ABSTRACT
This introduction provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book articulates and addresses many of the major questions inspired by ‘the gaze’ and the nature of perception, setting the issues in disciplinary, historical, ethical, and cultural contexts and interrogating the various lines of argument and investigation from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. It describes a study which leads to the discovery of a phenomenon known now as ‘anonymous vision’. The book explores the potential contributions of phenomenology to values-based practice in the context of psychopathology. It offers an insightful historical overview and analysis of objectification in the context of psychiatry. The book also explores the multiplication of meanings and understandings of the human in contemporary academic and public discussions. It encounters perspectives that explore a number of dynamics involved with the constitution of human sociality, as well as various social processes that serve to marginalize or dehumanize specific individuals or groups.
