From the structure of language comes the explanation of why the human spirit is condemned to an odyssey - why it first finds its way to itself only on a detour via a complete externalization in other things and in other humans. Only at the greatest distance from itself does it become conscious of itself in its irreplaceable singularity as an individuated being.
Jürgen Habermas, Postmetaphysical Thinking: Between Metaphysics and the Critique of Reason
language, society, the-individual