This article advocates integrating ideas from phenomenological theory regarding the body with a psychoanalytical theory of language to enrich our understanding of the meaning of bodily presence in the practice of physiotherapy. The authors use this theoretical framework to explore bodily presence as a source for physiotherapists' professional development. They are using research on children as moving and meaning-producing subjects The concept of subject is used in different ways in phenomenology and psychoanalysis, and also in varying ways in each of the two traditions. However, here the concept is used more in line with ordinary language, in the sense that it emphasizes the child's active position in her/his being in the world. to illustrate the relevance of their perspectives. They argue that the perspectives might contribute to a physiotherapeutic practice that incorporates bodily presence in the professional language in addition to specific methods and techniques. Understanding bodily presence involves the physiotherapist recognizing the Other (i.e., the patient/child) in the present moment and trusting her/his own capacity to become aware of her/his own bodily presence. The authors assert that being aware of one's own bodily presence enables therapists to develop an appreciation of their own bodies and the bodies of their patients as they are and move in mutual relation to each other. Applying the article's theoretical framework, the authors consider the body as the starting point for speech, The concept of speech is used in a wide sense, including voice, tone, and rhythm in line with the article's psychoanalytical framework of Kristeva and the late Lacan. Thus, the call for being present for the child (as a patient) in the here and now includes participating in the speech of the child, even though the child does not use words. and suggest that introducing a richer professional language encourages practitioners to become more aware of the dialectic between body and language: how the body is the anchor for speech and how language influences the experience of the body.
This article focuses on the turn towards the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's (1906Levinas's ( -1995 ethical perspective in educational philosophy, which many theorists promise can promote an educational practice that is more sensitive of the diversity of teaching and learning, and the uniqueness of students and teachers. I call this into question by asking for whom is the Levinasian ethics for the better? In the article I discuss this question in the light of Levinas's insistence on the deposition of the autonomous and knowing subject, and his embracing of a subject who is always already for the Other and who welcomes the Other before any assessments of the Other and of his own capabilities of being responsible for the Other.The article is divided into two parts. The first part explores what has been welcomed in the welcoming of Levinas through a critical reading of some educational philosophical publications on Levinas's ethics. I argue that Levinas's idea of welcoming the Other in many cases has been displaced to a welcoming of Levinas. This shift appears to have created a reception context where Levinas's uncritical approach to the Other has been transferred to an uncritical approach to Levinas's ethics. Thus, it seems as if this lack of critical commentators has caused a lack of attention to other subjects and other Others whom Levinas does not see. The second part focuses on possible costs of the welcoming of Levinas for these other subjects and other Others. The discussion adopts a stance inspired by semiotics and French psychoanalysis.
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