Intersubjectivity

Part 1
Lesson 13
OBJECTIVES
1. Define intersubjectivity.
2. Explore the concept of accepting
differences and avoiding impositions.
3. Develop empathy and understanding of
diverse perspectives.
 INTRODUCTION

• Begin by asking students to share their

personal experiences of interacting with people
from different backgrounds or cultures.
• Introduce the topic of intersubjectivity by
explaining that it refers to the shared
understanding or meaning that people create
through communication and interaction.
ACTIVITY
“ The Parable of a Good Samaritan”
1. Divide the class into groups of
two. Let them discuss the parable.
Questions are to be asked after the
activity
1. What virtue/virtues
does the parable show?
Give the instance(s)
where you see those
virtue?
2. What do you think is the
reason why the Good
Samaritan helped the
stranger despite their social
differences?
3. If you are the
Samaritan, would you
do the same? Support
your answer.
 Intersubjectivity
Intersubjectivity- It refers to shared meanings
constructed by people in their interactions with
each other.
 Intersubjectivity is the philosophical concept of
the interaction between the “self” and the “other”.
It is the mutual recognition of each other as
persons.
 It refers to the shared awareness, and
understanding among persons. It is made possible
by the awareness of the self and the other.
 Jean-Paul Sartre

 Jean Paul Sartre, explains that when you look at a

person, the act of objectification allows you to capture
that person’s freedom to be what he or she wants to
be. That is, you are limiting a person’s possibilities by a
look.
 This is evident when you stereotype or label a person
based on his or her appearance or certain actions.
Totalization
● TOTALIZATION occurs when one limit the other to a set of rational
categories, be they racial, sexual or otherwise. One totalize the other
when one claim he/ she already know who is that person before they
can even speak to.
 Edmund Husserl
 Edmund Husserl believes that intersubjectivity is
more than just shared understanding, but it is the
capability to put oneself in the place where the
other is.

 Intersubjectivity occurs when people undergo

acts of empathy because an intersubjective
experience is highly empathic. This happens when
people put themselves in the shoes of others.
● Empathy- the ability to share
emotions. This emotion is
driven by a person’s awareness
that the other is a person
thoughts and feelings.
● Empathy enables us to
experience another person’s
emotions, such as happiness,
anger, and sadness.
● Sympathy is “feeling with”, while
empathy is “feeling in”
● Availability- the willingness of a
person to be present and be at
disposal of another.
The Ethics of Care is an ethical
theory that emphasizes the moral
dimension of relationship and
interactions.
 This moral perspective
encourages individuals to help
other people, most especially the
vulnerable.
 Rene Descartes

 An advocate of individualism.
 As a proponent of the doctrine of
individualism, he resolved to doubt
absolutely everything that could possibly be
doubted--in the hope of thereby finding
something that was beyond doubt. (“Doubt
everything that can be doubted”)
 According to him there is one thing that
cannot be doubted, and that is thinking.
● “Seeming”- actions where an individual presents himself or
herself in a certain way when dealing with others. Persons take
on “roles” or act out characters when dealing with certain
people or when in certain situations.
● There may be instances when people behave a certain way in
order to intentionally deceive or manipulate other people.
 Most human interactions, however, are not
based on deception. Since our human nature
derives us to uphold dignity and goodness,
our interactions with others are also geared
towards what is good and beneficial.
These lead human to strive to achieve deeper
and more substantial interactions and
relations with other people.
This deeper and more genuine interaction is
called dialogue.
● Dialogue- an interaction between persons that
happens through speech, expressions, and body
language.
● Dialogue is not confined to words alone, actions,
gestures and other expressions may be used to
convey a person’s inner life.
● A dialogue occurs when two persons “open up” to
each other and give and receive one another in
their encounter.
 ASSESSMENT
Multiple Choice. Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the
chosen letter on a separate sheet of paper.

1. Among the statements below, what best describes

intersubjectivity?
A. Intersubjectivity is about how humans treat plants.
B. It is a state of sharing of subjective states by two or
more individuals.
C. It is about how we judge other people.
D. We treat others as objects in intersubjective
relationships.
 ASSESSMENT
2. Which statement is incorrect about
intersubjectivity?
A. Love is an important aspect in intersubjective
relationships.
B. We can put ourselves in the shoes of others
C. I can disregard others as much as I want.
D. We cannot help but be sensitive with the
existence of the other.
 ASSESSMENT
3. This emotion is driven by a person’s
awareness that the other is a person thoughts
and feelings.
A. Sympathy
B. Empathy
C. Seeming
D. Totalization
 ASSESSMENT
4. This moral perspective encourages individuals
to help other people, most especially the
vulnerable.
A. Availability
B. Empathy
C. Sympathy
D. Ethics of care
 ASSESSMENT
5. He believes that intersubjectivity is more than
just shared understanding, but it is the capability
to put oneself in the place where the other is.

A. Jean Paul Sartre

B. Edmund Husserl
C. Rene Descartes
D. Justin Buber
 II-
Recognizing
and Relating to
Others
 The Importance of Acceptance
Connect: Explain how acceptance is a crucial element of
authentic dialogue. Emphasize that accepting others, even if
they have different beliefs, values, or backgrounds, is essential
for building strong relationships and understanding.
Benefits: Discuss the benefits of acceptance, such as
increased empathy, reduced prejudice, and improved
communication.
Challenges: Acknowledge the challenges that people may
face in accepting others who are different.
 Martin Buber, a Jewish philosopher had a great
interest in the study of relating ourselves to others.

 He said that “I” or yourself, can only be realized

through recognition of “others.”

