Justice or Freedom
| DOI | 10.1177/1474885105050450 |
| Date | 01 April 2005 |
| Author | Annabel Herzog |
| Published date | 01 April 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Justice or Freedom
Camus’s Aporia
Annabel Herzog University of Haifa
abstract: This article argues that Camus’s thinking, as expressed in his works of
fiction and non-fiction, is based upon a contradiction between his determination to
reconcile politics and ethics and his belief that they irrefutably contradict each other.
Throughout his career, Camus’s concerns never diverged from his aporetic attempt to
reach an ‘agreement’ between two concepts he regarded as incompatible: justice and
freedom. This article demonstrates how this basic aporia led Camus to an original –
albeit rather hopeless – view of the human condition. It illustrates how Camus’s aporia
led him to define the role of thinkers in terms of public criticism and argues that in
today’s sociopolitical reality Camus’s aporia can neither be dismissed, nor overcome.
key words: aporia, Camus, freedom, human condition, justice, public criticism, violence
Since the decline and fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of fundamentalism,
French intellectuals have rediscovered Camus and applauded his moderate
positions, whereas Anglo-American thinkers have tried either to drown him out
or to rescue him from postcolonial critique.1The relevance of his thinking to
concrete political issues is invoked periodically. Nevertheless, his non-systematic
and moralizing tone sometimes makes scholars uncomfortable. Perhaps it is for
this reason that most of them concentrate on his biography.
I believe that the uncomfortable feelings experienced by many people who read
Camus stem from a double contradiction found in his writings. Camus strives to
reconcile politics and ethics, while at the same time believing they necessarily
contradict each other. His works of fiction, as well as his essays, speeches, and
interviews show that, throughout his career, his concern never diverged from his
aporetic attempt to reach an ‘agreement’ between two concepts that he regarded
as incompatible: justice and freedom.
I will begin by highlighting Camus’s aporia in his fictional and non-fictional
texts and demonstrate that it led Camus to an original – albeit rather hopeless –
view of the human condition. Following this, I will illustrate how Camus’s aporia
brought him to define the role of thinkers in terms of public criticism, in a way
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article
Contact address: Annabel Herzog, University of Haifa, School of Political Science,
Unit of Government and Political Theory, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
Email: aherzog@poli.haifa.ac.il
EJPT
European Journal
of Political Theory
© SAGE Publications Ltd,
London, Thousand Oaks
and New Delhi
issn 1474-8851, 4(2)188–199
[DOI: 10.1177/1474885105050450]
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