Two centuries of rebellion, both metaphysical and historical, present themselves for consideration. Only the historian can explain in detail the doctrines and movements that followed one another during this period. But at least it should be possible to find a guiding principle. The following pages attempt only to present certain historical data and a working hypothesis. This hypothesis is not the only possible one; moreover, it is far from explaining everything. But it partly explains the direction our age is taking and almost entirely accounts for its excesses. The fascinating and exciting history presented here is the history of European arrogance. In any case, the causes of the rebellion can only be explained by investigating its positions, its ambitions, and its triumphs. Perhaps in its achievements we may discover a rule of action that the absurd could not provide us; a hint, at least, of the right to kill or the duty to kill; and finally, the hope of a new creation. Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is. The problem is to know whether this refusal leads only to the destruction of oneself and others, and whether every rebellion must end in the justification of public murder, or whether, on the contrary, without aspiring to an impossible innocence, one can discover a principle of reasonable prohibition.