Abstract
This essay will build on Emmanuel Levinas’s rejection of ontology as foundational and draw out the implications for psychotherapy. We will explore Levinas’s concept of substitution (in both his more Jewish writings and his philosophical treatises) and consider its meaning in relationship to the role of a psychotherapist. Levinas understands the Other as a calling for substitution of the self and of a taking on of responsibility. We explore the notion of surrender in the work of the psychoanalyst Emmanuel Ghent and argue that his position is ultimately lacking in ethical injunction; requiring nothing of the self in relationship to the Other. It remains within the confines of the conventional, self-reflexive models that Levinas critiques. Following Levinas, we suggest that the therapist bear the burden of ethical responsibility by being exposed to the client’s ethical call and by responding out of a kenotic self-emptying.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The feminist critique of Levinas deserves much more of a response on our part than we provide here. The language of surrender and substitution has evoked a strong response from feminist thinkers that is in need of serious consideration and clarification. For further discussion on this important issue, see Luce Irigaray’s (1991) “Questions to Emmanuel Levinas: On the Divinity of Love” and Richard Cohen’s (1994) “The Metaphysics of Gender.”
References
Adler, A. (1927). Understanding human nature. New York: Greenberg.
Bernasconi, R., & Critchley, S. (1991). Re-reading Levinas. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Bernasconi, R. (2002). What is the question to which ‘substitution’ is the answer? In S. Critchley & R. Bernasconi (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Levinas (pp. 234–251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cohen, R. (1994). Elevations: The height of the good in Rosenzweig and Levinas. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Cushman, P. (1995). Constructing the self, constructing America: A cultural history of psychotherapy. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley Pub.
Dueck, A., & Parsons, T. (2006). Ethics, alterity, and psychotherapy. Pastoral Psychology, 55, 271–282.
Erdman, P. (2002). Conveying the “not knowing” position in marriage and family counseling. In R. Watts & J. Carlson (Eds.), Techniques in marriage and family counseling, Vol. 2 (pp. 33–37). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
Gantt, E. E., & Williams, R. N. (Eds.). (2002). Psychology for the other: Levinas, ethics, and the practice of psychology. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
Ghent, E. (1999). Masochism, submission, surrender: Masochism as a perversion of surrender. In L. Aron & S. A. Mitchell (Eds.), Relational psychoanalysis: The emergence of tradition, Vol. 14 (pp. 211–242). Relational Perspectives Book Series. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press. Original work published in 1990.
Gibbs, R. (1992). Correlations in Rosenzweig and Levinas. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time. New York: Harper.
Huskinson, L. (2002). The self as violent other: The problem of defining the self. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 47, 437–458.
Irigaray, L. (1991). Questions to Emmanuel Levinas: On the Divinity of Love. In R. Bernasconi & S. Critchley (Eds.), Re-Reading Levinas. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Levinas, E. (1994). Nine Talmudic readings. (A. Aronowicz, Trans.). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Levinas, E. (1996). Substitution. In A. T. Peperzak, S. Critchley, & R. Bernasconi (Eds.), Emmanuel Levinas: Basic philosophical writings (pp. 80–95). Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press. (Original work published in 1968).
Levinas, E. (1998). A Man-God. In E. Levinas (Ed.), Entre Nous: On thinking-of-the-other (pp. 53–60). (B. Harshav, Trans.). New York: Columbia University Press.
Robbins, J. (1991). Prodigal son/elder brother: Interpretation and alterity in Augustine, Petrarch, Kafka, Levinas. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Robbins, J. (Ed.). (2001). Is it righteous to be? Interviews with Emmanuel Levinas. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Sartre, J.-P. (1957). The transcendence of the ego: An existentialist theory of consciousness. New York: Noonday Press.
Sorenson, R. L. (2004). Minding spirituality. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dueck, A., Goodman, D. Expiation, Substitution and Surrender: Levinasian Implications for Psychotherapy. Pastoral Psychol 55, 601–617 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-007-0067-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-007-0067-0