Abstract
This chapter outlines a path that allows us to grasp phenomenological psychotherapy within the framework of the care of self—a tradition that has thematized the relation between one’s way of living and the disclosing and transforming of oneself—as the reappropriation and renewal of this tradition. This itinerary starts from Classical antiquity, passes through the practice of confession in Eastern monasticism, and reaches the Cartesian turn of the self-foundation of the thinking I. Resting on this new basis, which marks the beginning of modern thought, is the link between the truth about oneself and the truth of reason, mediated by the act of reflection and the theory guiding it, which has endured as the foundation of contemporary psychology and psychotherapy. This “Cartesian moment” thus marks the dramatic transition from an original mode of accessing the truth that requires the subject to make some changes to himself, and a different mode, according to which the accessing of the truth about oneself actualized in the act of knowing is fixed by those principles that guide the process of knowledge-acquisition. Within the framework of this contrast, it is possible to appreciate the difference between phenomenological psychotherapy and all forms of theoretically oriented contemporary psychotherapy.
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- 1.
The differences between the two become evident when we analyze the mechanisms at work, which are the focus of specific sciences.
- 2.
On the different forms taken by epistrophe over the course of the development of ancient thought, down to its articulation in a Christian context, see Foucault 2001.
- 3.
This is the crux of the Apology, where Socrates explains to the people of Athens—before whom he defends himself against the charge of corrupting the young—that what the oracle of Delphi meant by presenting him as the wisest of all men was that human wisdom is of little or no account. “Therefore I am still even now going about and searching and investigating at the god’s behest anyone, whether citizen or foreigner, who I think is wise; and when he does not seem so to me, I give aid to the god and show that he is not wise” (23 b-c).
- 4.
This acute emphasis on the present moment (prosoche), achieved by paying attention to each instant (Hadot 1988), makes this spiritual exercise akin to mindfulness meditation techniques.
- 5.
“The gods are not to be feared; Death is not to be dreaded; What is good is easy to acquire; What is bad is easy to bear” (Hadot 2002–1995, p. 123)
- 6.
These practices may be seen to be founded on the element which distinguishes the double path (see Ch. 1) that is disclosed by the care of the soul—i.e., the path of what is changeless and stable and of what flows—and which according to Patočka constitutes the polarity of its movement (1998).
- 7.
From the fifth century onward, the spread of Augustinianism—the view that grace is necessary for salvation and that it is a gift of God—throughout monastic communities marked the gradual disappearance of the voluntaristic perspective that it is possible to ensure one’s own salvation through spiritual exercises (Foucault 2001).
- 8.
In the Eastern tradition, just as in the Classical age, the contemplative life (theoria) is conceived as a more lofty mode of living marked by the inceptive union of man with God upon this earth; after death, it will constitute the very essence of beatitude.
- 9.
The eight passions are gluttony, lust, avarice, anger, sadness, acedia, vainglory, and pride.
- 10.
These two metaphors may be traced back to Epictetus (Discourses I, 20, 7–9), with the crucial difference that, for the latter, the purpose of guarding one’s representations is to determine whether they stem from one’s own will or not.
- 11.
“Perfect impassivity—Evagrius states—emerges in the soul after its victory over all the demons that oppose the practical life” (1998, cc.58).
- 12.
For a detailed history of the examination of conscience, see Hasso Jaeger (1959).
- 13.
This distinctive interpretation of the motility of Christian life represents the core of Heidegger’s commentary on Augustine’s Confessions (GA 60 1995).
- 14.
The impassivity of which Evagrius speaks (1970) and which is described even more clearly by John Climacus—who devotes step 29 of his Ladder of Divine Ascent to it—certainly cannot be conflated with Stoic apatheia. Whereas the latter is the result of an individual effort, Christian impassivity—as already noted—is the fruit of man’s zeal and God’s grace. See also Malingrey (1961).
- 15.
We can read Marion’s Descartes (1999) and Courtine’s Suarez (1990) from the new perspective opened up by this transition.
- 16.
“One of the most persistent trends in modern philosophy since Descartes and perhaps its most original contribution to philosophy - Hannah Arendt writes - has been an exclusive concern with the self, as distinguished from the soul or person or man in general, an attempt to reduce all experiences, with the world as well as with other human beings, to experiences between man and himself …World alienation, and not self-alienation as Marx thought, has been the hallmark of the modern age” (1958, pag. 254).
- 17.
It is in the light of this perspective that we read the first note to § 42 of Sein und Zeit: “The point of view adopted in the present existential analytic of being-there in relation to care came to the author’s attention during his attempts to develop an interpretation of Augustinian (Graeco-Christian) anthropology, with reference to the basic principles of Aristotelian ontology” (§ 42, p. 199 n. 1)
- 18.
Candidates were required to exercise silence for 5 years before they could be taught any doctrines.
- 19.
In a note to this passage in his brilliant Italian translation of the Sophist, Arangio-Ruiz points out that the term dianoia—describing an unspoken dialogue (dialogos aneu logou)—was chosen precisely in order to highlight its nature of a silent debate.
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Arciero, G., Bondolfi, G., Mazzola, V. (2018). The Care of Self and Psychotherapy. In: The Foundations of Phenomenological Psychotherapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78087-0_11
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