González Rey’s Work: Genesis and Development

Abstract

Fernando González Rey (1949–2019) had an extensive and creative scientific production, expressed in twenty-nine books, ten edited or coedited books, ninety book chapters, and one hundred and thirty-two scientific articles. This chapter presents the genesis and development of the Theory of Subjectivity—his main scientific contribution associated with the contexts and circumstances that favored its emergence. A detailed study of González Rey’s work allows for it to be characterized in two closely linked moments. The first moment, called Personality Moment, ranges from his first works—shortly after his graduation as a psychologist in 1973—until his work in the first half of the 1990s. His conception of personality was his main scientific contribution at this stage. The second moment, the Theory of Subjectivity and Qualitative Epistemology Moment, comprises his works from 1997 until his last publications in 2020. This moment is characterized by the transition from the concept of personality to that of subjectivity, represented as a new ontology of human processes—both social and individual—under the conditions of culture. The analysis of his production in this second moment shows the complex, critical, subversive, and open character of his theory, its epistemological and methodological implications, as well as its value for research and professional practice in different fields.