The Third as Object and Subject: Educational Relat ionship, Third Function and Mediation

The role of the third party is often played by a material or psychic
object or by a living being, then called the “subject”. The third
party enables relationships, especially in education.
According to Michel Vial, “the third object is a medium that sends
the subject back to themself and allows them to work on their
change, to regulate themself, to evaluate themself”. If the object
can exercise the role of the third party in interpersonal or
intrapersonal relations, it is always the subject and the subject’s
relationship with another human being, or with the group, that
benefits or suffers from it. Paradoxically, it may well be that the
condition of possibility enabling the process of personification is
the third party, the “non-person”, as Benveniste claimed.
This book is intended for relationship professionals, educators,
parents, teachers, facilitators and trainers, as well as caregivers
and therapists, in order to help them understand the issue of the
third party