Being-With: From Infancy Through Philosophy to Psychoanalysis

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis 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.