This collective volume focuses on two closely connected issues whose common denominator is the embattled notion of the subject.

The first concerns the controversies on the nature of the subject and related notions, such as the concepts of 'I' and 'self'. From both theoretical and historical viewpoints, several of the contributors show how different and incompatible perspectives on the subject can help us understand today's world, its habits, style, power relations, and attitudes. For this purpose, use is made of insights in a broad range of disciplines, such as sociology, psychoanalysis, pragmatics, intellectual history, and anthropology. This interdisciplinary approach helps to clarify the multifaceted character of the subject and the role it plays nowadays as well as over the centuries.

The second issue concerns the subject in inter-personal as well as in intra-personal controversies. The enquiry here focuses on the ways in which different aspects of the subject and subjective differences affect the conduct, content, and rationality of controversies with others as well as within oneself on a variety of topics. Among such aspects, the contributors analyse the subject's emotions, cognitive states, argumentative practices, and individual and collective identity. The interaction between the two issues, the controversies on the subject and the subject of controversies, sheds new light on the debate on modernity and its alleged crisis.

Table of contents

Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1–29 Part I: Discussing with oneself 1. Debating with myself and debating with others Marcelo Dascal 33–73 2. Being in accordance with oneself: Moral self-controversy in Plato and Aristotle Peter Schulz 75–90 3. Conversion and controversy Massimo Leone 91–114 4. Controversies and the logic of scientific discovery Ademar Ferreira 115–125 5. Controversies and dialogic intersubjectivity Frédéric Cossutta 127–156 6. Disagreement, self-agreement, and self-deception Shai Frogel 157–169 Part II: The first person 7. Intersubjectivity in controversy: A story from the Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi Han-liang Chang 173–184 8. Subjectivist and objectivist interpretations of controversy-based thought Adelino Cattani 185–200 9. Temporality, reification and subjectivity: Carneades and the foundations of the world of subjectivity Mihály Szivós 201–234 10. First person singular in 17th century controversies Gerd Fritz 235–250 11. Subjective justifications: Introspective arguments in empiricism Daniel Mishori 251–262 12. Early modern controversies and theories of controversy: The rules of the game and the role of the persons Thomas Gloning 263–281 13. Externalism, internalism, and self-knowledge Yaron Senderowicz 283–300 Part III: The politics of subjectivity 14. Liberals vs. communitarians on the self Pierluigi Barrotta 303–324 15. Ethical implications of de-dichotomization of identities in conflict Omar Barghouti 325–336 16. The role of subjectivity in public controversy Alan G. Gross 337–352 17. The Sokal affair: The role of subjectivity in shaping the controversy León Olivé 353–370 18. Archaic subjectivity and/as controversy in psychoanalytic thinking Shirley Sharon-Zisser 371–393 The contributors to this volume 395–399 Indexes 401–411