Subject-subject relationship as a significant aspect of personal development in adulthood

The issue of the subject-subject relationship, also known as the relationship of encounter or the I-Thou relationship, which has a strong presence in the humanities and Christian mysticism, is rarely addressed by psychology. This type of relationship goes beyond the psychosocial approach to personal maturity and human development at the so-called higher stages, thus falling outside the predominant lines of psychological inquiry. Consequently, this paper concerns issues that are not popular in psychology, albeit they are close to the problem of the person’s development as a subject. Drawing inspiration from cultural anthropology and intersubjective philosophy – especially Martin Buber’s philosophy of dialogue and Gabriel Marcel’s concrete philosophy – the author presents from a psychological stance the phenomenon of the subject-subject relationship and its prerequisite conditions. Adopting the perspective of personalistic psychology in its existentialist-phenomenological strands, the author indicates the place of this relationship in human personal development and highlights its crucial significance to this process.