Liberation in the Face of Uncertainty: A New Development in Dialogical Self Theory

Abstract

The cover of this publication shows the world-famous picture of the earth seen from the moon. According to the author, “This book is a theory-guided attempt to give an in-depth analysis of some of the pressing problems of our time as they emerge at the interface of self and society. I believe we are in need of rethinking the relationship between self, other, and the natural environment as a response to the limitations of the Western self-ideal” (p. 1). To this end, Hermans distinguishes five main themes—Other-in-the-Self, Living in I-prisons and We-prisons, The Experience of Uncertainty, The Re-enchantment of the World, and Expanded View on Well-Being—into which he journeys over seven chapters. Each chapter starts with an overview of relevant literature, not only in Hermans’ own domain (psychology) but also in other domains (like sociology and ecology), followed by practical implications, and concluding with a summary. The book can be seen as a personal search initiated by the concepts of “imprisonment” and “(self-)liberation” and rooted in Hermans’ childhood experiences during World War II. The author is an erudite scholar, and with this publication he offers readers a treasury of information, some of which is included in preliminary ways in his earlier publications. The intended audience of this book consists of academic researchers in the fields of psychology, philosophy, sociology, political theory, cultural anthropology, literary science, and theology. According to the author, the book has practical implications for the fields of education, counseling, and psychotherapy. Scholars who are already familiar with Hermans’ work may be surprised with the addition of a new concept in the “society of mind,” that is, the “we-position.” This refers to the position and voice of collective others in relation to the concept of “double consciousness” of two I-positions: the I-position opposing the we-position, and the I-position withdrawing in its own bubble. Central to the process of positioning is Hermans’ understanding of dialogue as “a process in which participants are involved in creating coherence between initially different points of views. This communication is organized in such a way that it creates new meanings that emerge from the innovative potentials of dialogue” (p. 99). Dialogue—its potentials and limits—and the processes of de-, reand counter-positioning are introduced as means for self-liberation. A strength of this publication is in the journey on which Hermans invites readers to join him, a journey from Greek philosophers via European theologians to today’s issues of climate change and pandemics and, eventually, to a solution by way of psycho-education into the theory of the dialogical self. Hermans’ publication is recommended for religious education scholars and teachers with an interest the socio-psychology of the self. Hermans offers a well-wrought argument in favor of the dialogical self-theory and its core concepts of