Subject in Psychology: Reply to commentaries

The present article contains replies to commentaries on my earlier paper entitled 'Does social psychology have room for the category of subjectivity?᾿. In this article, I briefly relate to the question of compatibilism/incompatibilism in psychology, treating these stances as a (justified ) philosophical presupposition. Presuppositions, of course, influence the content of scientific theories. In this sense, the issue of the traditionally understood subject seems difficult to reconcile with compatibilistic theses. In the further part of this article, I relate to a characteristic of subjectivity which I did not consider in my previous article but which both commentators drew attention to: subjectivity understood as being in agreement with oneself. Such understanding of subjectivity fits within the self-regulation modus and has been contrasted by both authors with a repressive self-control. I agree that this may be an interesting re-formulation of the problem of subjectivity. At the same time, I believe that such a redefinition - if performed on the grounds of psychology - can be of relevance also for the popular understanding of the subject. peerReviewed publishedVersion