This series returns to my 2009 doctoral dissertation and brings selected themes into a freer, more accessible form. Through practical-philosophical essays, I revisit questions of shame, recognition, dignity, trust, and social work—not to simplify the dissertation, but to explore what its ideas may still mean in lived human life.
Returning to an Old Text
From Dissertation to Essay
Standing in the Hallway
On the Threshold of Shame
When Shame Engulfs the Whole Person
From Dissertation to Essay
The Gaze of the Other
From Dissertation to Essay
Hiding from Other People
From Dissertation to Essay
When Words Return
From Dissertation to Essay
When Trust Slowly Returns
From Dissertation to Essay
To Be Met as a Human Being
From Dissertation to Essay
When Hope Does Not Come by Itself
From Dissertation to Essay
When Life Becomes One’s Own Again
From Dissertation to Essay
When the Past No Longer Has the Final Word
From Dissertation to Essay
When Time Stands Still
From Dissertation to Essay
When the Body Carries the Story
From Dissertation to Essay
When the Child Is Blamed
From Dissertation to Essay
When the Mother Is Blamed
From Dissertation to Essay
Social Work at the Edge of Existence
From Dissertation to Essay
Practical Philosophy 