Jessica Benjamin

Two Talks on Violence, Power, and the Social Fabric

Talk 2 - Jessica Benjamin on The Moral Third

Seminar description:

Join us as we host two of the most influential psychoanalytic theorists of the modern era, Juliet Mitchell and Jessica Benjamin.

LISTENING TO THE FURIES: RELATIONAL TRAUMA AND THE MORAL THIRD. Join pioneering relational psychoanalyst Dr. Jessica Benjamin for a discussion on her recent work interpreting Homer’s The Iliad. Expanding on her established framework of the “doer/done-to” dynamic, Dr. Benjamin uses the epic poem to analyze the psychological roots of collective trauma and social violence. She will discuss how the breakdown of mutual recognition traps societies in cycles of vengeance and how the concept of the “Moral Third” can offer a pathway toward repair. Dr. Benjamin will explore with us the relevance of this work for navigating both clinical impasses and broader socio-political controversies.

About the Speaker:

Dr Jessica Benjamin is a founder of Relational Psychoanalysis and author of the milestone book The Bonds of Love. Her intersubjective framework links clinical practice with critical social theory to explore mutual recognition, while her landmark paper—the fourth most cited in psychoanalytic history—introduced the “analytic third” to address gender oppression, collective trauma, and international political violence. She is globally recognised for expanding her relational framework into the geopolitical sphere, using her concept of the “moral third” to analyze political violence and historical reconciliation.