Overthink4 Nov 2025

Togetherness with Dan Zahavi

Can we ever be truly alone? In episode 146 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk with philosopher Dan Zahavi about his book, Being We: Phenomenological Contributions to Social Ontology. They discuss how the increase in communication through screens has shifted what it means to be together, the decline of social bonds in political life, and what phenomenological understandings of empathy tell us about being together. How do dyadic relationships such as romantic love and friendship shape our identities? Does there need to be a conception of the self that precedes sociality? What are the different types of "we"? In the Substack bonus segment, Ellie and David get into some juicy stories about their own experiences of togetherness in the beautiful city of Madrid.

Works discussed:

Alison Gopnik, The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life

Ivan Leudar and Philip Thomas, Voices of Reason, Voices of Insanity

Sherry Turkle, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

Gerda Walther, Toward an Ontology of Social Communities

Dan Zahavi, Being We: Phenomenological Contributions to Social Ontology

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