Freedom, Responsibility, and Justice in Three Acts | Dr. George Kunz | PS8 Meaning Conference 2002

4 p.m. – 4:50 p.m. Paper Sessions

PS8 George Kunz, Ph.D., Psychology Department, Seattle University

Freedom, Responsibility, and Justice in Three Acts

Unequal responsibility of the self for the Other is the primordial, foundational experience for freedom and justice. The philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, in contrast to ideologies assuming the founding principle is equality, will be demonstrated in three acts in the plot of the search for meaning. Three characters: the Self, Others, Community.

First act: the Self, assuming its center is itself, is motivated exclusively by self-interest. It acts as an ego suffering needs, competing with Others for goods, and enjoying comfort. The Self proclaims in one line, “Here I am; I enjoy life.” Freedom is self-initiated and self-directed. Responsibility is to the self. Justice is the self’s rights. Economic life.

Second act: self-interest is traumatically questioned by the needs of Others. The Self is called out of itself to be responsible for them. The dramatic turn, when Others face the Self from a position of primacy. “She/he has rights over me.” Freedom is found to be invested in the Self by Others. Responsibility for Others is life’s fundamental meaning. Justice is based on the rights of Others. Community, previously a resource only to fill self-needs, now becomes the resource for the Self’s responsibility to the Other. The Self confesses one line: “Here I am. I’m the one responsible for Others.” Altruistic life.

Third act: the tension between egoism and the altruism is resolved in Community. Citizens, each recognizing their fundamental responsibility, calculate, organize, and administer institutional structures for the common good. Equality between Self and Others is founded on the Self’s pre-given inequality. One line, “Here I am. I am called to work for the common good based on the good for individual Others.” The primacy of the Other founds my freedom, responsibility and justice. This utopian life is an alternative to both individualism and communitarianism for teaching social justice and psychotherapy.

Educational Objectives:
1) To show how the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas can provide a more solid foundation than philosophies based on equality, the common good, or utilitarianism for understanding of the fundamental experiences. 2) To show how the meaning of freedom, responsibility, and justice can and should be at the foundation of psychology and psychotherapy
3) To show how Levinas’s philosophy can be described as a dramatic story about the human.

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