What does it take to constitute a we with others and how does feeling, thinking, and acting as part of a we, transform one's sense of self, one's relation to others, and the way one experiences the world? Is individual subjectivity something that necessarily requires a communal grounding or does a we-relationship always presuppose a plurality of pre-existing selves? What kind of understanding of and relation to others is required if a we is to emerge? Questions regarding the ontological, epistemological, and social character of we is not only of contemporary societal relevance, but are also questions that were intensively discussed by early phenomenological philosophers such as Husserl, Reinach, Stein, Scheler, Walther, Gurwitsch, and Schutz.
Drawing on and engaging with ideas and distinctions found in these historical resources, Being We combines historical scholarship and systematic theorizing. It breaks new ground by interweaving work on selfhood and first-personal experience, social cognition, and collective intentionality, offers a much-needed cross fertilization between philosophy and theoretical considerations in the social sciences (sociology, anthropology, and social psychology), and provides a novel account of the complex interrelation between we, you, and I.
Read more
The we is an integral part of everyday life: We solve tasks, reach decisions, and share emotions together, just as we can share a collective identity, traditions and customs. What is the nature of this we? The book discusses this question by drawing on insights from not only philosophy, but also sociology, anthropology, and social psychology.
Read more
Introduction
Part I. We and I
1: We-experiences
2: An Individualist Bias
3: Basic Selfhood
4: Socially (un)constructed subjectivity
5: Husserlian Complexifications
6: Group Identification
7: The Question of Primacy
Part II. We and You
8: Empathy
9: Communication and Second-person Engagement
10: Shared Emotions
Part III. Varieties of We
11: Dyads and Triads
12: Communal Bonds
Read more
Dan Zahavi is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Subjectivity Research at the University of Copenhagen. Zahavi's primary research area is phenomenology and philosophy of mind, and their intersection with empirical disciplines such as psychiatry and psychology. In addition to various scholarly works on the phenomenology of Husserl, Zahavi has mainly written on the nature of selfhood, consciousness, self-consciousness, intersubjectivity, empathy,
and most recently on topics in social ontology. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages.
Read more
Offers a systematic account of the relation between we, you, and I
Presents and discusses ideas from a number of figures in early phenomenology that are still relatively unknown in the English-speaking world
Offers a cross-disciplinary perspective by bringing philosophy into a conversation with sociology, anthropology, and, social psychology
Read more
Product details
ISBN
9780192894489
Published
2025-01-30
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Weight
510 gr
Height
240 mm
Width
165 mm
Thickness
20 mm
Age
UP, 05
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Number of pages
240
Author