History of the Person and Self in the "West"
Charles Taylor (1989) The sources of
the Self.
A discussion of the relationship between notions of the self and the good.
Mauss (1938/1985). The category of the human mind (requires consciousness)
-Roman & Christian roots to the enlightenment notions of self and person
Moi or Self pertains to the experiential aspects
of being human (what you feel, think, do).
Personne
or person pertains to the social, institutional aspects of being human,
including rights, duties, and roles played in a larger whole of society.
Roman Law followed
with persona as a recognition of the rights
of all human beings without distinction (except that was only for free
men, not including women and slaves). This is different groom group
liability in Greek Law.
Christianity
introduced
individuality of responsibility and free will,
as seen in St. Augustine's resolution of the problem
of evil and an all good God.
Dumont (1985)
suggests there has been an 'interiorization'
of the self from Christian soul through to the
Enlightenment period, following the renaissance, Locke, Kant,
Hume, & others and the emergence of the modern
self.
Locke's Notion of
the Person involved a recognition of
responsibility as:
1) Intelligence - knowing the rules of conduct as
applied to situations
2) Feeling - of happiness or misery that may result from right or wrong action
3) Acting - as a free agent, able to attain goals and fulfill intentions.
- also important is memory of being the same person,
identity.
-Had an impact of legal institutions of European and American societies, slaves,
women, children each have had challenges in being recognized as persons.
Trilogy of the
Mind: The necessary conditions for
having or being a person. These include: Cognition (thinking), Conation
(acting), and Affect (feeling).
General
Psychological Conceptions of the Self
William James & The Self in
America
The Self "a man's Self is the sum total of all that he CAN call his, not only
his body and his psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and
children, his ancestors and friends, his reputation and works, his lands and
horses, and yacht and bank account"
"I"
and
"Me" (Bodily, Social ,
Spiritual)
Subjective
vs.
Objective
Knower
vs.
Known
Process
vs.
Content
Spiritual self: Thoughts,
hypotheses and conceptions of the world
and the self
The "I":
The stream of consciousness
personal
consciousness that is always changing, is sensibly
continuous, deals with objects independent of itself (intentionality)
and is selective - makes Choices.
Erikson's
Normative Identity framework
Erik
Erikson (1968) patterns his
perspective in considering identity to be at the nexus of
environ-bio-psycho-socio-historico-political exchange. Being multi-dimensional,
identity forms vastly different patterns based upon the mosaic of influences
upon it through important developmental turning points or sensitive periods.
Throughout the life cycle he
states there are 8 major crises or turning points to face in becoming fully
human. Each of these crises of identity pertain to a host of psycho-social
experiences that are crucial to normative human development.
Like an accent in speech, cultural experience patterns our identities in myriad fashions. The particular blends and hybrids formed make the ever-developing bouquet of cultures more subtle and varied than snowflakes. In adolescence and young adulthood, ideological identity takes centre stage where cultures tend to reveal themselves more fully.
Erikson writes that identity involves the biological, psychological and social worlds leading one to a place of self understanding and discovery. Ultimately this is where a sense of "being at one with oneself" and "a sense of affinity with a community's sense of being at one with its future as well as its history" (1965).
Hence finding a history or mythology to follow is the task of human kind during these developmental years. Living within a multicultural setting will magnify the complexities of identity formed and the language used to express those histories and identities as presented by Tonks & Paranjpe (1999).
Also considering Mythology and the self is Carl Jung and his Analytical Psychology
Multicultural People
For people living within a
multicultural society like Canada there are encouragements and opportunities to
adopt cultural practices from around the globe. As indicated above, identity
issues become more complex as people negotiate living between and sometimes
moving beyond traditions.
New cultural forms emerge in the confluence of cultures, new forms of communication emerge too. Tonks & Paranjpe (2000) provides some narrative themes on identity formation within a multicultural setting.
Other
Identity Development Issues
Martin & Nakayama provide an
account of the developmental issues at play for specific groups. E.g.
Minority
identity
development, according to Fergusson (1990)
moves through the following stages:
1) unexamined, 2) conformity, 3) resistance & separatism, 4) integration
Majority identity development has also been suggested to move through stages:
1) unexamined 2) acceptance, 3) resistance, 4) redefinition, 5) integration.