ABSTRACT

My aim in this chapter was to propose a theory of acknowledgment, and fürther explore the process of creating a Third in relation to failures of witnessing. The struggle to face the analyst’s own role in impasses or collisions had been less well-articulated at the time I wrote this. In particular, therefore, I wanted to think out loud about the way in which analysts may free their sense of agency from the shameful, blameful evocation of badness that characterizes impasses and many enactments. This chapter, written in 2005, represented a continuation and development of the themes in Chapter 1, especially developing the idea of the moral Third.