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5 - Memory, agency, and the self

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2009

John Christman
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
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Summary

We all walk backward into the future

Maori proverb

Our discussions of various approaches to conceptions of the self have taken a few turns now. We noted how the standard model of the self passed down from the Enlightenment tradition of political and moral philosophy is notoriously individualistic. It was necessary, then, to consider ways to revise that model in light of the social constituents of selfhood that undeniably play a role not only in our self-concepts but in any useful conception of agency or autonomy. This mirrors much work in the philosophical literature to revise traditional models of agency in order to highlight the ongoing connections we all have with surrounding social dynamics and with particular significant others, connections that mold our identity and shape our values. Curiously, however, much less notice has been taken of the ways in which that standard account of autonomous agency has severed our connections to our past. On many standard models, rational agency involves the survey of current options, desires, and beliefs, and the capacity to choose the optimal path forward. But little is said directly about how those choices arise out of an ongoing historical narrative, access to which is gained through the powers of memory. Therefore, I want to consider how reflective self-construction must take into account not only current elements of one's person but aspects of our past, access to which is given to us by memory.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Politics of Persons
Individual Autonomy and Socio-historical Selves
, pp. 86 - 106
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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