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Single Idea 7422

[filed under theme 16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 2. Self as Social Construct ]

Full Idea

The subject is not a substance but a form, which is not always identical to itself. You do not have the same relation to yourself when you go to vote and when you seek to fulfil your desires in a sexual relationship.

Gist of Idea

A subject is a form which can change, in (say) political or sexual situations

Source

Michel Foucault (Ethics of the Concern for Self as Freedom [1984], p.290)

Book Ref

Foucault,Michel: 'Essential Works 1954-1984 I: Ethics', ed/tr. Rabinow,Paul [Penguin 1994], p.290


A Reaction

I don't think I believe this. If it were true, the concept of 'sexual politics' would mean nothing to me. A brutal or sympathetic nature is likely to express itself in both situations.


The 13 ideas with the same theme [we see ourselves totally through social influences]:

For Hegel knowledge of self presupposes objects, and also a public and moral social world [Hegel, by Scruton]
A human only become a somebody as a member of a social estate [Hegel]
Individuals attain their right by discovering their self-consciousness in institutions [Hegel]
The authentic self exists at the level of class, rather than the individual [Marx, by Dunt]
There are no 'individual' persons; we are each the sum of humanity up to this moment [Nietzsche]
Goffman sees the self as no more than a peg on which to hang roles we play [Goffman, by MacIntyre]
A subject is a form which can change, in (say) political or sexual situations [Foucault]
Selves are not soul-pearls, but artefacts of social processes [Dennett]
The 'Kantian' self steps back from commitment to its social situation [Kymlicka]
A sense of self begins either internally, or externally through language and society [Edelman/Tononi]
To be considered 'an individual' is performed by a society [Kusch]
Locke's intrinsic view of personal identity has been replaced by an externalist view [Martin/Barresi]
Nazis think race predetermines the self [Bowie]