Abstract
Dialogical Self Theory (DST) refers to the dynamic multiplicity of I-positions in the landscape of the mind, intertwined as one’s mind is with the minds of others. That is, it is premised on a view of the self as characterized by multivoicedness and as extended into one’s environment. ‘Multivoicedness’ is inspired by Bakhtin’s dialogism, especially his description of the polyphonic novel. The ‘extended self’ is traceable to William James, especially as reinterpreted by G. H. Mead and others. The two ideas are inseparable in DST. A related idea is the imaginal space, an abstract intrapersonal domain wherein self-other relations are construed and re-construed. We may experience it when imagining ourselves speaking with others, in moments of self-contradiction, self-conflict, and so on. All of this suggests a basic similarity between interpersonal relationships and how different parts of the self are interrelated. ‘In a sense the dialogical self is a “society of mind” because there is no essential difference between the positions a person takes as part of the self and the positions people take as members of a heterogeneous society’ (Hermans, 2002, p. 147).
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© 2011 Raya A. Jones and Hubert J. M. Hermans
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Jones, R.A., Hermans, H.J.M. (2011). The Dialogical and the Imaginal. In: Jones, R.A., Morioka, M. (eds) Jungian and Dialogical Self Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230307490_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230307490_2
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