ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses dialogism, the Mikhail Bakhtinian concept that has been most influential in psychotherapy theory. Bakhtin's dialogism originates in his dialogue with Kant and is best understood, in this context, as a philosophical idea about nature of meaning rather than as a linguistic concept. Dialogism is indeed about the two-sided aspect of meanings, but not in any sense necessarily about two people. Dialogism could be understood variously as: a relationship between utterances; the dual or multivoicedness of a single utterance; or a relationship between different intentions, values or ideologies. Bakhtin was not alone in his interest in language, nor was he the first to make the "linguistic turn", which became the defining feature of 20th century European philosophy. In liberal democracies dialogism ends where repression starts, for example in the imperial relationship with colonised people or in one of its contemporary equivalents in the European states' treatment of refugees and migrants.