‘Unspecialization’ as Way-Finder for the ‘Togetherness of Things’: A Dialogue Eighteen Years Later

Abstract

This article offers a retrospective, dialogic reflection on The Creativity of ‘Unspecialization’ (Galvin & Todres, 2007), originally published in the inaugural volume of Phenomenology & Practice. Revisiting this work eighteen years later, Les Todres and Kathleen Galvin, in dialogue with Claire LeBeau, explore how the notion of ‘unspecialization’ has continued to unfold as a way of being, knowing, and scholarly practice far beyond its initial articulation. Through a tripartite, phenomenologically informed dialogue grounded in recorded and transcribed conversations, the authors retrace the life of the original paper across three interrelated trajectories: a distinctive collaborative writing practice, a series of methodological innovations, and an evolving body of health-related phenomenological research. Drawing on Heideggerian contemplative thinking, Gendlin’s experiential phenomenology, and dialogical traditions, the paper portrays ‘unspecialization’ as a receptive, way-finding sensibility that resists premature closure and instrumentalization. Rather than a fixed concept, ‘unspecialization’ emerges as an ongoing, embodied openness that allows phenomena to speak in their own time and form. The dialogue culminates in the insight that ‘unspecialization’ functions as a way-finder for the “togetherness of things,” offering a post-specialist holism capable of integrating care, creativity, and scholarly rigor. The paper contributes to contemporary phenomenological practice by demonstrating how reflective dialogue itself can reenact the very conditions that give rise to meaningful, integrative knowledge.