LESSON 6

INTERSUBJECTIVITY
Objectives
1. To understand intersubjectivity;
2. To appreciate the talents of a person with
disabilities and those from underprivileged
sectors;
3. To perform activities demonstrating the talents
of persons with disabilities and those from the
underprivileged sector of the society.
INTRODU
 This lesson was made for us to
understand the meaning of
intersubjectivity, realization and
acceptance of individual
differences, appreciate the talents
of persons with disabilities
and those who are from
the underprivileged sector.
KNOWLEDGE
KNOWLEDGE
GAUGE
What is the
meaning of
intersubjectivity?
KNOWLEDGE
GAUGE How can we
encourage those
persons with
disabilities (PWD)
to be optimistic?
KNOWLEDGE
GAUGE
What are the things
that we can do to help
those individuals
who belong to the
underprivileged
sector?
KNOWLEDGE
GAUGE
How do we accept
others regardless
of individual
differences?
 INTERSUBJECTIVITY
is a term used in philosophy, psychology, sociology,
and anthropology to represent the psychological relation
between people.
It is usually used in contrast to solipsistic individual
experience, emphasizing
our inherently social being.
 REALIZE THAT
INTERSUBJECTIVITY
REQUIRES ACCEPTING
DIFFERENCE
AND NOT TO IMPOSE
ON OTHERS
LOOKING AT THE
SAME THING,
DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVE
Though we are a part of the society, we are still different individuals
living in this society. Each of us will have different appearance or
point of view.
This chapter will focus on building strength despite
of our various differences.
 The negative labels of differences can be contagious, so the
positive ones. Let us focus on the positive,
for these labels can be strengthen not just on your relationships
among your friends but most especially
to your family.
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF

MARTIN BUBER KAROL WOJTYLA

Israeli religious philosopher (born in Austria); as a Zionist he
promoted understanding between Jews and Arabs; his
writings affected Christian thinkers as well as Jews (1878-
1965)
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF

MARTIN BUBER KAROL WOJTYLA

Pope John Paul II

The first Pope born in Poland; the first Pope not born
in Italy in 450 years (1920-2005)
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF

MARTIN BUBER KAROL WOJTYLA

Both philosophers were influenced
by their religious background.
They believed in the notion of concrete
experience/existence of the human person.
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF

MARTIN BUBER KAROL WOJTYLA

They also think that one must not lose the sight
of one’s self in concrete experience.
Both refuses to regard the human person as a composite of some
kind of dimensions, such as animality
and rationality.
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF

MARTIN BUBER KAROL WOJTYLA

For both view, the human person is total, not dual.
For Wojtyla, the social dimension is represented
by“We relation” and for Buber, the interpersonal
is signified by the “I-You relation.”
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF

For him, action reveals the nature

of the human agent. Participation
explains
the essence of the
human person.
Through participation,
the person is able to fulfill one’s
self. The human is person is
KAROL WOJTYLA oriented toward relation and
sharing in the communal life for
the common good.
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF

His I-thou philosophy is about the

human person as a subject who is a
being different from things or from
objects.
The human person experiences his
wholeness
not in virtue of his relation to one’s
self but in virtue of his relation to
another self.
MARTIN BUBER The human person establishes the
world of mutual relation, of
experience.
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF

The human person as subjects

have direct and mutual sharing of
selves. This signifies a person-to-
person, subject-to-subject relation
or acceptance, sincerity, concern,
respect, dialog and care. The
human person is not just being-in-
MARTIN BUBER the-world but being-with-others,
or being-in-relation.
INTERSUBJECTIVITY AS ONTOLOGY: THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF

In contrast, the realm of

meeting and dialog, Buber cites
the I-it relationship.
The I-it relationship is a person
to thing, subject to object that is
merely experiencing and using;
lacking directedness and
MARTIN BUBER mutuality (feeling,
knowing and acting)
APPRECIATE THE TALENTS OF
PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
(PWD’S) AND THOSE FROM
THE UNDERPRIVILEGED
SECTORS OF THE SOCIETY
AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION
 ON PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

The process of suspecting, recognizing and identifying the handicap for parents with
PWD will include feelings of shock, bewilderment, sorrow, anger and guilt. Whether
these pertain to deafness or spirited children, denial for instance is universal. During
diagnosis, isolation of affects occurs when parents intellectually accepts deafness of their
child.
This loss should require mourning or grief; something is seriously wrong.
 ON PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Feeling of impotence or questioning “why me?” are some of

the feelings of ambivalence regarding a child’s condition.
Some parents turn to religion and consider “ heaven sent
blessing in disguise.”
 ON PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

In this concern however, this denies the real implications of the disability. Additional
reactions include fear of the future, when parents worry about how disability of the child
will affect his/ her productivity, or become a lifelong burden. Parents whose children
were diagnosed with disability have to let go of their dreams child. Realization and grief
can blind parents to their child’s uniqueness.
 ON PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

There are many categories of PWD (persons with disabilities).

