Understanding Intersubjectivity

The Jesuit professor in the Catholic Peace philosophical chat column provides an understanding of the many ways we can open ourselves to a larger world. 

We refer to an existence other than ourselves as the 'other.' However, the other carries more profound philosophical implications. We cannot imagine a world without the other, and the other becomes a major catalyst for self-awareness and self-recognition.

The concept of the other became a philosophically important subject after Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) presented the intersubjectively shared self and the other. [Intersubjectivity describes the shared understanding that emerges from interpersonal interactions]

According to Martin Buber (1878-1965), humans exhibit two attitudes in relating to the world: 'I-Thou' and 'I-It.' The former treats the other as a unique personal being, while the latter objectifies and instrumentalizes the other. When humans relate to the other as an individual being of I-Thou, they can engage in genuine dialogue and realize themselves through the other’s presence.

Philosophers who spoke about this are Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995). Sartre views the other as a conflicting being opposing me; Levinas sees the other as a transcendent entity to whom we must extend absolute hospitality.

Sartre argues that the Other comes to me primarily as an uncomfortable and disconcerting gaze. The gaze of the other objectifies and limits my freedom by making me an object. As I am observed by others, I become the object of observation, which fundamentally triggers feelings of shame. However, recognizing myself as an object in the world of the other with this uncomfortable gaze leads me to strive to become a truly free subject in relation to the other. In this conflict with the other, we confront the other as intersubjective beings.

In contrast, Levinas focuses on the Other not as a being that causes conflict through an uncomfortable gaze, but rather a being we must actively welcome. Levinas emphasizes, above all, the transcendence and incomprehensibility of the Other, which is absolutely beyond my understanding. The Other is an existence that cannot be understood through knowledge or concepts, and as a being that is essentially different from me.

Thus, the Other exists in a manner that is completely 'different' from me and invites me to be a subjective being. If we refuse to acknowledge this difference of the Other or merely see it as an object of confrontation and struggle, the path to truly becoming oneself will be far away. This is because the otherness of the Other is the most important catalyst for human beings to recognize themselves and to have their subjectivity.