Extract

Introduction Having contextualised Basaglia’s work in Chapter 1, in this chapter I focus especially on those of his writings that show a clear inf luence of phenomenological psychiatry and existentialism, with the aim of pre- senting Basaglia’s notion of subjectivity. From Basaglia’s writings it can be understood that he envisions the subject, the individual and ultimately the person as intrinsically, always-already situated in a world and in a con- stitutional and constitutive relationship with all other people, with ‘the other’.1 In brief, Basaglia establishes a logical and ontological primacy of intersubjectivity over subjectivity: there is no subject outside of a world. The privileged pole around which this constitutional relationship is established is the body, which makes one aware of ‘being oneself ’, and of the presence of the other, by projecting one into the world. Through the body one can 1 It is important to note that throughout the following sections I will use the terms ‘individual’ and ‘subject’ almost interchangeably, in accordance with Basaglia’s use. I will leave an analysis of the distinction between individuality and subjectivity in Basaglia’s often undistinguishable use of the terms to the final chapter of this book. Furthermore, Basaglia often resorts to terms such as sé (self ) and io (I and ego). It is critical to note that, for the time being, these two terms are used neither with a Foucauldian connotation nor with a psychoanalytical one (i.e. the self is not regarded as the product of self-disciplining techniques and the ego is not...