ABSTRACT
This chapter examines why existentialists often encourage us to rebel. The focus is on a specific form of rebellion, namely that which involves resisting the ‘crowd’ or ‘public.’ Four justifications for such resistance are considered. First, we ought to rebel against the norms of mass society because they are wrong. Second, our social norms merit resistance because they are inflexible. Third, we should rebel against our social norms because they are one-sided: they ignore other equally legitimate points of view. Fourth, we ought to resist the authority of the crowd simply because we ought to resist all external authorities.
