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Intersubjectivity is the middle ground between objectivity and total subjectivity. Objectivity being a truth that is not related to the subject, whereas subjectivity is a truth that is relative to the perspective of a subject. Intersubjectivity encompasses multiple subjects and multiple viewpoints, that are in themselves subjective, but the combination of multiple viewpoints that point to the same “truth” allows subjectivity to not be completely subjective - in a way that it is often used derogatively.
for example, I see a large green shooting star that falls to the north of me. Another person sees a large shooting star that fell to the south of her, a third person sees it fall to the east, and a fourth person sees it fall to the west. Now, since we all describe the shooting star as green we can intersubjectively agree that it was in fact green. At the same time, we can compare our individual locations at the time that the star fell from the sky, and the direction it appeared in from our locations, and with some degree of accuracy we can intersubjectively determine that the shooting star should have fallen exactly somewhere.
Martin Buber was a prominent twentieth century philosopher, religious thinker, political activist and educator. Born in Austria, he spent most of his life in Germany and Israel, writing in German and Hebrew. He is best known for his 1923 book, Ich und Du (I and Thou), which distinguishes between “I-Thou” and “I-It” modes of existence. Often characterized as an existentialist philosopher, Buber rejected the label, contrasting his emphasis on the whole person and “dialogic” intersubjectivity with existentialist emphasis on “monologic” self-consciousness. In his later essays, he defines man as the being who faces an “other” and constructs a world from the dual acts of distancing and relating. His writing challenges Kant, Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dilthey, Simmel and Heidegger, and he influenced Emmanuel Lévinas.
Martin Buber’s I and Thou
According to Buber, human beings may adopt two attitudes toward the world: I-Thou or I-It. I-Thou is a relation of subject-to-subject, while I-It is a relation of subject-to-object. In the I-Thou relationship, human beings are aware of each oher as having a unity of being. In the I-Thou relationship, human beings do not perceive each other as consisting of specific, isolated qualities, but engage in a dialogue involving each other's whole being. In the I-It relationship, on the other hand, human beings perceive each other as consisting of specific, isolated qualities, and view themselves as part of a world which consists of things. I-Thou is a relationship of mutuality and reciprocity, while I-It is a relationship of separateness and detachment.