There are hearing impaired, diabetic, asthmatic or cystic fibrotic persons.
In certain study, mothers of asthmatic children scored consistently more positively that any
group of mothers. On the other hand, fathers of asthmatic and cystic fibrotic children had
higher parent attitudes and were more sociable. On both these scales, parents of hearing
impaired youngsters
had highest problematic scores.
ON PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

On the other hand, spirited children with ADHD (Attention Deficit

Hyperactivity Disorder) are different. A spirited perceptive child notice
everything going on around her but will be able to process that information
quickly and will be able to select the most important information to listen to.
An ADHD child find it difficult
to focus or complete a task despite her best efforts.
 ON PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Negative attitudes of the family and community towards PWD may add to their poor
academic and vocational outcomes. Parents need to reach the point of constructive
action. They can decide to restructure certain aspects of their lifestyle in order to
accommodate the communicative as well as the educational needs of their child with
disability.
Community sensitivity, through positive and supportive attitudes towards PWD is also
an important component.
ON UNDERPRIVILEGE SECTORS OF SOCIETY: DIMENSION OF POVERTY

The notion of poverty is not one-dimensional; rather it is

multidimensional. A number of different concepts and
measures of poverty relate to its various dimension.
ON UNDERPRIVILEGE SECTORS OF SOCIETY: DIMENSION OF POVERTY

Each of these dimensions has the common characteristic of representing deprivation that
encompasses;
1. Income 4. Empowerment
2. Health 5. Working Condition
3. Education
 ON UNDERPRIVILEGE SECTORS OF SOCIETY: DIMENSION OF POVERTY

The most common measure of the underprivileged sector is

income poverty, which is defined in terms of consumption of
goods and services.
There is lack of goods and services.
 ON UNDERPRIVILEGE SECTORS OF SOCIETY: DIMENSION OF POVERTY

World Bank categorizes poverty into two levels:

1. Poor- those who are living below USD 2.00/ day
2. Extremely Poor-those who are living below USD 1.25/
day
ON UNDERPRIVILEGE SECTORS OF SOCIETY: DIMENSION OF POVERTY

There is a growing recognition that income poverty is

not the only important measure of deprivation. Poor
health is also an important aspect of poverty.
ON UNDERPRIVILEGE SECTORS OF SOCIETY: DIMENSION OF POVERTY

Globally, millions die due to AIDS, Ebola Virus, Tuberculosis and

Malaria as well as number of infant death from largely preventable
causes of diarrheal disease. Health deprivation had become focal
point for the underprivileged.
 ON UNDERPRIVILEGE SECTORS OF SOCIETY: DIMENSION OF POVERTY

Human rights are also relevant to issue of global poverty in its focus of
shortfalls in the basic needs. Extending human rights into the realm of foreign
direct investment is also an imperative.
The church, in its pro-poor stance is constantly challenged wherein justice is
being denied for sectors like farmers, fish folks, indigenous people and victims
of calamity and labor.
ON THE RIGHTS OF
WOMEN

In her Vindication on the Rights of Women (1782), she

argued that such education would produce women who were
mere propagator of fools.
She believes that woman must be united to
men in wisdom and rationality.
Society should allow women to attain equal rights to
MARY philosophy and education given to men.
WOLLSTONECRAFT
ON THE RIGHTS OF
WOMEN

Further, for her, women should not just be valued until their
beauty fades; it is the fate of the fairest of flowers to be
admired and pulled to pieces by the careless hand that
plucked. If men would snap women’s chains, they would
find women more observant daughters, more affectionate
sisters and faithful wives, more reasonable mothers
MARY and better citizens.
WOLLSTONECRAFT
ON THE RIGHTS OF
WOMEN

She maintains that women must learn to respect

themselves. Men’s worth should not be based on the
vanity of women and babies, for this degrade women by
making them mere dolls.
She stressed that women should not marry for support
instead, they should earn their own bread. During her
MARY time, even women in the upper echelons of the society are
WOLLSTONECRAFT oppressed.
MOTHER TERESA OF MARGARET THATCHER CORAZON AQUINO MIRIAM SANTIAGO
CALCUTTA, INDIA OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF THE PHILIPPINES OF THE PHILIPPINES

SOME OF THE
WORLD’S
RESPECTED
AUNG SAN SUU KYI INDIRA GANDHI WOMEN
OF MYANMAR OF INDIA
SOCORRO RAMOS PIA WURTZBACH SOLITA MONSOD HIDILYN DIAZ

