#1224 Dan Zahavi - Being We: Phenomenological Contributions to Social Ontology
RECORDED ON SEPTEMBER 5th 2025.
Dr. Dan Zahavi is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Copenhagen. Dr. Zahavi writes on phenomenology (especially the philosophy of Edmund Husserl) and philosophy of mind. In his writings, he has dealt extensively with topics such as self, self-consciousness, intersubjectivity and social cognition. He is the author of several books, including Being We: Phenomenological Contributions to Social Ontology.
In this episode, we focus on Being We. We talk about phenomenological sociology, and go through topics like individual subjectivity, the self, collective intentionality, we-identity, and social cognition and interpersonal understanding. We discuss the roles played in social cognition by empathy, second-person engagement, imaginative perspective-taking, and detached inferential mindreading. Finally, we talk about the varieties and limits of we, and thin and thick we.
Time Links:
Intro
Phenomenological sociology
Individual subjectivity
The self
Collective intentionality
We-identity
Social cognition and interpersonal understanding
Empathy, second-person engagement, imaginative perspective-taking, and detached inferential mindreading
The varieties and limits of we
Thin we and thick we
Follow Dr. Zahavi’s work!
Follow Dr. Zahavi’s work:
Faculty page: https://tinyurl.com/2cznwjkk
PhilPeople profile: https://tinyurl.com/y6tzmsu2
Being We: https://tinyurl.com/5x4wr2nb