Ronald Aronson

two of the biggest names in philosophy and literature following ww2 were camus and sartre. during the war they met and became friends, very different men, camus born and raised in algeria, his family was from French. camus was blue collar, working class background, his mother was a housekeeper, his father was killed in ww 1. sartre was middle class, short, ugly but brillent. camus was tall, handsome and brillent. after the war there was a sense of both hope and despair in french. they hoped to create a more humanist world, but likely saw the world turn into the cold war. the choice was america, it's capitalism or the soviet union and communism. not the world they dreamed of or hoped for. camus saw the evils of the soviet union was greater then the promise of socialism, camus did not approve of american capitalism but it was the lesser of the two evils. sartre took the opposite view. what broke up the friendship and turned them into bitter rivials was the role of violence in political movements. sartre said it is necessary, if innocence people are killed that is the price of bringing about jusitice. camus once said that the safety of his mother was more important then justice, violence at some point in bringing about reform was two high of a price. forget me, but in not this same discussion still going on now? is there a right answer?… (mehr)