Oltre se stessi. Intersoggettività e relazione

Subjectivity refers to the process of becoming an individualized subject. Yet the name “subject” implies two different determinations. Namely, “subject” (deriving from Latin "subiectum") is a polysemic concept, which comprehends both a passive understanding (i.e. subjugation) and a dynamic ratio (the individualizing agency of a person). The relationship between subjectivity and individuality consequently leads to conflicting actions, albeit they are dialectically binding. The propositions of subjugation, alienation, emancipation, autonomy and relationship are thus strictly intersected. On the basis of these assumptions, the present paper is aimed at resuming some arguments questioned in contemporary academic and public debates on subjectivity, individuality and identity, focusing in particular on the criticism against an absolutizing liberalism, identitarian communitarianism and homologizing ethnocentrism. Starting from a gender perspective, relationships between women, men and cultures become examples able to refer to stories of subjection, subordination and dependency as well as to new forms of concrete, situated and sexuated subjectivities/ individuals, who are conscious, bearers of diversity and respectful both in the private sphere and the public domain. (Inter)subjectivity implies a continuous overcoming of our own both physical and psychic boundaries in the encounter with the otherness.