The dialogue between occupational therapy and philosophy around the problem of existence in Heidegger

Abstract

This paper aims to emphasize the current need for occupational therapy to have a dialogue with philosophy, to highlight the question concerning the human being as occupation. The article argues that occupational therapy could be in a crisis concerning its fundamental grounds that, on the one hand, guide it and, on the other hand, give it sense to its own practice, proposing as a possible answer following Martin Heidegger's analytics of Dasein. In this context, we will try to clarify why and how the phenomenon of occupation can be considered as an essential and constitutive moment of each human person.

This paper aims to emphasize the current need for occupational therapy to have a dialogue with philosophy, to highlight the question concerning the human being as occupation. The article argues that occupational therapy could be in a crisis concerning its fundamental grounds that, on the one hand, guide it and, on the other hand, give it sense to its own practice, proposing as a possible answer following Martin Heidegger's analytics of Dasein. In this context, we will try to clarify why and how the phenomenon of occupation can be considered as an essential and constitutive moment of each human person.