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The `Separation Thesis' of Self and Other

Metatheorizing a Dialectical Alternative

University of Western Sydney, a.carr{at}uws.edu.au

It is often assumed that we are first created as an individual and later form relationships with others. This view has been termed the `separation thesis' and seems to be pervasive in Western thinking. Additionally it is also often commonly assumed that in the intersubjective system of self and other, self must necessarily be privileged over other. Examined through the optic of dialectics, this paper puts forward a different and dissenting view: one contending that self and other are, of necessity, mutually constituted and no privileged relationship need occur. This alternative view of the relationship of self and other is also discussed in terms of how other psychodynamic processes become more cogently contextualized and reframe the interpretation of familiar behaviours.

Key Words: dialectic • Freud • Hegel • psychoanalysis • self • other

Theory & Psychology, Vol. 13, No. 1, 117-138 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0959354303013001724


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