Self on the Shelf

Gary Greenberg is a psychotherapist in private practice.

"It provides a new and thought-provoking view of a contemporary phenomenon that many of us have become familiar with: the proliferation of popular self-help books on codependency. In a sense it addresses one of the more central concerns of our age: who are we? What does it mean these days to be a good person? The author sets out deliberately to give us a reading, even a diagnosis, of our contemporary culture. I would buy it!" — Martin J. Packer, University of Michigan"Greenberg nicely weaves Taylor, MacIntyre, and Heidegger into his analysis of the codependence literature. He raises important issues about the background moral claims of the popular genre and its nihilistic foundation. It is about time someone well versed in hermeneutical theory wrote a book like this." — Richard B. Addison, University of California at San Francisco

• Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Codependence in Context Introduction"Greed is Good"Moral Dilemmas of PsychotherapySelf and Other as Social Constructions2. The Cat's Grin PrologueThe ProblemSelf-Help PsychologyThe Codependence LiteratureNotes on Method: Rationale for a Hermeneutic AnalysisThe Necessity of Entering the CircleHermeneutics and "Self-Help"Why the Codependence Literature?3. The Contours of the Codependence Genre IntroductionThe Algebra of "Recovery": ACOA + WWLTM = ACDFThe Constituent Texts of the Codependence LiteratureThe Homogeneity of the Codependence Literature4. The Codependence Literature as a Moral Discourse Codependence as a Strong EvaluationStrong Evaluation Shapes Moral SpaceThe Codependence Literature as a Narrative Space5. The Reader's Colloquy with Herself IntroductionA Walk in the Woods: A Digression on the "Space of Questions"The Narrative Induction: Am I a Codependent?The Cast of the NetAn Interpretive FrameworkThe Dimension of Dignity: The "Center" Cannot HoldDignity as a Private AffairDignity as the Expulsion of Others from the Reader's StoryDignity as the Smooth Functioning of a MachineThe Dimension of Dignity: A Summary6. The Sole Author in the Social World Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: The Dimension of Respect for and Obligation to OthersIntroduction: Obligation as Crossing Over into the Realm of the OtherObligation as a Serendipity of Self-LoveMay I See Your Passport, Please? Obligation as Foreign PolicyLaissez-Faire ObligationThe Twelve-Step Group as the Arena of ObligationThe Dimension of Obligation and Respect: A SummaryThe Dimension of a Full LifeIntroduction: Horizon as Inescapably OtherThe "Higher Power" as the Source of a Full LifeThe "Higher Power" as the Divine WithinThe "Higher Power" as Santa ClausSummary and Conclusion7. The Codependence Literature as an Instance of Nihilism IntroductionThe Gordian KnotOthello and IagoThe Dangling Conversation"The Triumph of the Therapeutic""The Eyes of the World''8. Conclusion: A Reconstitution of Codependence Introduction: The "Heidegger Problem"Coda: A Brief Summary of the ArgumentA Reconstitution of CodependenceAvenues for Further ResearchAppendix A Appendix B Notes Bibliography Index