East and West: Shariati, Camus and the Theme of Revolt

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is a critical and comparative study of the works of the French writer and thinker Albert Camus, and of those of his near contemporary, the Iranian writer and thinker Ali Shariati; and more importantly to highlight the core of their works: revolt. Revolt has occupied a central position in historical challenges and social change, both of which profoundly interested Camus and Shariati. After having discussed differences and similarities between the two writers, we will explore the approach of each to social and universal issues: their conceptions of the world and their social orientations. To understand these clearly, it is indispensable to review their philosophical thought about the search for a raison d'etre and meaning, transcendental power, the roles of death, exile, prison, separation and solitude, amongst others. Their belief in individual free will leads them to find in revolt the only way to give meaning to life, and the only way to protest against the established order imposed a priori on human beings. The centrality of revolt influences the form and the content of Camus's and Shariati's writing, reflected by their use of Manichean dichotomy or dialectic method, both in their choice of subject-matter and their treatment of it. Each writer respects art as a way through which the artist, a creative rebel, revolts against nature and offers a purpose for existence, adding value to it. Finally we discuss their three chosen kinds of revolutionary and rebel characters (in myth, religion and history) which they use to draw attention to modern Man and his position in the universe. These characters revolt because they do not want to yield to any sort of determinism which justifies injustice, denies freedom or human dignity and kills creativity. In the work of Camus and Shariati, we find revolt as a main issue and leitmotiv paralleling the move from I to We, from solitude to solidarity. Revolt is a dynamic response to the problem of being and to social unrest, and also is a core connecting these two thinkers to each other.