Man as a responsible master (paradigm of the Robinson Cruseoe)

Abstract

Robinson Crusoe, the hero of Daniel Defoe's novel, can be understood in different ways. Robinson is a new age man who seeks to subdue nature, a European colonizer who turns the native into his servant imposing on him the values of the western civilization, but also the alegory of a lone citizen who looks after himself and his life. In my article I present him in all these roles, but I also try to show that he can be a paradigm of a responsible master. I link up his philosophic views (untold but comprehensible) with Hobbes and Locke, but I also point out that the analysis of the so called ''robinsonades'' played a major role even in Karl Marx's philosophy. I also had to cover, at least in a few words, the idea of ''responsibility'', which can seem inappropriate in Robinson's situation of survival – a ''natural state'' ruled by ''natural law''. I wanted to emphasize Robinson's constant improvement as well as his gradual departure from ''baconesque world'' that initially keeps him alive. (His tolerance towards the captive, his moral dilemmas, the restriction of the exploitation of nature, etc.) To sum up, we can conclude that Robinson is the offspring of both his and our age.