Introduction

As Camus makes it clear throughout his work, the revolt against violence stems from a philosophy of balance, which he calls “The Meridian”, in opposition to an ideological stance. While Camus does not advocate total nonviolence, however, he insists that no human ideal can justify murder. For Camus, the critique of violence takes shape in the encounter of the subject with the otherness of the Other. This acknowledgment of the Other is actually accompanied by an awareness of one’s fallibility and the impossibility to maintain oneself unflinchingly in an unquestionable and unaccountable ideological stance.