ANGUISH, TRAUMA AND RESPONSIBILITY: ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE ON ONTOLOGICAL NARRATIVE FORMATION

Abstract

This article discusses the issue of anguish from a philosophical perspective combining it with the issues of trauma, responsibility and ethics. It is argued that anguish is a painful emotion that has ontological roots and can be etched into a positive form of either arts or writing, which helps to express this particular emotion, according to Maurice Blanchot’s philosophical viewpoint. Further, the article focuses on the ethical narrative formation regarding the victim and the nature of trauma. The paper refers to Julia Kristeva’s notion of the abject to explain that the abuser’s narrative is usually abjected by the society by excluding the abuser from the ethical narrative, while the victim is seen as deficient due to the trauma experience. The article suggests that the trauma narrative can be reformed and changed in such a way as to include both the victim and the abuser into it. The text argues that demystification and dialogical relationship between the victim and abuser, as well as the reduction of the role of narcissism in the abuser’s narrative, can help create an ethical narrative that allows to humanize both the victim and the abuser. The article further argues that the abuser has to take the responsibility for the wrongdoings, which usually falls too often on the victim. There is a further argument about a shift in narrative formation in the society which creates certain values, meanings and socially accepted emotions. The article also emphasizes that empathy and love are important for considering trauma narratives in order to learn to accept new accounts of trauma.