"Group" from an Existential Phenomenological Perspective: Iris Young Approach as a Case Study.

Résumé

Group, considered one of the human phenomena, has led to several cognitive investigations, due to its importance in understanding the collective self and its inter-self relationships in the world. This paper aims to reveal how a group is formed as a concept in the human mind, and draws upon the philosopher Iris Marion Young's criticism of some models represented in “aggregate” and “institution", and offered to account for the concept of group. Since Young conceived the group phenomenon as a state of "affinity" between individuals, which is akin to Heidegger's concept of "thrownness", Young, does not provide any details regarding such an approach. Accordingly, this paper seeks to continue where the philosopher left off by revealing the state of "affinity" which establishes the significance of a group, based on Heidegger's two concepts of "Dasein" and "They". Thus, the appropriate method which can uncover such aspects embodied in the collective consciousness for individuals is existential phenomenology. This method exceeds the individualistic approaches supporting “aggregate” and “institution” models, which failed to unearth such an embodiment.

This paper is divided into three main sections. The first presents Young's analysis of the shortcomings of the individualistic models of group. The second deals with group phenomenon and the crisis of scientific methods, which paves the way to offer the concept of "Dasein" as a new perspective for understanding the self. The third investigates the collective self, guided by Heidegger's concept of "They" which reveals the structures of social and cultural understanding shared by some individuals, which, in turn, paves the way for the possibility of reforming groups.

In this paper, it has been possible to overcome the problems posed by examining the bases of forming group through the concepts of "Dasein" and "They". Through these two concepts, it has been possible to discover structures of social and cultural understanding among group individuals which are irreducible into individual attitudes. Furthermore, this study lends support to Young's approach by discussing some contemporary approaches on Mind, as demonstrated by comparing Searle's concept of collective intentionality with Heidegger's concept of "They".