A bid for freedom: the actualizing tendency updated. (2nd October 2017) - Bazzano, Manu
ABSTRACT: This paper aims to reformulate the actualizing tendency as 'a bid for freedom' – the expression used by Alfred North Whitehead to describe life itself. It redefines the actualizing tendency as a naturalistic rather than onto-theological notion that puts embodied experience at the center of person-centered therapy and includes the animal-human continuum implicit in the life of the organism. It critiques the idea of 'self-actualization' in the light of notions such as the 'emergent phenomenon' and 'subjectivities without subjects'. Corroborated by sketches of clinical work, this paper points toward a re-naturalization of human experience.