The Second Person

Abstract

A central theme of Chapter 5 was that perception of agency is not a detached affair; bodily responsiveness to people is integral to perception of them. I will further pursue this theme here by emphasising the extent to which interpersonal understanding is embedded in structures of interaction that are facilitated by mutual bodily responsiveness. Throughout the chapter, I will focus on two closely related distinctions:

• i. The distinction between second-person and third-person understanding. That is, the difference between understanding someone as a ‘you’ and understanding someone as a ‘he’ or ‘she’.

• ii. The distinction between understanding someone from a detached, inactive standpoint and understanding her through one’s interactions with her.