Does Paneloux Lose Faith? Rethinking the Relationship Between Belief and Action in Camus' The Plague

Abstract

Patrick Kiaran Dooley says that [r]eligious philosophy . . . primarily concerned with the existence and nature of God and only secondarily with the difference in God makes in man's life. Dooley continues to explain that William James is concerned with the nature and function of in God and the difference that makes. 3 According to James, religious philosophy considers three questions: the nature and legitimacy of belief; the effect of belief; and the existence and nature of the object of James deals with these questions separately in his various works. Albert Camus not interested in entering into a debate over the nature and existence of God. He is, however, very interested in the legitimacy and effect of in a particular concept of God (the traditional Christian concept). Camus agrees with James that belief measured by action, 5 and a choice. That is, we can know what we really believe, as well as what others really believe by considering whether our actions (or the actions of others) are consistent with our (their) claims. In The Myth of Sisyphus Camus repeatedly associates with action. In addition, Camus provides a method for choosing what we can legitimately believe (or what we will choose to believe, regardless of the logic behind the belief). Camus lays out exactly what required of a if it really a belief. For example, Camus says, [i]t probably true that a man remains forever unknown to us