Subjectivity and discourse: Complementary topics for a critical psychology
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Abstract
This paper aims to discuss the rejection of subjectivity by psychologists dominantly oriented towards concepts like discourse and deconstruction, as well as communicative and relational activities. The recognition of the symbolic character of human phenomena by psychology occurred relatively late in relation to philosophy, linguistics and anthropology. Nonetheless, this entrance was so radical that it led psychologists to deny most of the concepts that have traditionally been used by psychology. This paper departs from theoretical traditions that advanced a step further in the comprehension of the human psyche as a cultural-historically engendered phenomenon. On this basis, a new definition of subjectivity is advanced as a phenomenon that emerges as a result of the symbolical forms which are socially and historically situated, from which concepts like discourse, deconstruction and dialogical-communicative systems also appeared. Subjectivity, as treated in this paper, is oriented toward specifying human processes that are not exhausted in these concepts, being complementary to them in a broader and complex approach to the study of human realities.