Elusive subject

Abstract

Since the middle of the twentieth century, the notion of the subject and the possibilities of delineating its nature have been the focus of particular attention within a number of humanities disciplines. The concept of the subject has proved difficult to tackle, and wholly problematic in general. Briefly analysing selected texts by authors involved in various fields of study, ranging from history of philosophy by psychoanalysis and sociology to theory of language and philosophy of science, we endeavour to construct a mosaic of several more or less contemporary views of the subject, on the basis of which we then point to the instability of the process itself by means of which the subject is constituted.