Adams, W. A. (2006). Is There A Knife That Can Cut Itself?  [Review of the book, Subjectivity and Selfhood]. PsycCRITIQUES- Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, September 20, 2006 Vol. 51 (38), Article 18.  Retrieved September 20, 2006 from the PsycCRITIQUES database (http://www.psycinfo.com/psyccritiques/).

This is one of the most exciting books I’ve read in a long time.  Philosopher Dan Zahavi takes a first-person, phenomenological approach to some questions that are dizzying to consider.  What is subjectivity?  Why are we self-aware?  What is the self?  How do we read each other’s minds?  Zahavi is a specialist in translating and explaining the works of Edmund Husserl, the founding father of phenomenology, and his arguments rely on Husserl’s writings.  The journey is a fantastic head trip and the destination actually has some practical considerations for personality theory, clinical and abnormal psychology, and consciousness studies. And the answer is yes: subjectivity is a knife that can cut itself.

Full Text of the Review: Review of Zahavis knife
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