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The Ethical Individual: An Historical Alternative to Contemporary Conceptions of the Self

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Amy R. McCready
Amy R. McCready*
Affiliation:
Bucknell University
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Abstract

In this article I offer an historically situated model of the self as an alternative to liberal, communitarian, and Foucauldian conceptions. Through the example of John Milton, I show that the conscience gave rise to a self that was jointly individual and ethical. By participating in public debates at the behest of his conscience, Milton recognized himself as an individual possessor of moral authority. Conscience thus liberated Milton from traditional identifications and beliefs as it bound him to act for his society. The self founded on conscience therefore differs from both communitarian and liberal variants. Moreover, whereas conscience in the Foucauldian account renders the self docile, it empowers the self in my account. I conclude that the self predicated on conscience challenges the divisions between private and public realms, self-regarding and prosocial actions, and self-creating and culturally determined persons.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , March 1996 , pp. 90 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1996

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