Part II: Metaphysical Rebellion

shaunmiller
Shaun Miller's Ideas | May 4, 2010

What is metaphysical rebellion? Just like the slave rebels against the
slave because the slave is rebelling against the constraints of the situation, the metaphysical rebel is doing the same thing. Hes rebelling
against the creation, the condition of which he finds himself. The
metaphysical rebel is always a blasphemer. Just think of all previous
rebels (e.g., the Founding Fathers rebelled against the conventional
English society, Jesus rebelled against the Jewish/Roman society,
Marx rebelled against the capitalist society). But they blaspheme in
the name of order. By rebelling, you are going against the metaphysics of the culture. In ancient Greece, they were fated to die. Epicurus

rebels and says well then, lets enjoy life. By blaspheming, you are
trying to find a new god.
In modern times, the best rebel is Sade. After this, Camus talks about
the rebels in art and poetry, but Im not really familiar with it. However, one thing that he brings up is the rebellion of Ivan in Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov. Ivan rejects God on a moral plane. He
puts God on trial. Thats true rebellion! Later, Nietzsche rebels
against the whole notion of Christianity. Nietzsche takes a look at the
meaningless world and he affirms it. From Nietzsche, only man can
find his own meaning by asserting (and affirming) the absurdities of
the world. To be truly free is to get rid of purpose, a telos. However,
a Nietzschean rebellion doesnt go far enough:
Nietzschean asceticism, which begins with the recognition of
fatality, ends in a deification of fate.
Nietzsche starts on the right path by replacing God with man. But all
he does is he just replaces God with Fate. Thats what the Greeks did,
but its not true rebellion; its simply nostalgia. But for Nietzsche, he
doesnt reject evil. He accepts is as part of the human circus. Its
something to avoid, but also as a remedy.
For Marx, nature is to be subjugated in order to obey history;
for Nietzsche, nature is to be obeyed in order to subjugate history. It is the difference between the Christian and the Greek.
In art, the surrealist is the rebel by finding a solution to an endless
anxiety. (Im not an artist so Im not sure what Camus is saying.
What endless anxiety is the surrealist escaping from?)
The reactionaries made use of the tragedy of existence to
reject revolutionin other words, to preserve a historical situation. The Marxists made use of it to justify revolutionin other
words, to create another historical situation. Both make use of
the human tragedy to further their pragmatic ends.
The enemy of surrealism is rationalism. The rebel in art is getting
away from Kant.

In history, theres an insane drive to find order in history. Schopenhauer is the rebel for Hegel. This then leads to part three.