Philosophy of expressive arts therapy : poiesis and the therapeutic imagination / Stephen K. Levine ; foreword by Catherine Hyland Moon.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 163-166) and indexes.

Cover image--artist's statement / Ellen G. Levine -- Foreword / Catherine Hyland Moon -- Acknowledgements -- To the reader -- Invocation -- My way to Poiesis: the autobiography of a concept -- Ethel Merman was my mother -- Part I. Poiesis, therapy and the arts --Part II. Poiesis : from phenomenology to imagination -- Part III. The way of poiesis : a Chinese perspective -- Part IV. Poiesis, improvisation, identity -- Part V. Last words: when all is said and done -- References -- Subject Index -- Author Index.

"Laying the philosophical foundations of expressive arts therapy, this book highlights the role and importance of poiesis, the art of 'making' as a response to the world, in the expressive arts therapies as well as our own lives. The concept of poiesis was originally developed and brought into the field by Stephen K. Levine. It is a perspective that restores the primacy of the arts for the arts therapies instead of reducing art-making and art-objects to psychological data. Bringing together different schools of thought in unexpected ways, this book shows how the principles underyling expressive arts therapy have relevance to ethics, politics, and social change. It includes chapters on Taoism, improvisation in the arts, and the importance of creativity for understanding human existence" -- page 4 of cover.