The Self A History

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 by referring to our bodies: we do not know that we are raising our hands or thinking hard by looking at our arms or catching a glimpse of our furrowed brows in a mirror. The essays in this volume engage many philosophical resources--metaphysics, epistemology, phenomenology, philosophy of psychology and philosophy of language--to try to shed needed light on these puzzles.

Patricia Kitcher received her BA in Philosophy from Wellesley College and her PhD in Philosophy from Princeton. Before coming to Columbia, she taught at the University of Vermont, the University of Minnesota, and the University of California, San Diego. Her specialties are the philosophy of Kant and the philosophy of psychology.

Contents
Acknowledgements
Series Editor's Foreword
List of Contributors
Introduction. Patricia Kitcher
Chapter 1. "Augustine on Cogitation and Self-Constitution: Drawing from and surpassing the Plotinian stance." Pauliina Remes
Chapter 2. "The Heritage of Ibn Sina's Concept of the Self." Jari Kaukua
Chapter 3. "Aquinas and 'I': A Medieval Concept of Self." Therese Scarpelli Cory
Chapter 4. "Cartesian Subjects of Experience as Selves." Vili L?hteenm?ki
Chapter 5. "Locke on Being Self to my Self." Ruth Boeker
Chapter 6. "Leibniz on the Self." Christian Barth
Reflection: "Metacognition and the Self-Concept." Janet Metcalfe
Chapter 7. "The Idea of Self in Hume's Treatise." Don Garrett
Chapter 8. "Diderot, the Self, and the Science of Dreaming." Charly Coleman
Reflection: "Caravaggio's Self-Regard." Maria Loh
Chapter 9. "Kant on the Unity of Self-Consciousness and Moral Agency." Patricia Kitcher
Chapter 10. "Self-Awareness and the 'Self' in the Phenomenological Tradition." Sacha Golob
Reflection: "You are an I": Elisabeth Bishop's "In the Waiting Room." Gary Ostertag
Chapter 11. "Self and Self-Representation in the Long 20th Century: A Critical Discussion." Christopher Peacocke
Reflection: "Spontaneous Neural Activity and the Self: a Neuroscience Perspective." Alison Hanson and Rafael Yuste
Chapter 12. "Rethinking the Self within an African Philosophical paradigm. (Through poems and songs.)" Antjie Krog
Bibliography
Index