Liberation, Rebellion, and Relevance

Liberation, Rebellion and Relevance

In “The Rebel an essay on man in revolt,” Albert Camus (1956) muses on the absurd origins of rebellion and art and their significance to the individual and society. While reading Camus I began to think about how important art really is and how appalling some of the trends in education and arts funding apparently are. This is what inspired me to write this paper but my intention is not to directly address any of the many and various issues concerning arts education and public funding for the arts. What I’ve set out to do is show that art is essential to the human existence and freedom. If, by examining the origins and functions of art, I am able to illustrate its necessity and inevitability in a free society, my hope is that that will move the reader to take up and champion the arts in the challenging issues facing them. How is art related to the struggle for and persistence of freedom? The perspective of this paper is that artistic creativity is an adaptive psychological and sociological function which facilitates rebellion and liberation, in individuals and society.

First this paper will explore the idea that art is an essential evolutionary and inevitable function of human physiology and psychology. Next the irreducibility of art will be explored, addressing, briefly, both realist and idealist philosophies while establishing an absurdist view. The relationships between art the absurd and rebellion will be examined. The paper will continue to explore the products of both rebellion and the artistic process, from an absurdist point of view. From here the discussion will turn to a sociological relevance of the above stated. Contemporary and historical evidence will be given. The paper will ...

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