ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews selected philosophic approaches to intersubjectivity—beginning with Kant's and Husserl's attempts to resolve the problems raised by Descartes's sceptical solipsism, and proceeding to Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of the self as embodied in an inherently interpersonal world. It describes Ronald Fairbairn's two hypotheses in detail and notes the strengths and weaknesses of each version. By comparing Fairbairn's contributions to those of modern philosophy, the author hope to not only illuminate the broad philosophic background against which he was working, but also to provide a foundation from which to re-evaluate his two hypotheses. The chapter suggests that a philosophic re-examination has the potential to identify the points at which Fairbairn's theory might be revised and strengthened, thereby securing more firmly his embrace of a distinctly modern, even postmodern, vision of the foundations of being human. Fairbairn's theory, so that his legacy as one of the earliest and most original contributors to the theory of intersubjectivity will have been preserved.
