First-person experiences

The existential struggle between being a ‘we’ and an ‘us’

You meet with a friend to take a walk. Together you stroll through the park, coordinating your movements and reciprocally engaging and communicating with one another. According to the British philosopher Margaret Gilbert, this is a paradigmatic case of experiencing oneself as part of a ‘we’: two people communicatively connected and joint in their commitment to take a walk and catch up. But what happens when suddenly you become aware of someone staring at you, perhaps listening in on your conversation? In this moment, you may be pulled out of the intimately closed-off dyad as you are abruptly made aware that the two of you have become the object of someone else’s experience, either visually or auditorily. ….[READ]