Theory and Empiricism of Subjectivation

In the analysis of epigenetic human development processes as subjectivization processes, the aim is to explain the connection between self-constitution and external constitution in such a way that the interface between relations and self-relations is focused on in particular. In line with the guiding thesis that people only learn themselves from others and something other than themselves, subjectivation is therefore understood as a process in which people are made into subjects by others and make themselves into subjects; subjectivation can therefore neither be reduced to an event of unfolding, development or self-construction nor to mere socialization, but must be understood as a constitutive intertwining of external and self-reference. The concept of the subject conveys this ambiguity - even if it is often overlooked - as it denotes (visibly in the Latin sub-iectum) both the underlying and the subjugated. Subjectivation therefore refers to the process of learning and leading one's own life under the guidance of others and thus establishing a relationship with oneself with others and the world - in short: making oneself a subject and being made a subject by others.

The research focus 'Processes of subjectivation' therefore pursues both theoretical-categorical and empirical-phenomenal questions:

On the one hand, the aim is to develop a theoretically appropriate framework that does justice to the relationality of subjectivation processes, the intertwining of other-referentiality and self-referentiality, as well as to work out their practical character, the 'how' of subjectivation. A relationally elaborated and phenomenally (and not merely normatively) adjusted concept of recognition, which seeks to take into account the fact that people must be recognized as subjects by others and must therefore also present themselves as such, seems particularly promising.

On the other hand, the theoretical-categorical perspectives are to be examined for their suitability and fruitfulness in empirical-phenomenal studies to formulate - as an example - a complex, historically and socially adjusted and not merely (limited to partial aspects) reductionist understanding of human epigenesis. Sub-studies of the project therefore deal with the connection between recognition and self-understanding, the connection between learning processes and learning attitudes, and the question of the connection between subjectivation and the body. Finally, different social patterns of subjectivation practices and ideas will be reconstructed and contrasted from a historical and comparative perspective.