Review - The fundamental violence of physiotherapy: Emmanuel Levinas’s critique of ontology and its implications for physiotherapy theory and practice (Review)

Abstract

Thank you for the opportunity to review this paper, which I enjoyed greatly. I have used Levinas’ work in some of my thinking about social work ethics and have no doubt of its relevance for contemporary human, social and health services. You also articulated your paper’s purpose clearly and provided a convincing rationale: to say that there is an implicit violence within contemporary, professional helping relationships – here, physiotherapy – indeed calls for critical engagement and exploration of possible openings for change. Based on the argument that Levinas enables such a critique, then, your paper aims to introduce him to a wider audience, with a view to making a novel and timely contribution to the theory and practice of physiotherapy. Doubtlessly, this will be relevant wherever physiotherapy is studied, taught and practiced. Your endeavour to introduce Levinas’ work to a new audience informed my feedback below.