Original title: (Touching - Perception of the distant in closeness?)


Osteopathische Medizin, 2006/10, 7(4):25-31, type of study: ,art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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Keywords:

article [2634]
bodily existence [1]
ethics [27]
perception [146]
sensation [5]
touch [85]

Abstract:

As osteopaths we are constantly dealing with touch on a professional level. Despite that touching is rarely considered beyond this site. The analysis tries to show that in touching we always are confronted with an existential layer that underlies the factual realm. The existential perspective is inevitably given and therefore needs consideration. Firstly touching is differentiated from the German term “Tasten“. “Tasten“ always shows an excess of meaning that can't be matched by the term itself and thus leads to touching. Touching is more than perception (Aisthesis), it also affects the touching person and indicates philosophical-anthropological structures as bodily existence (ger.: Leiblichkeit) and being-in-relation to our fellow humans: touching the body always means touching the whole person. Therefore touching not just encompasses aspects of security but also aspects of potential vulnerability. Considering the osteopath-patient-relationship always containing a relationship of power, touching gains an ethical component. It represents a haunting challenge for a human approach within the clinical realm.