ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the theories of intersubjectivity of Edmund Husserl, G. W. F. Hegel, Martin Heidegger, and Jean-Paul Sartre. It explains the criticisms have uncovered important restrictions, qualifications, and supplements to their positions, have discerned problems left unaddressed, and have challenged some of their methodological strategies. Both Hegel and Heidegger take large strides toward rendering the doctrine of parallel access between self and Other plausible. Most people are prone to see themselves either in too favorable or too unfavorable a light; they have the same motivation for doing so as Others do. In order to fully comprehend oneself, one must comprehend all the systems that function through one and integrate the results of all the relationships that have constituted one. One’s openness to the world entails one’s accessibility to Others; the only way one can remain hidden is by concealing oneself – twisting one’s expression and offering false masks to Others.
