Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 13:53:01 -0600
Subject: Re: HAB: RE: On Intersubjectivity


Hello, James.  The way you put it, I'd have to agree, and am unlikely to
partake of the supermarket of self-help "cures" available to us somewhat
moneyed and somewhat educated masses.  On the other hand, there is something
to be said for awareness of oneself as an agent.  This appears to be the
case for many low literate people, who do not initially speak of themselves
as educable.  it appears to be the case for many of the women I'm working
with in a prison, who express surprise at the predicament in which they find
themselves.

It appears to be the case that with some good old fashioned (near) ideal
speech situations, positive identity development (i.e, a sense of self as an
actor [ugh, self-esteem even!]) occurs.  

I agree that this can probably be handled without psychoanalysis, with a
concept like "intersubjective self" perhaps.  but i hesitate to ditch Freud
because he had a sense of the self out of time and place, and that's kinda
neat.  it fits nicely with the idea of the intersubjective self, and the
self that experiences itself as a unified self yet is multiplicitous,
duplicitous, and made/not made for the moment, made/not made to order, the
self that rises/falls to the occasion.  the self that is bigger than itself.

well, this self is getting a little too outside itself, so I will get back
to the old humbling grindstone (transcriptions).

- deb 


>
>Perhaps the most interesting pathology of modernity we are now faced
>with is the increasing emphasis which is being placed on self-esteem and
>feeling good about yourself as an end in itself.  Vapid
>psychologizations of everyday life continue to proliferate in a dizzying
>spiral as more and more self-proclaimed "experts" continue to
>pathologize more and more aspects of everyday life-parenting,
>adolescence, not paying attention in school, problems in relationships,
>divorce, difficulties making decisions, etc., thereby feeding into the
>culture of the self-esteem/self-help guru who tends to invoke trendy
>psychobabble while convincing everyone that everybody is screwed up.

<snip>


***********************
Deborah Kilgore      ph. 845-4004
Graduate Assistant - EHRD
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
http://people.tamu.edu/~kilgore
Fue tan bello vivir cuando vivias!
How lovely it was to live while you lived!
- Pablo Neruda, from "Final"



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