Abstract
This article suggests that thinking about the nature of intimacy, especially sexual intimacy, is a good way of deepening our understanding of how deep‐seated psychic vulnerabilities play an important role in adult education contexts. Drawing on psychoanalytic accounts of human development, the paper outlines how the capacity for ethical action in adult education rests on the ability of adult educators to develop identities that can recognize and accept their own imperfections. Rigid, narcissistic, and omnipotent identities are incapable of understanding and nurturing the pro‐social identity development of other people. Viewing human development issues through the lens of intimacy helps clarify not only what is at stake in contexts like adult education but also helps illuminate the qualities of generativity most conducive to the development of other people.
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