Thinking For Clinicians: Philosophical Resources For Contemporary Psychoanalysis And The Humanistic Psychotherapies

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Thinking for Clinicians provides analysts of all orientations with the tools and context for working critically within psychoanalytic theory and practice. It does this through detailed chapters on some of the philosophers whose work is especially relevant for contemporary theory and clinical writing: Emmanuel Levinas, Martin Buber, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Hans-Georg Gadamer. Orange presents the historical background for their ideas, along with clinical vignettes to help contextualize their theories, further grounding them in real-world experience. With a hermeneutic sensibility firmly in mind, Thinking for Clinicians rewards as it challenges and will be a valuable reference for clinicians who seek a better understanding of the philosophical bases of contemporary psychoanalytic theory.

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Thinking for CliniCians Thinking for CliniCians Philosophical Resources for Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the Humanistic Psychotherapies Donna M. Orange New York London Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 27 Church Road Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA © 2010 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number: 978-0-88163-492-1 (Hardback) 978-0-88163-493-8 (Paperback) For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www. copyright.com (http://www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users. For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Orange, Donna M. Thinking for clinicians : philosophical resources for contemporary psychoanalysis and the humanistic psychotherapies / Donna M. Orange. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-88163-492-1 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-0-88163-493-8 (pbk.) 1. Psychoanalysis--Philosophy. 2. Humanistic psychotherapy--Philosophy. I. Title. RC506.O695 2009 616.89’17--dc22 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the Routledge Web site at http://www.routledgementalhealth.com 2009004258 For Don, and in memory of Henny Contents Acknowledgments ix Chapter 1 Introduction Psychotherapy in a Socratic Spirit Chapter 2 Martin Buber ἀ e Dialogic We 15 Chapter 3 Ludwig Wittgenstein Nothing Is Hidden 35 Chapter 4 Maurice Merleau-Ponty Embodied Intersubjectivity 55 Chapter 5 Emmanuel Levinas Trauma and the Face of the Other 77 Chapter 6 Hans-Georg Gadamer Undergoing the Situation With the Other 99 Afterword Glossary References Index 1 119 121 127 139 vii Acknowledgments Acknowledgments is a feeble word for the gratitude I owe to the people, dead and alive, who have helped me to write this book. First are my philosophical mentors: Frances Madden, Andrew Bjelland, ἀ omas Royce, Max Fisch, Quentin Lauer, Manfred Frank, and most recently, Simon Critchley. In psychoanalysis, my colleagues at IPSS (Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, New York), and ISIPSé (Istituto di Specializzazione i