Chapter 4: Self
The Individual and
the Community
Introducing Philosophy, 10th edition
Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen Higgins, and
Clancy Martin
Self as Social Product
• Self as defined by society: we have all
found ourselves acting according to an
identity that was imposed on us by other
people
• Your conception of your own identity
versus the identity that has been imposed
on you
Responses to the Self as Social Product
1) R. D. Laing looks at this problem as the
cause of some of our most serious
psychological breakdowns. We get the
sense that our real selves are known only
to ourselves, but at the same time we do
not really exist except with other people
2) Sartre argues that we should break away
from our social identities and create our
selves
Responses to the Self as Social Product
3) Nietzsche argues that we should develop
ourselves as unique individuals
4) Like Nietzsche, Kierkegaard deplores “the
public” and urges an end to collective
identity and social roles in favor of
renewed respect for the individual. He is
so adamant that he believes the person
who does not choose his/her own identity
cannot even be said to really exist
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
• Danish philosopher and theologian who is
generally recognized as the father of
existentialism and the founder of many
varieties of contemporary religious
irrationalism
• Kierkegaard dedicated himself to religious
writing after a short and not-altogethersuccessful attempt at the wild life and a
brief engagement, which he broke off in
order to devote himself to his work
• The basic tenet of Kierkegaard’s philosophy
is the need for each individual to choose his
or her own way of life
• Christianity, as one of the possible choices,
could not be considered anything other
than just such a choice, a passionate choice,
which has nothing to do with doctrines,
churches, social groups, and ceremonies
• Deplores “the public” and urges an end to
social identity
• People who do not choose their own
identity do not exist
Responses to the Self as Social Product
Heidegger argues against collective social
identity by claiming that “they,” the
“they” of “the public,” is in fact an
anonymous no one, das Man
Individualism versus the Group–
Voices of Protest
Malcolm X argues that AfricanAmericans’ self-identities are largely
defined for them by American society, in
which whites are the majority; social roles
have also been binding to other groups,
such as women
Malcolm X (1925-1965)
• Outspoken leader of the black nationalist
movement in this country
• He was assassinated in 1965 upon his
return from a trip to the Middle East
Beyond “Individualism”
• Some argue that individual thinking can
be dangerous
Beyond “Individualism”
• Jacques Derrida’s movement,
“deconstruction,” is the attempt to offer a
social analysis and a criticism that
recognize [au1: do these two singular its
refer back to “movement”?]its own
identification with the culture it criticizes
• To “deconstruct” a theory is not to
destroy it nor to rebuild it but rather to
“reread” it
• “Unified self” is merely a cultural
product; if there is self, “it must be plural”
Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)
• French philosopher and founder of the school
of “deconstruction”
• He taught at the Ecole Normal Superior in
France; was a visiting lecturer at American
universities; also taught at Yale, Cornell, and
the University of California at Irvine
• Derrida claimed that the “unified self” is just
a product of Western culture and that it is
now dying at the hands of its own creator
• If there is self, “it must be plural”