ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author attempts to give a brief summary of the guidelines provided by the different philosophical positions. The popularity of the concept of intersubjectivity often causes it to be used for a variety of purposes. The brief review of some fundamental philosophical positions demonstrates a number of general dilemmas when one attempts to see the relationship as an intersubjective space. The internal, psychological world was unnecessary for the understanding of actions and statements. The development into cognitive theory changed this, but even now the psychological mind was conceived as rules or schemata for processing information. A great deal of our ethical thinking is organized around an understanding of autonomy as a basic concept. It is the language-based community that is in focus here—it is only through the use of language that experiences have meaning. The history of family therapy can therefore be described as the history of a search for concepts that would capture relational totalities.
