128 Epilogue....Pages 129-132 Back Matter....Pages 133-142