Restoration of subjectivity: the role of reflection in personality development and humanization of social institutions

Abstract

This article consists of two parts. The firs parts analyzes the general mechanism of reflection within the framework of the theoretical discourse; while the second part the introduced concepts and schemes of reflection are illustrated on the case of “restorative justice”. The analysis of two other cases (“Confession” by St. Augustine, as well as “Confessions” and “Resurrection” by L. Tolstoy) allows characterizing the two phases of psyche – preceding and accompanying reflection. The first phase represents a “crystallization of distortion subjectivity”, and at times its dissolution. The second phase (situation) launches the personality process, which can be described using the terminology of L. S. Vygotstky as “interiorization" of intersubjective; this is the conscious work that gives a new perspective on the situation and its resolution. Analysis is conducted on the two procedures of reflection itself ‒ reflexive way out to the space of “placelesness” (M. Bakhtin) with the shift of integrity and thingness, and reflexive return (G. Shchedrovitsky). Study of the case of restorative justice demonstrates the organizational-technical attitude towards reflection, communication and ensuring mutual understanding between people separated by crime, as a new moment in comparison with the “individual reflection” as internally determined personality process. The inclusion of reflection into social practices and humanities substantiates the possibility of complementing the concept of subjectivity and its “restoration” with the concept of agency as the proclivity for new actions, acquisition of the “authorial position” in relation to one's personal life and interaction with others.