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Abstract
This essay will address the troublesome matter of relatedness between human beings. Taking everyday interactions as a point of investigation and exploration I will explore how recognition is simultaneously essential to human relatedness and impossible to achieve. Similarly, I will argue that an ethical stance is crucial for human relatedness. Using a psychoanalytic and philosophical framework, I will contend that it is essential to know our separateness and our profound connections to one another, and that in short, we are nothing without the other. Drawing upon the work of Arendt, Benjamin, Levinas and Young the complexities of recognition and alterity will be explored. The illusion of feeling emotionally settled and bolstered through the fantasies of recognition are here conceptualised as part of being human and sustaining oneself, and are approached here as problematic processes that need urgent investigation and action.
Acknowledgements
This article is based on a talk given on 1 July 2005 for the Group for Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work. I thank them for inviting me to give this talk and to explore an enduring preoccupation. The discussion following the talk was rich and lively and my appreciation goes to all who participated.