ABSTRACT
Many psychoanalysts who rub elbows under the relational umbrella are wrestling with what Continental philosophers have called “the problem of the other.” Having grown increasingly distant from our mythic, blank-screen, authoritarian predecessors who sought the causes of psychopathology within the self-contained psyches of their patients, we are ever more convinced that psychological life emerges and is sustained within the infinitely complex, constantly evolving context of relationships. Concomitant with our concern with otherness, and our skepticism about “abstract totality, universalism, and rationalism” (Bernstein, 1995, p. 57), is our growing preoccupation with the ethical dimension of clinical practice. The recent spate of publications on such topics as trust, gratitude, responsibility, promise-making, generosity, and forgiveness confirms that what philosopher/psychoanalyst Donna Orange (2010, 2011) has referred to as “the ethical turn” is gaining momentum.
