Combining Texts

Ideas for 'After Finitude', 'Sources of the Self' and 'works'

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4 ideas

16. Persons / A. Concept of a Person / 4. Persons as Agents
4020 The modern self has disengaged reason, self-exploration, and personal commitment [Taylor,C]
     Full Idea: The modern notion of the self is defined by disengaged reason (with its associated freedom and dignity), by self-exploration, and by personal commitment.
     From: Charles Taylor (Sources of the Self [1989], §13.1)
     A reaction: Taylor makes a good case that this broader view of how the self is seen is as important as narrow debates about personal identity.
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 2. Ethical Self
4002 My aim is to map the connections between our sense of self and our moral understanding [Taylor,C]
     Full Idea: My entire way of proceeding involves mapping connections between the sense of the self and moral visions, between identity and the good.
     From: Charles Taylor (Sources of the Self [1989], Pref)
     A reaction: An interesting project. Modern brain research supports the idea that emotions and values are tightly integrated into al thought.
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 4. Presupposition of Self
19650 The transcendental subject is not an entity, but a set of conditions making science possible [Meillassoux]
     Full Idea: The transcendental subject simply cannot be said to exist; which is to say that the subject is not an entity, but rather a set of conditions rendering objective scientific knowledge of entities possible.
     From: Quentin Meillassoux (After Finitude; the necessity of contingency [2006], 1)
     A reaction: Meillassoux treats this as part of the Kantian Disaster, which made an accurate account of the scientific revolution impossible for philosophers. Kant's ego seems to have primarily an epistemological role.
16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 3. Narrative Self
4006 I can only be aware of myself as a person who changes by means of my personal history [Taylor,C]
     Full Idea: As a being who grows and becomes I can only know myself through the history of my maturations and regressions, overcomings and defeats.
     From: Charles Taylor (Sources of the Self [1989], §2.3)
     A reaction: An important insight. My immediate sense of self makes my personal history central, not an extra. But a history must be a history OF something.