Commensurability and Incommensurability of Paradigms Among Theories and Persons

Abstract

This article considers the ongoing tension of the presence of two or more seemingly incommensurable worlds that in some way might experientially coexist within the emerging individual who at once is singularly self-regulating as well as systems-contextualized and systems-organized. Can disparate orientations, profoundly discrepant worldviews, be intelligible to each other, or must they remain dissociated, each speaking indecipherable languages? Exploring these questions through the lens of experiential paradox expands upon ways of conceptualizing what it means to be an individual person and the broader developmental potentials for one’s emotional world. It is argued that our shared struggle to tolerate both seemingly incommensurable worlds—one of context-determinedness and one of independence, agency, and ownership of one’s present and future—leads to positive, developmental trajectories.

Keywords:

• commensurability
• complexity
• contextualism
• incommensurability
• intersubjectivity

Notes

¹ This article is dedicated to the memory of Alan Kindler, whose open arms, kind presence, and unremitting friendship and support will never be forgotten.

² In particular, Sander’s groundbreaking chapter titled “Paradox and Resolution: From The Beginning” from “Living Systems, Evolving Consciousness, and the Emerging Person: A Selection of Papers from the Life Work of Louis Sander” edited by Gherardo Amadei and Ilaria Bianchi (2008).