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Full Idea
The [existential] self is constituted by the continuous, open-ended process of choosing and pulling together the social interpretations that we care about and that are made available by the situation we grow into.
Gist of Idea
The self is constituted by its choices made within a social context
Source
Kevin Aho (Existentialism: an introduction [2014], 4 'Self')
Book Ref
Aho,Kevin: 'Existentialism: an introduction' [Polity 2014], p.56
A Reaction
These kind of explanations always seem wrong. That the self is influenced and moulded strongly by the choices it makes sounds right. But that the choices 'constitute' the chooser sounds like a bit of a muddle.
| 20734 | Anxiety, nausea, guilt and absurdity shake us up, revealing our freedom and limits [Aho] |
| 20733 | Our 'existence' is how we create ourselves, unconstrained by any prior 'essence' [Aho] |
| 20736 | Science has to abstract out the subjective attributes of things, focusing on what is objective [Aho] |
| 20738 | Social contracts and markets have made society seem disconnected and artificial [Aho] |
| 20737 | Protestantism brought the modern emphasis on inner states of the soul [Aho] |
| 20744 | Phenomenologists say all experience is about something and is directed [Aho] |
| 20753 | The self is constituted by its choices made within a social context [Aho] |
| 20766 | Four Noble Truths: life is suffering, caused by attachment, it is avoidable, there is a path [Aho] |