The ontology of the “in-between” and the genetic legacy in psychology

Abstract

A true psychology of language and self requires a radically dialogical ontology that goes beyond the dialectics of self and other and the logic of me–other exchange. Bertau’s notion of the in-between and Lipari’s notion of interlistening are highly suggestive of such a dialogical ontology. This article attempts to connect those notions to a history of genetic thought going back to Goethe’s Lebensphilosophie. Following the implications of this tradition leads to a different interpretation of Vygotsky’s work on thinking and concept formation than the one offered by Larraín and Haye. The article concludes by evoking Merleau-Ponty in further support of an ontology of the in-between that reveals expression both in its generativity and in its depth. With an allusion to Karsten, genuine depth can be seen as expressed precisely through a refraction of the self as expression and the self as expressed.