Four modalities of the experience of others in groups

Abstract

The ways in which group members experience and interact with one another has been explored in philosophy from Greek antiquity to the present. In modern European philosophy, beginning with the Enlightenment, the problem of ‘the Other’ has been taken up by empirical, idealist, phenomenological and existential philosophers. Based on such philosophical discourse, this article presents a fourfold schema of ‘modalities’ through which people acquire knowledge of one another in groups. The four modalities are as follows: (1) ‘Mind’, the use of reason, cognition and sense data to form a model of the other person’s mental processes; (2) ‘Body’, the intuitive, empathic, embodied perception of others; (3) ‘Gaze’, the establishment of power and authority by scrutiny of each other’s presentation of self; and (4) ‘Face’, the ethical imperative presented by the Other. The ideas of (1) Descartes, Locke and Kant; (2) Merleau-Ponty; (3) Sartre and Foucault; and (4) Levinas are discussed to elucidate each modality. The relationships between the modalities, group analytic theory and neuroscience are explored to build bridges between philosophy, group theory and practice, and the neuroscience of the social brain.