Description
Book SynopsisPresents a collection of seminal essays with commentary that traces the development of conceptions of 'self' and 'subjectivity' in European and Anglo-American philosophical traditions, including feminist scholarship, from Descartes to the present.
Trade Review"...promises to establish [itself] as a key reference text, an invaluable aid for teachers as much as students in the fields of philosophy, social and political sciences, literary and cultural studies."
The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory” Vol.14, 2006 “Self and Subjectivity is a superb reader. Kim Atkins’s gem-like introductions to each reading, together with the generosity and diversity of her selections, will make this an invaluable text for teachers across a range of disciplines.” J. M. Bernstein, New School for Social Research
“Atkins’s imaginative selection of texts from both analytic and continental thinkers –along with cogent samples of feminist, psychoanalytic, and postmodern theories of selfhood – places this work at the cutting edge of contemporary scholarship.” Richard Kearney, Boston College
“The extracts are wide-ranging and well-chosen; and Atkins’s commentaries on her selections are informative, clear, and concise. This will be an extremely useful collection for both students and teachers of philosophy.” Christopher Cordner, University of Melbourne
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I Early Modern Philosophy 5
1 Commentary on Descartes 7
René Descartes: “Meditation II” 12
2 Commentary on Locke 19
John Locke: “Of Identity and Diversity” 24
3 Commentary on Hume 33
David Hume: “Of Personal Identity” 37
Part II Later Modern Philosophy 45
4 Commentary on Kant 47
Immanuel Kant: Critique of Pure Reason,“Paralogisms of Pure Reason (A)” (first, second, and third paralogisms) 52
5 Commentary on Hegel 60
G. W. F. Hegel: Phenomenology of Spirit, “Self-consciousness: Lordship and Bondage” 65
6 Commentary on Nietzsche 71
Friedrich Nietzsche: “The Genealogy of Morals” 76
Part III Phenomenology and Existentialism 85
7 Commentary on Sartre 87
Jean-Paul Sartre: “The Look” 92
8 Commentary on Merleau-Ponty 101
Maurice Merleau-Ponty: “The Spatiality of One’s Own Body and Motility” 106
9 Commentary on Heidegger 113
Martin Heidegger: “Exposition of the Task of a Preparatory Analysis of Dasein” 117
Part IV Analytic Philosophy 125
10 Commentary on Strawson 127
P. F. Strawson: “Persons” 132
11 Commentary on Frankfurt 139
Harry Frankfurt: “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person” 144
12 Commentary on Shoemaker 153
Sydney Shoemaker: “Personal Identity: A Materialist’s Account” 157
13 Commentary on Williams 163
Bernard Williams: “Bodily Continuity and Personal Identity” 168
14 Commentary on Parfit 173
Derek Parfit: Reasons and Persons, “What We Believe Ourselves To Be” 178
Part V Post-structuralism 193
15 Commentary on Freud 195
Sigmund Freud: “The Ego and the Id” 200
16 Commentary on Foucault 206
Michel Foucault: “About the Beginnings of the Hermeneutics of the Self:Two Lectures at Dartmouth” 221
17 Commentary on Ricoeur 220
Paul Ricoeur: “Personal Identity and Narrative Identity” 225
Part VI Feminist Philosophy 235
18 Commentary on de Beauvoir 237
Simone de Beauvoir: “Introduction” to The Second Sex 242
19 Commentary on Butler 252
Judith Butler: “Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity” 257
20 Commentary on Irigaray 266
Luce Irigaray: “Any Theory of the ‘Subject’ Has Always Been Appropriated by the ‘Masculine’ ” 271
21 Commentary on Mackenzie 279
Catriona Mackenzie: “Imagining Oneself Otherwise” 284
Bibliography 300
Index 305
