Dialogical self
Inspired by the original ideas of William James and Mikhail Bakhtin, Hubert Hermans, Harry Kempen and Rens van Loon wrote the first psychological publication on the "dialogical self" in which they conceptualized the self in terms of a dynamic multiplicity of relatively autonomous "I"-positions in the (extended) landscape of the mind. In this conception, the "I" has the possibility to move from one spatial position to another in accordance with changes in situation and time. The "I" fluctuates among different and even opposed positions, and has the capacity to imaginatively endow each position with a voice so that dialogical relations between positions can be established. The voices function like interacting characters in a story, involved in processes of question and answer, agreement and disagreement. Each of them have a story to tell about their own experiences from their own stance. As different voices, these characters exchange information about their respective Me's and mines, resulting in a complex, narratively structured self.
Fred Dallmayr
Dallmayr sees the problems of Western modernity in the monologic mindset, which was rooted in Cartesian "ego cogito" and became an instrumental rationality coupled with egocentric will to power and domination. He advocates for dialogue in theory and practice, as a means to overcome monologic unilateralism and for establishing the relationships of mutual understanding and collaboration, aiming for peaceful coexistence and justice. He has elucidated the dialogical motifs in the works of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin, Gadamer, Karl Jaspers, Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Panikkar, among others.