Borders, Tensegrity and Development in Dialogue

In this article we propose a development of the Dialogical Self Theory by introducing the notions of borders, cogenetic logic and tensegrity that we have elaborated during the last 5 years, in order to introduce a stronger developmental and dynamic perspective within the theory. We start from the discussion of some recent advancements of the model proposed by Hermans et al. (Integrative Psychological and Behavioural Science, 51(4), 2017), who refer to the metaphor of democratic society of the Self to understand the challenges and possible directions of adaptation that the persons can face in those border-crossing processes characterizing contemporary western societies. We conceptualized the Self as a dynamic semiotic system in constant evolutive tension, rather than a system in equilibrium adapting to the environmental changing conditions. Then, we propose to replace the concept of stability and continuity of the Self with the more fruitful idea of tensional integrity.