Patterns of Intersubjectivity in the Constitution of Subjectivity: Dimensions of Otherness

Abstract

This article presents a new characterization of the concept and experience of intersubjectivity based on four matrices that we see as organizing and elucidating different dimensions of otherness. The four matrices are described through key references to their proponents in the fields of philosophy, psychology and psychoanalysis: (1) trans-subjective intersubjectivity (Scheler, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty); (2) traumatic intersubjectivity (Levinas); (3) interpersonal intersubjectivity (Mead); and (4) intrapsychic intersubjectivity (Freud, Klein, Fairbairn, Winnicott). These intersubjective dimensions are understood as indicating dimensions of otherness that never occupy the field of human experience in a pure, exclusive form. The four matrices proposed need to be seen as simultaneous elements in the different processes of the constitution and development of subjectivity.