Affection We know other people not as objects but as subjects, ie people endowed with self-awareness and free choice. Others accept us in the same way and it is out of this basic intersubjectivity that all social relationships develop, such as rivalry, collaboration, communication, comradeship and helpfulness and loneliness. It is when two human beings proceed beyond these basic social dispositions that affection develops. Affection enables compatibility of our endless diversity and renders that diversity valuable and desirable.