In discussion with Martin Buber Franz Rosenzweig Abraham Joshua Heschel Franz Fischer and
Emmanuel Levinas Ephraim Meir outlines a novel conception of a selfhood that is grounded in
dialogical thought. He focuses on the shaping of identity in present day societies and offers a
new view on identity around the concepts of self-transcendence self-difference and
trans-difference. Subjectivity is seen as the concrete possibility of relating to an open
identity which receives and hosts alterity. Self-difference is the crown upon the I it is the
result of a dialogical life a life of passing to the other. The religious I is perceived as in
dialogue with secularity with its own past and with other persons. It is suggested that with a
dialogical approach one may discover what unites people in pluralist societies.
