Episode #228 ... Albert Camus - Kafka and The Fall

Hello, everyone. I'm Stephen West. This is philosophizethis. Patreon.com/philosophizethis. Also, if you're on Substack and you like to read philosophical writing on there, I've been taking some of the writing from this show, tightening it up so it reads well, and then posting it on Substack for people to find it there. There will be other philosophical writing that goes on there in the future. So if you wanna support the show, philosophize this on Substack is a way to go too. That said, I hope you love the show today. So this whole series so far has been about this project that Camus dedicated his life to, where he wants to affirm the kinds of creatures that we are without falling into the trap of system building. If in the myth of Sisyphus, Camus shows us the importance of lucidity in the face of the absurd, If in the plague, he shows us how when we take seriously the kinds of creatures we are, it leads to solidarity with our fellow people. If in the rebel, he shows us how, as creatures, we have certain lines that can't be crossed, and that by saying no to something, we affirm the lines that cannot be crossed in the human dignity of others. If these are all uncontroversial statements to make about what it is to be a human being, then in Camus's next book, The Fall, he's gonna extend this line of reasoning to the concepts of judgment and human error, or or fallenness, you could say, if you want to put it in more religious terms. The nobody out there is beyond judgment or beyond making mistakes. But man, isn't it so common for people to rationalize their behavior or create elaborate systems in their life, all in an attempt to avoid both of these things. Do you know anybody like that in your life? Should be said, we've already talked about the plot points of the fall on this podcast. It was episode 170. It was part of the creation of meaning series. Just saying I'm focusing less on the plot here and more on what the characters and story mean within the larger project of Camus. Because if you listen to that episode, then you know that the main character of the book, Clemence, starts the book talking about what he used to be like, where in his stories, he looks like the perfect example of what Camus laid out in his essay, the rebel we just talked about. Clemence is the picture of solidarity with others through lucid rebellion. He's a lawyer. He takes on only cases where he helps the downtrodden of society. In his spare time, he likes to help old ladies cross the street. He does balloon animals for the kids at a party. This is a man who is very visibly, on the surface at least, a morally good person, someone who seems to sacrifice a lot in his life in the …