THE

INTERSUBJECTIVE
EXPERIENCE
Part I: Human Existence
of Intersubjectivity:
Intersubjectivity of
Human Beings

Part II: The

Dimensions of a
Nonrelational Self
Intersubjectivity, a term originally coined by
the philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), is
most simply stated as the interchange of thoughts
and feelings, both conscious and unconscious,
between two persons or “subjects,” as facilitated by
empathy.
 Part I:Human Existence
of Intersubjectivity

Self-consciousness is sub-existent. The

self only exists in so far as it treats itself
as being for another, with reference to
another.
—Gabriel Marcel
 Do you
agree or do
not agree
with the
statement,
“People
need
people”?
Intersubjectivity of Human Beings

Intersubjectivity presupposes human being’s connectivity with other

human beings. It means that we share the same situations wherein
we can create shared meanings. These meanings become bases for
our collective actions and beliefs. Nonetheless, these shared
meanings do not eliminate our own individuality. Though shared
meanings become channels of collective actions, they do not
demand uniformity of expressions of these actions. Continuous
sharing of meaning leads to open communication of myself to the
other. The unveiling of myself to other human beings leads me to a
deeper knowledge of myself: self-knowledge towards the
manifestation and realization of my selfhood.
 1. Human being is a Social Being.

A human being creates his/her world to establish relationship with other

created things. He/she has to establish relationship with the environment
for him/her to survive as part of it. Detached from the environment,
he/she cannot survive. Moreover, since he/she is endowed with reason,
he/she has to establish relationship with other human beings. Such
relationship is mediated by actions expressed in words to transform their
environment. It is inherent in human being to communicate and establish
relation with the environment and with other human beings. This
relationship transforms both the environment and the human beings. It is
a relationship that creates communion of beings through which human
beings establish community.
Open communication or vocative situation or dialogue
among human beings is an encounter of unique persons in
a concrete context or situation in the community. This
encounter is mediated by their shared context and
situations which they themselves have created. Those who
share such communication have the power to name their
world (Freire 1970, 76) and experiences as results of
communicative encounter among human beings.
 As Gabriel Marcel puts it:
Not only do we have a right to assert
that others exist, existence can be
attributed only to others, and in
virtue of their otherness, and that I
cannot think of myself as existing
except in so far as I conceive of
myself as not being the others; and so
as other than them. I would go so far
as to say that it is of the essence of
the other to exist (Marcel 2007, 104).
 2. Human being is born and creates himself/herself in social
interaction.

The existence of human being is the consequence of social interaction

particularly between two unique individuals. They together strengthen
this interaction through constant communication. From such
communication, they establish communion of lives that leads to the
establishment of family where the basic interactions are realized. Such
communicative interaction becomes a matrix in which each person
participates, adopts, and absorbs the values, system, beliefs and
world-view that pervade and harmonize among the individuals in the
social interaction.
The social interaction among the members of the family can
be concretely experienced in the Filipino family in the spirit of
“sakop”. Filipino philosophy believes that “sakop” reveals the
mechanisms of Filipino family in establishing wider family
relations which result to extended family ties. This system
becomes a medium or means of determining the seminal
character of every member of the family. In such
communicative situation or dialogue in the family, every
member projects the perennial values, beliefs, and the world
view of the family. Each person carries the whole being and
collective consciousness of the family.
 The Dimensions of a Nonrelational Self

Life of communion is a vocative situation where possible selfhood

of human being is actualized and experienced. However, rupture of
this life happens when one decides to shun from the world or
conceal himself/herself in his/her own world. The expressions of
this situation can be seen through various forms such as isolation,
pretention, manipulation, and self ishness. The will to struggle to
enter into life of communion prevents the occurrence of the
rupture.
 Man cannot become
himself in isolation.

—Karl Jaspers
 Human being lives in isolation
when he/she does not
A. The Self in recognize the existence of
Isolation other human beings. He/she
lives in a community but
he/she does not establish
vocative situation with others.
He/she does not establish
relational interaction that
leads to open communication
with others.
Karl Jaspers

He is one of the influential German thinkers

of the twentieth century. He was born in
Oldenurg, Germany and died in February
1969. Jaspers’ primary focus was the
concrete individual person. He believes
that personal experience is human being’s
fundamental source of truth about reality.
 B. The Self in the Realm of
Pretentions
Deception is a hindrance toward the
establishment of communicative situation or
dialogue between or among human beings. It
emerges and distorts a possible communication
when a human being projects his/her false image
of his/her self to other human beings. Buber
observes that human being pretends to be
another person to be accepted by others. He/she
pretends to be someone other than
himself/herself which he/she is not.
In such situation, if the other person accepts his/her
projected false image, communicative manifestation of the
self is impossible to unfold. The other person is
unconsciously being deceived by the person who knows
that he/ she accepts, trusts, and cares for him/her.
Deception hinders the true being from unveiling itself.
When a human being relates with another in deception, the
content of such communication is not the true self but the
seeming and imagined self.
 C. The Self in the Realm of Manipulation

Manipulation between or among persons occurs when one

says to the other “I create your world and you must only think,
feel, and act within its boundary. Your world view and your
understanding about the world are according to the world that
I have created for you. You act according to the image that I
set. As you do it, I f ind satisfaction and security.”
Intersubjectivity is impossible to unfold in this kind of
relationship (Karl Jaspers 1956, 84). Those who are involved
can never live in truth. Open communication and vocative
situation can never be established.
 D. The Self in the Realm of Selfishness

Self-centeredness is another factor that hinders the establishment of

communicative manifestation or vocative situation or dialogue between or
among human beings. If it pervades in any relationship, a human being who
is in this relationship cannot naturally grow and f ind his/her selfhood. The
“I” does not recognize the existence of the other person as a “subject” but as
a means to attain personal satisfaction. The “I” sees only itself as the basis of
truth and of social existence. The other person is left as an object and
stripped of his/her presence (Buber 2000, 12).
The “I” is the center of relationship. In this kind of relationship, the “I”
looks at other persons as means for personal growth. From his/her
vantage point, he/she believes that he/she can grow in selfishness.
However, this will result to superficiality. Selfishness hinders a person
from sharing his/her being. He/she sees the other as an empty vessel of
values and of meaning. Selfishness blinds a person from seeing the other
as a source of unique world, values, and meaning that can possibly enrich
his/her being. Selfishness hinders the person from opening
himself/herself and be transparent to the other for true communion of
worlds, meanings, values, and self-beings (Buber 2000). Self ishness
hinders him/her from being transparent to the other. Only through the
process of transparency can his/her personal wants and desires be laid
bare.