On November 13, 2025, Dr. Martina Properzi, a PhD candidate in the Doctoral School of Philosophy, presented a paper at the 15th Conference of the Spanish Society for Phenomenology (SEFE). The SEFE conference was scheduled for November 12-14, 2025, in Palma de Mallorca at the University of the Balearic Islands. The conference theme was “Normality, Normativity, and Life-World”. This international event invited papers in Spanish or
English exploring the links between these concepts (for more information, please refer to the
Conference Program at the following link: https://sefe.es/congreso-normalidad-normatividad-mundo-de-la-vida/). Dr. Properzi thoroughly examined the complex issue of the normative influence that the sociocultural context exerts on the individual’s basic or “minimal” dimension of self. The paper presentation featured an English-speaking session that included two papers from international scholars in the field of phenomenology of normativity and normality.
In her presentation, Dr. Properzi clarifies that the minimal self is consistent with a fundamental experiential datum that everyone can access: lived experiences are subjective in nature. In other words, they are not suspended in the air, but rather part of a unified stream of awareness that is invariably accessed from the distinctive perspective of its subject. Dr. Properzi’s paper explores the potential normative commitments associated with the lived experience of the minimal self. The discussion began with an examination of the predominant theoretical framework of compatibilism. Compatibilism posits that the minimal self and sociocultural norms are integral components of individual selfhood, albeit manifesting in distinct dimensions or layers of self-awareness. The paper put forward an alternative approach to the topic of the normativity of the minimal self, emphasizing the dimensions of embodiment and situatedness as integral components of our basic identity and carriers of normative commitments from the sociocultural context.