INTERSUBJECTIVITY

Miguel Bautista
INTERSUBJECTIVITY
• Realize that Intersubjectivity requires accepting differences and not to
impose on others.
• Truly we are unique individuals. Most of the time, we look at our
differences and may have “labels” toward on another.
• Each of us will have different appearances or points of view.
• Labels could be negative or limiting. You may be called “impatient”,
“whiny”, or “stubborn”.
• Thus, we can redesign the labels to something new and exciting.
• So instead of “impatient”, you are “compelling”. If one is “whiny”, you
are “analytical”. If on is “stubborn”, one is “assertive” or “persistent”.
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: The Social
Dimensions of the Self
• Martin Buber’s and Karol Wojtyla’s views will be used as the main
framework in understanding intersubjectivity.
• Both philosophers were influenced by their religious background.
They believed in the notion of concrete experience/existence of the
human person.
• Both refused to regard the human person as a composite of some
kind of dimensions, such as animality and rationality.
• For Wojtyla, the social dimension is represented by “We relation” and
for Buber, the interpersonal is signified by the “I-You relation”.
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: The Social
Dimensions of the Self
• Martin Buber is a Jewish existentialist philosopher. He was born in
Vienna and was brought up in the Jewish tradition.
• In his work I and thou (Ich and Du), he conceives the human person in
his/her wholeness, totality, concrete existence, and relatedness to the
world.
• Karol Wojtyla or Saint Pope John Paul II was born in Wadowice,
Poland. He was also an architect of Communism’s demise in Poland.
• In his encyclical letter, Fides et ratio, he criticized the traditional
definition of human as “rational animal”.
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: The Social
Dimensions of the Self
• He maintains that the human person is the one who exists and acts.
• For Wojtyla, action reveals the nature of the human agent.
Participation explains the essence of the human person.
• Through participation, the person is able to fulfil one’s self. The
human person is oriented toward relation and sharing in the
communal life for the common good.
• Buber’s I-thou philosophy is about the human person as a subject,
who is being different from things or from objects.
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: The Social
Dimensions of the Self
• The human person experiences his wholeness not in virtue of his
relation to one’s self, but in virtue of his relation of experience.
• The human person as subjects have direct and mutual sharing of
selves. This signifies a person to person, subject to subject, relation or
acceptance, sincerity, concern, respect, dialog, and care.
• Buber cites the “I-It” relationship, is a person to thing, subject to
object that is merely experiencing and using; lacking directedness and
mutuality.
 Appreciate the talents of PWD and Those
from the Underprivileged Sectors of Society
and Their Contributions
On PWDs
• There are many categories of PWD or persons with disabilities. To
mention some, there are the hearing impaired, diabetic, asthmatic, or
cystic fibrotic persons.
• In a certain study, mothers of asthmatic children scored consistently
more positively than any other groups of mothers. On the one hand,
father of asthmatic and cystic fibrotic children had higher parent
attitudes and were more sociable than the other fathers.
• On both these scales, parents of hearing impaired youngsters had the
highest problematic scores.
On PWDs
• Parents of cystic fibrotic kids reported the most special problem areas
and caretaking needs.
• Parents of hearing impaired children have more behavior
management issues.
• While parents of cystic fibrotic children reported the highest levels of
family importance (Mapp 2004).
• A study in North America shows that 50% of deaf children read less
than the normal children. For the deaf, total communication is
recommended which includes the traditional method with use of
finger spelling and sign language.
On PWDs
• On the other hand, spirited kids and children with ADHD (Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are different.
• A spirited perceptive child will notice everything going on around her
but will able to process that information quickly and will be able to
select the most important information to listen to.
• An ADHD child will find it difficult to focus or complete a task despite
her best efforts.
On PWDs
• Negative attitudes of the family and community toward PWDs may
add to their poor academic and vocational outcomes.
• Parents need to teach the point of constructive action.
• They can decide to restructure certain aspects of their lifestyle in
order to accommodate the communicative as well as the educational
needs of their child with disability.
• Community sensitivity, through positive and supportive attitudes
toward PWDs, is also an important component (Mapp 2004).
On Underprivileged Sectors of Society
• A number of different concepts and measures of poverty relate to its
various dimensions. Each of these dimensions has the common
characteristics of representing deprivation that encompasses:
• Income
• Health
• Education
• Empowerment
• Working Condition
On Underprivileged Sectors of Society
• The most common measure of the underprivileged is income poverty,
which is defined in terms of terms of consumption of goods and
services.
• Poor
• Extremely Poor
• Those living below US $2.00/day are considered poor. While those
living below US $1.25/day are extremely poor.
On Underprivileged Sectors of Society
• There is a growing recognition that income poverty is not the only important
measure of deprivation.
• Poor health is also an important aspect of poverty.
• Globally, millions due to AIDS, Ebola virus, tuberculosis and malaria as well as
number of infant deaths from largely preventable causes of diarrheal disease.
• Health deprivation had become focal point for the underprivileged.
• Human rights are also relevant issues of global poverty in its focus on shortfalls in
basic needs.
• The Church, in its pro-poor stance, is constantly challenged wherein justice is
being denied for sectors like farmers, fisher folks, indigenous people, and victims
of calamity and labor.