 The “I” cannot be aware of its uniqueness and

existence without encountering the “other.”
 Several ways by which we relate to others
(according to Buber)
The “I-I” relationship
 “I-I” relationshipin which people make
themselves the center of their world.
 Talking to other people do not interest them
and if they talk to others, it is the “I” who will
be the center of the conversation.
 They don't really listen to what others are
sharing.
 “I-It” relationship
 “I-It” relationship is the second type of relationship.
 These are people that treat the other people into the status of
an object—an It.
 Examples:
1.Researchers who have indigenous people as their
participants. They are very prone to reducing the other
into mere It, i.e. as mere objects of investigation.
2. In the medical field when practitioners look at their
patients as objects of investigation.
 “I-It” relationship
 There are also “I-It” relations where the I clearly has bad intent on the other,
treating the other as mere It or object.
Examples:
1.How oppressive employers treat their workers like machines or robots who
are immune to physical, verbal, psychological, and emotional abuse
2.Any relationship which has one party reducing the other to a status of an
object:
a) bully who treats a person with disability as an object of his amusement
b) a liquor company using body of women as their advertisement to improve
sales,
c) partners or friends treating each other as objects and means to satisfy their
self-interest and desires in so-called "friends with benefits" type of
relationships.
Objectification of women in advertising
 “I-It” relationship

 This kind of relationship results into what we call alienation.

 It happens when human relationships are inauthentic, deceptive and
exploitative. It arises when a person ceases to view the other as a
distinct or authentic person and merely considers the other person
as a mere object or a means to satisfy personal interests.
 Alienation is a disorientating sense of exclusion and separation and
if left unaddressed, will discount the humanity and dignity of a
person that leads to dehumanization.
 “I-Thou” relationship
 It is in this kind of human relations that genuine sharing
of one another takes place.
 It is in this type of relationship that the other is treated as
distinctly other, the I treats the person as a Thou (You)—-
as another person who is different from the I; one has a
different set of interests, visions, beliefs, values, and
characteristics.
 The center of this relationship is a genuine form of
conversation: a dialogue.
 Authentic Dialogue

Authentic dialogue is a form of

interpersonal communication which occurs
when people recognize that they are part
of a greater whole and can relate with
others within the whole.
In some cases, non-verbal dialogical
relations are not only the more appropriate
means of conversation, but considered as a
more profound form of conversation.
 I-Thou relationship for Buber is the experience of being through
conversation in communion with the other; and here, the other
may not necessarily be a human being. It could be your dog, or
your tree, or God.
 In line with this, we must remember that a privileged form of
relationship is the I-Thou relationship. This relationship involves
effort.
 Martin Heidegger argued that humankind is a
conversation.
 Conversation is more than just a simple talk but rather
a dialogue. It means that humanity is gradually
accustomed to communication about Being.
 Language, as one of the controls of human, creates
human world. Language is a tool for communication,
information, and social collaboration.
 For Heidegger, all conversations are really one
conversation, the subject of which is Being. A
conversation is creative, expressive, and profound
that allows humanity to exist as more than objects.
We are human beings who sincerely care more than
acquiring information and satisfaction.
 According to Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”,
dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by
the people in order to transform the world.
 For him, dialogue is not just simply an interaction
between people to explore the world together, it is also
a sign of freedom, equality, and responsibility in
discovering and transforming the world of every human
being.
 True dialogue cannot exist unless the partners engage in
love, humility, faith, trust, hope, and critical thinking.
Therefore, dialogue becomes the sign and the central
concept of the true education, “ without dialogue there is
no communication, and without communication, there can
be no true education ”.
Role-Playing: Divide students into pairs or small groups
and provide them with scenarios that require them to
practice authentic dialogue and acceptance.

Scenario 1: Cultural Scenario 2: Personal Challenges

Misunderstanding Setting: A friendship group
Setting: A school gathering.
cafeteria.Characters: A new Characters: A friend who is going
student from a different through a difficult time and their
cultural background and a friends.
classmate. Conflict: The friends struggle to
Conflict: The classmate understand and support their friend's
makes a comment about the feelings.
new student's food that is
unintentionally offensive.
Scenario 3: Generational Scenario 2: Differing Beliefs
Gap Setting: A classroom
Setting: A family dinner. discussion.
Characters: A teenager Characters: Students with
and their parent. opposing viewpoints on a
controversial topic.
Conflict: The teenager Conflict: The students
and parent disagree about become heated and defensive
a curfew or technology during the discussion.
usage.
 Recap
Intersubjectivity is the
philosophical concept of
the interaction between the Ways we relate to others:
“self” and the “other”. It is 1. “I-I relationship”
the mutual recognition of
2. “I-It relationship”
each other as persons.
3. “I-Thou relationship”

1. Empathy
2. Availability Authentic Dialogue
3. Ethics of Care
ASSESSMENT
Multiple Choice. Choose the letter of the best answer.
Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of paper.

1. Who is the Jewish philosopher who introduced the

“I-thou and I- it” relationship?
A. Martin Heidegger
B. Paulo Freries
C. Martin Buber
D. Rene Descartes
ASSESSMENT
2. It is the relationship in which people
make themselves the center of their world.

A. “I-I” relationship
B. “I-It” relationship
C. “I-thou” relationship
D. None of the above
 ASSESSMENT

3. It is in this type of relationship that the

other is treated as distinctly other.

A. “I-I” relationship
B. “I-It” relationship
C. “I-thou” relationship
D. None of the above
 ASSESSMENT

4. These are people who treat the other

people to the status of an object.

A. “I-I” relationship
B. “I-It” relationship
C. “I-thou” relationship
D. None of the above
ASSESSMENT
5. It is a form of interpersonal communication that
occurs when people recognize that they are part
of a greater whole and can relate with others
within the whole.

A. Authentic Dialogue
B. Communication
C. Language
D. Verbal communication