SOME OF THE
WELL KNOWN
WOMEN IN THE
LENI ROBREDO ALLYSA VALDEZ
PHILIPPINES
EXPLAIN THE AUTHENTIC
DIALOG THAT IS
ACCEPTING OTHERS
REGARDLESS OF
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
 WE ARE A
CONVERSATION
In his essay, he said that humankind is a
conversation. Conversation is more than an
idle talk but a dialog.
This means that humanity
is progressively attuned to communication
about being. Language as one of the human
possession creates human world.
Language is a tool for communication,
information and social interaction however
language can also be amazement.
MARTIN HEIDEGGER
 WE ARE A
CONVERSATION
A dialog is a conversation that is attuned to
each other and to whatever they are talking
about. Mutual tuning is perfected in the
attunement. For Heidegger (1997), all
conversations are really one conversation,
the subject of which is Being (maybe God,
Tao or Yahweh). A conversation which
Heidegger envisages is creative, poetic and
deep that allows humanity to exist
as more than entities.
MARTIN HEIDEGGER
 WE ARE A
CONVERSATION
In a conversation, there could be a
“stammer” which is trying to express
the unnamable. For Heidegger, a
conversation attempts to articulate
who and what we are, not as
particular individuals but as human
beings. We are human beings who
care about more than information and
gratification.
MARTIN HEIDEGGER
 WE ARE A
CONVERSATION For him, a life of dialog is a mutual sharing
of our inner selves in the realm of the
interhuman. Between two persons is a
mutual awareness of each other as persons;
avoiding objectification. Being is presenting
what one really is, to present to
the other one’s real self.
Personal making entails the affirmation of
the other as a person who is unique and has
distinct personality. There is the acceptance
of the person unfolding the other actualize
himself/herself.
MARTIN BUBER
 WE ARE A
An authentic dialog entails a
CONVERSATION
person-to-person, a mutual sharing of
All of
selves, the Philosophers
acceptance and sincerity. This
mentioned
relationship talksrelation.
is the I-thou aboutI-Youtheof
Wojtyla refers to the interpersonal which
same
fulfills type of relation,
and actualize oneself. Thethat
humanis,
a dialog
person of human
attains fulfillment in thebeings
realm of the
interpersonal, in meeting the others; thus
basedthere onismutual
a genuine sharing
dialog. of
selves,
For Wojtyla,acceptance
in participation,
we share in the humanness of the other. We
cannot escape and sincerity.
a world that is also inhabited
KAROL WOJTYLA by others.
 PERFORM ACTIVITIES
THAT DEMONSTRATE THE
TALENTS OF PWD’S AND
UNDERPRIVELEGED
SECTOR OF THE SOCIETY
 The Philippine Government supports persons with disabilities (PWDs)
to land a job. It is a negative perception that they are less productive.
In reality, PWDs do face a number of barriers in finding a job whether through
inaccessibility of transportation in the workplace, discrimination and a negative perception
of their capacity. As of 2014, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimated about
1.44 million Filipinos have some form of disability in the employable 15-64 years old age
bracket.
 The country has enough laws to protect the PWDs such as Executive Order no. 417 S.
2005 however in reality, these are hardly implemented. EO 417 mandates all national
government agencies and state-run corporations a allot at least one per centum (1%) of
their annual budget for programs that will benefit the sector. Further, this executive order
addresses the need for government to provide capitalization for PWDs livelihood activities
which includes support for technical skills through labor department.
 One of the major reasons why many
PWD enterprises fail is because of the
lack of market for their products.
Disability is considered a development
issue because of its relationship to
poverty. Poverty may increase the risk of
disability. People with disabilities incur
additional expenses to achieve a standard
of living similar to those with disabilities
such as health care services, costlier
transportation options and special diet
among others.
In relationship to poverty, human trafficking has become a form of
modern-day slavery. Globally, men, women
and children are forced into prostitution, cybersex/pornography and
other forms of exploitation that assaults human dignity.
 Millions of poor and helpless Filipinos have become a part of this
criminal enterprise. Pope Francis of the Catholic Church call this as
“crimes against humanity” and has called upon many to fight for
human dignity
and sacredness of life.
 This is what Martin Buber calls as
I-It Relation, where the other human being
is perceived as an object rather than
as human being.
KNOWLEDGE
GAUGE
KNOWLEDGE
GAUGE
What is the
meaning of
intersubjectivity?
KNOWLEDGE
GAUGE How can we
encourage those
persons with
disabilities (PWD)
to be optimistic?
KNOWLEDGE
GAUGE
What are the things
that we can do to help
those individuals
who belong to the
underprivileged
sector?
KNOWLEDGE
GAUGE
How do we accept
others regardless
of individual
differences?
 References and Materials Used
Books
• Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
by: Christine Carmela R. Ramos, Ph.D. (Published and
Distributed by REX Book Store, Manila, Philippines)
Other Sources
• people.wku.edu
• wikipedia.org
• britannica.com
• WordWeb
• simplypsychology
 References and Materials Used
Graphics
• Katekyō Hitman Reborn!
(directed by Kenichi Imaizumi and written
by Nobuaki Kishima)

• Images from google.com

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of Republic Act no. 8293
(Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines)

The purpose and character of the use, including whether

such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit
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