Ego Depletion& Thirding-as-othering in Albert Camus’s The Stranger

This paper deals with Edward Soja’s thirding-as-othering process that is part of the thirdspace experience proposed by Soja’s theory of subjectivity. According to the paper, both the enlightening milieu of the thirdspace and the thirding-as-othering process can function as therapeutic elements of rejuvenating man’s mental resources that are exhausted by ego depletion. In this respect, the paper suggests an interdisciplinary therapeutic approach that is both philosophical and psychological. Therefore, the study proposes a self-regulation plan according to which the individual can gain insight in different patterns of human behavior that are used as suggestive rejuvenating role models. The patterns provided by the thirding-as-othering process together with the motivation and willpower created there can help the individual to shrug off the state of ego-depletion and recharge his worn-out mental powers in light of the insight and enlightenment he can acquire within the framework of his discovered thirdspace. Accordingly, the Third Space is recommended as a human enhancing area of self-discovery and a therapeutic and rejuvenating one as well that could be regarded as a replication of what Aldo Leopard calls the “land of ethics” . To further establish its argument, the paper applies its proposed hybrid approach to Albert Camus’s The Stranger. This is critically done with some questions in mind concerning manifestations of ego depletion, the way the novel portrays its ego depleted characters, their thirdspaces and the relevant emergent suggestive alternatives and manifestations of the rejuvenation of their depleted mental resources.