From Reified Identity to Relational Ipseity: Hermeneutic Phenomenology, Language Pragmatics, and Contemplative Practices of Self-Deconstruction

Abstract

This article presents a theoretical and conceptual analysis of self-deconstruction in contemporary contemplative and clinical practices. It argues that psychological suffering is not primarily related to the existence of the self as such, but to its ontological and linguistic reification as a fixed identity, corresponding to idem-identity and to what Heidegger described as an ontology of presence (Vorhandenheit). Drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology, the self is reconceptualized as ipseity (selfhood): a relational, temporal, and performative mode of being-in-the-world. From this perspective, self-deconstruction does not imply the elimination of identity but a transformation in the mode of being of the self. This framework integrates three axes: (a) Heidegger’s analytics of being-in-the-world and the distinction between sameness and ipseity; (b) a pragmatic distinction between indirect and direct reference in language, allowing experiential and clinical transformation without representational reductionism; and (c) a dialogue with nondual contemplative traditions and contemporary clinical approaches, particularly mindfulness-based and third-wave therapies. The article proposes a translational architecture linking ontological analysis, phenomenology of language, and clinical practice, and shows how non-duality can be understood in a non-nihilistic way when grounded in an ontology of ipseity. Clinical implications for psychotherapy, mindfulness-based interventions, and models ofself-related suffering are discussed, including connections to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, cognitive defusion, and decentering, as well as boundary conditions and safeguards for contemplative practices.