Mutual Transformation
A Dynamic of an Intimate Love Relationship of Two Adults
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62442/ta.144943Keywords:
Yhdessä muuttuminen, parisuhde, fenomenologia, eksistentialismi, traumasidos, Maurice Merleau-PontyAbstract
What is the significance of mutual transformation in an intimate love relationship of two adults? In this article, I investigate mutual transformation as an affirmative dynamic for the sense of agency and meaningfulness in engaged individuals. I will analyze the affirmative dynamic of mutual transformation ex negativo starting from harmful relationship dynamics as a contrast. The negative examples in this article are the psychological phenomenon of traumatic bonding and one possible harmful relationship dynamic depicted in the novel Love Story of the Century by Finnish author Märta Tikkanen. In my analysis, I will apply a negativistic philosophical method developed by such philosophers as Michael Theunissen and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The theoretical framework of this article is existential phenomenology, philosophies of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Simone de Beauvoir in particular. I will argue that mutual transformation is the affirmative dynamic for the sense of agency and meaningfulness as well as existential freedom in engaged individuals in an intimate love relationship of two adults. The dynamic of mutual transformation enables the transformation of the lovers’ as well as the transformation of the relationship in changing circumstances.
