Selves, People, And Persons: What Does It Mean to be a Self?: 13 (Boston University Studies in Philosophy and Religion) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0268017476 ISBN 13: 9780268017477

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992

Synopsis

This volume of the Boston University Studies in Philosophy and Religion addresses the meaning of selfhood. The eleven contributors explore this urgent question by reshaping fundamental ideas of the self in such varied fields as theology, biology, psychoanalysis, and political philosophy.

The meaning of selfhood has become an urgent question, largely in reaction to the radical individualism in which many modern Western notions of selfhood have been cast. The eleven contributors to Selves, People, and Persons reshape fundamental ideas of the self in such varied fields as theology, biology, psychoanalysis, and political philosophy. Nearly all of them agree that selves are always to be understood in relation to the communities of which they are a part.

About this title

About the Author

Leroy S. Rouner (d. 2006) was the Professor of Philosophy, Religion and Philosophical Theology and Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Religion at Boston University. He edited a number of books and is the author of Within Human Experience: The Philosophy of William Ernest Hocking and To Be at Home: Christianity, Civil Religion and World Community.

From the Back Cover

The meaning of selfhood has become an urgent question, largely in reaction to the radical individualism in which many modern Western notions of selfhood have been cast. The eleven contributors to Selves, People, and Persons reshape fundamental ideas of the self in such varied fields as theology, biology, psychoanalysis, and political philosophy. Nearly all of them agree that selves are always to be understood in relation to the communities of which they are a part. The first section focuses on basic issues in the philosophy of selfhood. Erazim Kohak's title essay explores American personalism while Harold H. Oliver argues that a self is always in the act of relation to some other. Lawrence E. Cahoone counters with reflections on the limits of this social and rational notion of selfhood, and Edward W. James sketches a holistic view of the self in which the "either/or" of dualism can be transformed by a "both/and". The second group deals with selfhood in various cultures, beginning with Eliot Deutsch's exploration of how each tradition can enlarge its understanding of selfhood by incorporating elements from other traditions. John B. Carman examines the role of the self in Hindu Bhakti, and Livia Kohn explores the role of spontaneity in Chinese views of selfhood. The problem of selfhood in theology, biology, psychoanalysis, and political theory comprises the final section: Krister Stendahl discusses the idea that our selfhood is understood primarily in terms of God's selfhood; Alfred I. Tauber examines biological ideas of organism in the work of Elie Metchnikoff; John E. Mack proposes that a spiritual point of view is now required in order to fully understand the psyche; and Bhikhu Parekhexamines how the issue of violence is formulated and debated in liberal democracies.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0268017476
• ISBN 13: 9780268017477
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 230
• Editor: Rouner Leroy S.