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Chapter 4 provides a twentieth-century case study of the fall that illustrates the implications of action in the face of absurdity. After publishing The Rebel, Camus had a very public and bitter debate with Jean Paul Sartre. Each worked as an embedded rebel who was seeking to respond to the absurdity of his historical era. For a time each was able to engage the other in dialogue, but eventually the friendship ended in a very public manner. The need for an appropriate space for public discussion leads to the central metaphor for this chapter, the public sphere.
Chapter 5 explores two novels published after Camus’s death, A Happy Death and The First Man, that demonstrate the importance of caring for another human being in the context of communication ethics. The contrast between these two novels highlights Camus’s own growing recognition of the need to take responsibility, the central metaphor of this chapter, in an era of narrative uncertainty. Within an age of absurdity, characterized by competing understandings in the public sphere, one must seek to work from a position of embedded rebellion and not to desire only what is best for oneself. This need for ethical engagement with others suggests an active dialogue that works against the forces that would promote a fall into meaninglessness.
One is not excused from concern about ethical action simply because one lives in an absurd historical moment. Therefore the conclusion presents Albert Camus’s contribution to the theoretical study of communication ethics. The rhetoric found in Camus’s writings provides a powerful example of one person’s productivity in spite of the surrounding chaos. The work of Albert Camus—specifically, his interest in the metaphor of the absurd—serves as a philosophical and pragmatic guide that allows modern readers to more productively negotiate the contemporary moment. Albert Camus’s rhetoric of historical engagement provides a glimmer of hope for anyone living in an age of absurdity.
Communication Ethics in an Age of Absurdity
One of the goals of this text is to provide options for an informed participant in the contemporary historical moment to make a reflective