Theoretical, epistemological, methodological and practical unfoldings

The topic of subjectivity has not been central to philosophy, nor to social sciences in general. This, to some extent, can be explained by its association with the modern philosophy of consciousness. Subjectivity has been treated by philosophy, but attached to other phenomena, without specifying its ontological nature, such as intersubjectivity, the place of the Other in the emergence of self, consciousness and so on. Within the modern philosophy of consciousness, the topic of subjectivity has never appeared at the center of philosophical discussion. The topic of subjectivity, as discussed in this presentation, represents a theoretical avenue that departed from the legacy of some of the theoretical principles advanced by Soviet psychology, which remained in shadow for decades, both in Russian and Western psychology. In fact, advancing on the topic of subjectivity represents not only the creation of another concept, but also the development of a new ontological definition of human phenomena, whether social or individual. Ontology is understood here to specify the way in which a specific phenomenon obtains intelligibility through a theoretical definition capable of posing new questions to science, founding new systems of practices and, in fact, a new language. The main theoretical units according to which subjectivity is advanced in our proposal are subjective senses which, in their endless movement, by themselves being organized as subjective configurations that characterize human experiences and activities, turn into human motivation. Both subjective senses and subjective configurations represent ontologically a new qualitative unit formed by emotional and symbolical processes; emotions become symbolical, while symbolical productions become emotional ones. This presentation will make explicit the epistemological and methodological implications of this proposal as well as its implications for research and professional practice.