Being for the Other: Emmanuel Levinas, Ethical Living and Psychoanalysis (Marquette Studies in Philosophy)

"'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."--GoogleBooks Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Table of Contents......Page 6 [Dedication] To my late mother......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 10 1 Levinas’s Challenge to Psychoanalysis......Page 12 2 Responsibility for the Other......Page 40 3 The Horror of Existence......Page 70 4 Love without Lust......Page 98 5 Eroticism and Family Love......Page 126 6 Making Suffering Sufferable......Page 154 7 Religion without Promises......Page 194 8 Towards a Levinasian-inspired, Ethically-infused Psychoanalysis......Page 220 Bibliography......Page 248 Index......Page 266 The challenge of Levinas to psychoanalysis Responsibility for the other The horror of existence Love without lust Eroticism and family love Making suffering sufferable Religion without promises Towards a Levinasian-animated, ethically-infused psychoanalysis.