Benevolence of a Stranger (Introduction and Background)

     I recently submitted my graduate applications to Saybrook University, Seattle University, the University of the Rockies, University of Dallas, and the University of West Georgia for their respective psychology programs.  As part of the application process I was required to submit an writing sample.  Throughout my previous studies at Mac Murray College I have written several essays, greater than twenty pages in length, that would have sufficed.  However, I wanted to write something that was more relevant to my current interests and updated to my current line of thinking.  The last essay I wrote at Mac Murray College was in the Spring of 2010; nearly two years ago.  While those essays are the bedrock of my current research and interests they are not particularly representative of the way I look at and deal with things now and certainly outdated as far as my primary research interests are concerned.
     Albert Camus has been largely influential on and the subject of much of my writing as a philosophy student.  The trend continues as I chose, for my graduate writing sample, to focus on the Camus' novel The Stranger.  Throughout this new essay I explored the practical implications of The Stranger and how the themes found in the novel are representative of characteristics we find in today's world and people, particularly as they pertain to psychology and psychotherapy.
     Another large part of the essay consists of several interview I conducted with selected faculty members from the institutions which I have applied to.  The interviewees included Dr. Alexandra Adame (Seattle University), Dr. Robert Flax (Saybrook University), Dr. Gilbert Garza (University of Dallas), and Dr. Louis Hoffman (Saybrook University).  The first part of the interviews inquired about each faculty member's background in philosophy and psychology.  The second part of the interview, which concerns itself here and with my essay, inquired about the applications of philosophy to psychology and psychotherapy.  The third part of the interview was a general question-answer session about the faculty members' respective institutions and programs of study.  The second part of the interviews are included within the essay I submitted with my applications.
     The title of my new essay is Benevolence of a Stranger.  The title was chosen so because of the irony I find in the premiss of Camus' work.  That is, the main character of the novel, Meursault, is intentionally depicted as a social outcast and a "stranger" to the world he lives in and the people he interacts with.  The irony I find is that essentially all of the characters and themes represented in the The Stranger are symbolic of characteristics, mannerism, social-political relationships, and oppressions that we find very prevalent in our own society.  The Stranger was published over fifty years ago in France and, through no means of coincidence, bears great relevance to its world wide readers in the year 2012.
     The essay itself went through several revisions, the final edition being Version 3.5.  It was reviewed by two colleagues of mine, neither of whom have primary academic interests in psychology.  This was paramount to my style of writing as my intention is to make everything I write relevant, understandable, useful, and inspiring to anyone who reads it, particularly those without higher education or who have never formally studied psychology or philosophy.  An abstract of the essay can be read below in italic font and the full, published, text can be found in the following post by clicking HERE.

There is an intrinsic need for the application of philosophy to the study of psychology and the practice of psychotherapy.  Specifically, existentialism is of particular pertinence to this topic.  Often associated with the literary and philosophical existential movements, Albert Camus has written many novels that resemble a therapeutic function.  The first part of this essay is dedicated to the relevance of interviews conducted with various university psychology professors on the topic of philosophy and existentialism in psychotherapy.  The second part of this essay is an analysis of The Stranger by Albert Camus discussing its implications and how they apply to psychotherapy.  The third part of this essay is a similar analysis of the introduction of the cited edition of The Stranger, the introduction being written by Peter Dunwoodie.