The Self: A HistoryPatricia Kitcher The Self: A History explores the ways in which the concept of an 'I' or a 'self' has been developed and deployed at different times in the history of Western Philosophy. It also offers a striking contrast case, the 'interconnected' self, who appears in some expressions of African Philosophy. The I or self seems engulfed in paradoxes. We are selves and we seem to be conscious of ourselves, yet it is very difficult to say what a self is. Although we refer to ourselves, when we try to find or locate ourselves, the I seems elusive. We can find human bodies, but we do not refer to ourselves |
Contents
History of a Concept | 1 |
Drawing from and Surpassing the Plotinian Stance | 28 |
2 The Heritage of Ibn Sīnās Concept of the Self | 55 |
A Medieval Concept of Self | 73 |
4 Descartes on Subjects and Selves | 99 |
5 Locke on Being Self to My Self | 118 |
Inner Sentiment SelfKnowledge and the Awakening of Metaphysical Ideas | 145 |
Metacognition and the SelfConcept | 172 |
Caravaggios SelfRegard | 233 |
9 Kant on the Unity of SelfConsciousness and Moral Agency | 240 |
10 SelfAwareness and the I in the Phenomenological Tradition | 267 |
You Are an I Elizabeth Bishops In the Waiting Room | 287 |
A Critical Discussion | 295 |
Spontaneous Neural Activity and the Self A Neuroscience Perspective | 317 |
12 Rethinking the Self within an African Philosophical Paradigm | 326 |
| 349 | |
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According action activity actually agent animals Aquinas argues argument Augustine awareness become believes body brain calls Cambridge chapter claim clear cognition combination comes complex concept concerning connected consciousness consider constitutive continued Descartes describes discussion distinct early Edited Essay example existence experience explains fact feeling follows further given History human Hume Ibn Sīnā idea identity images important impression individual innate inner sentiment instance intellectual involve judgments Kant kind knowledge Leibniz living Locke means memory mental metaphysical mind moral nature necessary notes object organism original ourselves Oxford University Press particular perceived perceptions person personal identity philosophical position possible present principle provides question reason recognize refers reflection regard relation represent representations requires Science seems self-awareness self-consciousness sense sensory soul Studies substance theory things thinking thought tion trans truths understanding unity