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I am definitely not a Freudian, declared Levinas in an interview. And yet, as Marcus passionately argues, Levinas's path-breaking ethical writings can profoundly enhance theoretical and clinical psychoanalysis. Like Freud, Levinas was focused on personal existence, on those issues of ultimate value and meaning that are central to what it means to be a human being at its best. Both thinkers were interested in helping to create the conditions of possibility for human beings to be kinder, gentler, stronger, and more reasonable in the face of the harshness, chaos, and moral challenges that we all face in our personal lives and on the world scene. This book aims to contribute to the development of a complementary paradigm to mainstream psychoanalysis, one that is based on the Levinasian assumption that the self is not fundamentally and firstly "for oneself," as psychoanalysis usually puts forth, but, rather, responsibility for the Other--ethics, is "the essential, primary and fundamental structure of subjectivity." The author illustrates his thesis--that the self is "hostage" to the other, that psychopathology is "ethical blunting," and treatment success is the enhanced capacity to love--with fascinating clinical vignettes and insights derived from his work as a psychoanalyst
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Being For The Other Emmanuel Levinas, Ethical Living and Psychoanalysis Paul Marcus Being For The Other Emmanuel Levinas, Ethical Living and Psychoanalysis marquette studies in philosophy No. 65 andrew tallon, series editor Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Marcus, Paul, 1953Being for the other : Emmanuel Levinas, ethical living and psychoanalysis / Paul Marcus. p. cm.—(Marquette studies in philosophy ; no. 65) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-87462-763-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-87462-763-X (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Levinas, Emmanuel. 2. Psychoanalysis. 3. Ethics. 4. Other (Philosophy) I. Title. B2430.L484M365 2008 170.92—dc22 2008041411 © 2008 Marquette University Press Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-3141 All rights reserved. www.marquette.edu/mupress/ founded 1916 founded 1916 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. table of contents Chapter 1: The Challenge of Levinas to Psychoanalysis.................... 11 Chapter 2: Responsibility for the Other…........................................ ..39 Chapter 3: The Horror of Existence.................................................... 69 Chapter 4: Love without Lust............................................................... 97 Chapter 5: Eroticism and Family Love...............................................125 Chapter 6: Making Suffering Sufferable............................................153 Chapter 7: Religion without Promises...............................................193 Chapter 8: Towards a Levinasian-inspired, Ethically-infused Psychoanalysis........................................................219 Bibliography..........................................................................................247 Index.......................................................................................................263 To my late mother “Freud was consulted by a young poet and university student, Bruno Goetz, who suffered from persistent headaches. After an hour’s discussion, in which it emerged that Goetz spent what little money he had on books, Freud gave him a sealed envelope, containing a prescription, and also warned him that psychoanalysis might not be good for poetry. When Goetz opened the envelope, he found both diagnosis and cure: the headaches were caused by hunger, and money w