Consent and the experience of touch
Electronic Theses of LMU Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) January 1, 2025 Lenka Gorman
Touch is a foundational aspect of human experience that has been historically neglected in favor of vision and hearing. Drawing on phenomenology and micro-phenomenology, this work examines touch's role in shaping consciousness, intersubjectivity, and ethical engagement. It provides first-person accounts of tactile interactions and explores consent in professional therapeutic touch as an ongoing, mutually enacted process rather than a one-time event. The thesis argues that touch functions as both a sensory and ethical modality central to human interaction and subjectivity.