The self: philosophical perspectives and psychological dimensions

¶ … Authentic Self

According to Charles Guignon in his book on Being Authentic what were the three crucial events in history that began to shape the formation of the worldview of self?

First of all the emerging Protestant Reformation created the modern conception of the individual by severing all commonly held community ties to priests and other intermediaries to the ears of God. Now, the soul's individualistic and 'inner' intentions were more important than the soul's social and outwardly directed works in the world. Secondly, the emerging Scientific Revolution created a new modern worldview of the self and the world as constituted of material objects and bodies states of mechanized causal interactions that could be quantified and controlled by inward thought, by the individual self. Finally, postmodern society sees society as an artificial human construction where all roles and activities of social life arbitrary and individually created. What are the five characteristics of the modern view of the self as subject?

The modern (as opposed to the fragmented, postmodern sense of self we currently embrace in out culture) as envisioned by thinkers such as Freud and Conrad was (1) is cut off from the faith-based self of the past and locked in a causally or scientifically determined world. The modern self was forced to (2) wear various socially constructed and determined false masks and engage in superficial social game-playing that made up outer social life in contrast to the self's real, psychic life of inner reflection. The modern self was thus (3) alienated and divided from his or her true self and from society as a result of this false and forced bifurcation of identity. The modern self, as a result of this psychic rupture of exteriority and interiority was constantly in a state of psychic (4) anxiety. And lastly, the modern self was (5) fundamentally disenchanted with the unauthentic nature of false society, which forced the authentic self to lead a dual life in a constant state of estrangement.

Describe the linguistic constructionist theory of the self. Show how it decenters the modern view of the self as a subject.

The authentic self as subject proposes a pre-cultural, pre-language natural self outside of all environmental influences, except perhaps the personal and the familial influence. Linguistic constructionism shows how society, culture, and above all language shapes our self-perception and even out ability to talk about one's self as a self, and to render actions, such as sexuality, into states of being or personality, as in "I am gay/straight" as opposed to "I have/am engaged in homo or heterosexual acts and relationships."

Describe the relation between one self of identity and the whole notion of what one cares about.

To create a functional social order, humanity's conception of the individual, so-called authentic self cannot merely refer to an enclosed personal self, a self with solely personal commitments to integrity and responsibility. Rather, postmodern understandings of authenticity must be reconfigured. We must return, suggests the author, about caring about the self and the individual in relation to the social order and understand that authenticity is also a social virtue. But we cannot return to a sense of authenticity that is pre-cultural and entirely individualistic, either.