Authenticity, feminism, and radical psychotherapy

Dorothy Leland

pp. 237-248

in: Linda Fisher, Lester Embree (eds), Feminist phenomenology, Berlin, Springer, 2000

Abstract

In an essay entitled "Authenticity, Moral Values, and Psychotherapy,"¹ Charles Guignon explores ways in which Heidegger's early concept of authenticity illuminates the role of moral discourse in psychotherapy. Significantly, Guignon's Heidegger-inspired account of moral discourse in psychotherapy departs from older versions of existential psychotherapy which interpret the Heideggerian ideal of authenticity as "the stance of the rugged individualist who, upon experiencing anxiety in the face of the ultimate absurdity of life, lives intensely in the present and creates his or her own world through leaps of radical freedom" (AMP 215). For Guignon, in contrast, Heideggerian authenticity is not about leaps of radical freedom but rather about finding "guidance for the conduct of one's own life in terms of the lives of models or exemplars drawn from history" (AMP 234).

Cited authors

Heidegger Martin

Guignon Charles