Shame: the ingenious quilt in his thinking, no ―given‖ meaning, other than the inter-relatedness humankind perceived upon discovering their existence, their Dasein (Smith et al., 2009). Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) argued for the importance of humankind‘s bodily manifestation and their distinctiveness and distinction3 from everything and everyone else in the world (Smith et al., 2009). Smith et al. (2009) observe, ―My perception of ‗other‘ always develops from my own embodied perspective,‖ (p. 19). However, it is a unique viewpoint because each body is unique and perceives the other in a way that is singularly differentiated from any other‘s perception (ibid.)
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) also extended aspects of phenomenology, though with possibly a more existential ―twist‖ (Smith et al., 2009). This is not to say that Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty did not have an influence on existential thinking, but Sartre‘s contribution contains a particular nuance that further influences IPA (ibid.). Sartre‘s viewpoint is succinctly summarised by Smith et al. (2009): ― His famous expression ‗existence comes before essence‘…indicates that we are always becoming ourselves, and that the self is not a pre-existing unity to be discovered, but rather an ongoing project to be unfurled‖ (p. 19). What this leads to, therefore, is an emphasis on engagement with and in the world as the individual unfurls more of their self (ibid.). This too is a consequence of becoming rather than being: individuals are free to make choices as they engage the world in the process of their unfurling (ibid.). In all these respects, absence (nothingness) is of equal significance to presence (ibid.).
3
Interestingly, medical science tends to confirm this perspective: every body, literally, is different. Treatment, especially pharmacological treatment, proceeds, not on the basis of ubiquity and universality, but in terms of probabilities. Therefore, for any given pathology, only x% of patients will benefit, while it is likely that y% will not. The effectiveness of treatment becomes increasingly complex when “side-effects” are accounted for.
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