I think moral responsibility it's very complicated. Listening to Raymond attack his girlfriend feels different from hearing him tell a story about something that already happened. We tend to judge our responsibility depending on how serious and close a situation feels, and also according to our own moral code. For some people, seeing someone mistreat a dog could feel worse than hearing a couple screaming at each other; for others, it would be the opposite. In this case, it feels like Meursault actually could have done something because the situation was happening right there.

Meursault is basically confirming that Raymond felt betrayed. Again, he doesn't make a moral judgment about what Raymond said. Judgments are natural and necessary for us because they guide our actions. If Meursault doesn't make those judgments, he doesn't really have his own moral compass. He just goes along with whatever is happening around him. Where's the line where "I don't judge" stops being neutral and becomes complicity? And this is soooo complicated to answer because our morality depends so much on the time and place we live in. Is there something inside us that gives us a sense of morality? Maybe we can think about biology. We're social beings who have always needed each other to survive, so maybe traits that helped us avoid harming our own group were more likely to survive too? Or maybe there's some kind of connection with something beyond ourselves. For some people that could be God, for others the universe. I don't know. Religions and laws were created just to regulate human behavior, so I think not everybody is very succeful doing it by themselfs.

On the other side, Marie di a judgment, but she doesn't do anything either. And that takes me back to the question from the previous chapter: why are we so focused on whether someone has the "correct" emotional or moral reaction if it doesn't change their behavior?

With Salamano, I think Meursault shows that he isn't necessarily completely indifferent to other people. He gives him practical information about the dog instead of offering the emotional comfort we would normally expect. So maybe his way of caring, when he does care, is much more practical than emotional.

He’d said the same thing to them, and then they’d suggested “marking” her. But that wasn’t what he wanted

What...does that mean? 😨

Does anyone else just desperately want Asteryx to meet Viv and have a conversation? Is it just me? I have been thinking this so many times throughout the book