Quarter 3 – Module 6 : Intersubjectivity

What is Intersubjectivity?
Term originally coined by the philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938)
The interchange of thoughts and feelings, both conscious and unconscious, between two persons or “subject,” as facilitated by empathy.

Intersubjectivity
It refers to shared meanings constructed by people in their interactions with each other
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 :
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
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.

II- Recognizing and Relating to 0thers.

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 were late to others

(according to Buber)
The “I-I” relationship
“I-I” relationship in 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.
There 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. 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
"friendswith benefits" type of relationships.

“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.

Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and Underprivileged Sectors of the Society Person’s with
Disabilities (PWD’s)
According to the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the term “persons with disabilities” is used to apply to
those persons who have long-term physical, psychological, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with several unreasonable or
discriminatory barriers may obstruct their full and active participation as equal members of the society.

Arnold Balais :
Much like us, persons with certain conditions have also dreams and ambitions in life. Some of them wants to become teachers, lawyers, artists, athletes,
and many more.

Hellen Keller (1880-1968)

American author, political activist
1st deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor’s degree
Anne Sullivan-Hellen’s mentor who was visually-impaired as well.
Published her autobiography, The Story of My Life

Nicholas James “Nick” Vujicic (born 1982)

Australian evangelist and motivational speaker who was born with phocomelia, a condition in which a person is born with no arms or legs. Founder of
Life Without Limbs, a non-profit organization and ministry.

Roselle Ambubuyog(born 1980)

1st visually-impaired Filipino to graduate summa cum laude from Ateneo de Manila University in 2001.
Despite her handicap, she was a consistent academic honoree-valedictorian (elementary & high school)
Product and support manager at Code Factory, the world’s leading provider of software that allow the visually-impaired to access mobile devices.

Underprivileged Sectors of the Society

The underprivileged is being described as the group of people that is suffering from different forms of social deprivation such as denial of the
enjoyment of similar level of comfort and/or fundamental rights as most of the members of a civilized society due to several economic and social
circumstances.

Underprivileged Sectors of the Society

This group is less in terms of material possessions and basic social benefits, like education and health services, in comparison to most of the
people in a certain society.

Underprivileged Sectors of the Society

Furthermore, this group of individuals is facing various dimensions of poverty, such as income poverty, health deprivation, human rights violations,
gender inequity, and many more.
These dimensions have incapacitated many members of the human society like women, children, and the LGBT community, wherein all are
classified as underprivileged.

Underprivileged Sectors of the Society

The marginalized sectors, which include jeepney drivers, farmers, fisherfolks, and many more, are also considered as underprivileged.

Underprivileged Sectors of the Society

Marginalized sectors are the groups of individuals that are experiencing the so-called marginalization, which is the act of downgrading a person, a
class of people, or a concept to an insignificant, secondary, or powerless situation in a society.

Globally, women and children are being subjected to oppression and different forms of exploitation, such as prostitution and pornography that assault
human dignity and violate human rights.
They have turned into slaves of these criminal activities because of different social and economic conditions like poverty and lack of opportunity.
 Women and children have also become victims of domestic and sexual violence. According to the Philippine National Police's Women and Children
Protection Center (PNP-WCPC), 602 incidents of sexual assault were recorded from March 17, 2020 to May 23, 2020 or an average of eight cases a day.
These were the times when Luzon and other parts of the country were on enhanced community quarantine because of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-
19).

LGBTQI++ Community
The members of the LGBT community are also victims of different types of violence. Many of them are experiencing numerous adverse treatments
like bullying, discrimination, physical violence, and even sexual assault because of their sexual orientations and gender identities.
LGBTQI++ Community
They are also facing work-related issues. Based on the first-ever Corporate SOGIE Diversity and Inclusiveness (CSDI) Index, a study that was administered
by the Philippine LGBT Chamber of Commerce and research firm Cogencia and was participated by 100 Philippine-based companies, not a single Filipino
company has any implementing policy that will protect their employees who are members of the LGBT community from various forms of discrimination
within the working environment.

According to Emmanuel Levinas (1905-1995), a French philosopher, we must go beyond ourselves and concentrate more on rendering assistance
passionately and acting with concern toward others, particularly to the members of our society who have become victims of different dimensions of
poverty.

We should have the courage to defend them from any form of social deprivation and discrimination. We can do this by voicing out our concerns and obligating
our government officials to enact bills and ordinances, or strictly implement the laws that we already have, that aim to protect the underprivileged from several
oppressive treatments and make these people enjoy the same social services, such as education, employment, and health care, as most of the members of the
society.

Also, we can help the underprivileged by sincerely and consistently joining in campaigns or movements that seek to empower them. It is our obligation
to help the underprivileged, since they are considered as vulnerable to different forms of human rights violation and social deprivation.

It is also important to promote inclusivity-the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise
be excluded or marginalized, such as those having physical or mental disabilities or belonging to other minority groups.
Most importantly, it is our moral duty to uphold human dignity and importance of life, because even though we are totally different from each other, our
shared dignity and humanity is the thing that unifies us all.