Being-With: From Infancy Through Philosophy to Psychoanalysis

ABSTRACT

This article introduces the conception of being-with, which arose from the work of Daniel Stern in infant observation, and is beginning to make its way into the discourses of clinical psychoanalysis. After reviewing Stern’s introduction of the term, I establish that within philosophy there exists strong support for this conception from phenomenological thinkers that promises to ground new approaches to the clinical situation. At its most elemental level, the idea of being-with has to do with one’s embodiment, with a basic constitutional element of one’s humanity, and with issues philosophers refer to as having to do with the condition of being. Several psychoanalytic uses of being-with are then reviewed, all of which reflect Stern’s uncanny sensitivity to the importance and the variety of ways of being-with others.

Notes

¹ As an aside, one could remember here that the word consciousness derives from the Greek suneidesis, meaning communal knowledge, or knowledge that can be shared with others. Suneidesis was eventually translated in the Latin word conscientia, which begins with the preposition con (with) and the substantive scientia (knowledge). Taken literally, consciousness can be understood to mean that to be conscious is to have knowledge with others, knowledge in common, or shared knowledge (Rochat, 2009). Such a knowledge seems consistent with a conception of the implicit knowledge involved in being-with others.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bruce Reis

Bruce Reis, Ph.D., is a member of the Boston Change Process Study Group. This article is in memory of Daniel Stern, with whom I was fortunate to have shared an experience of being-with.