Part III - The Cartesian Self in History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
Humanity does not strive for happiness; only the English do.
Nietzsche, Twilights of the IdolsIn this part, I look for traces of the Cartesian self in history. If individuals are Cartesian selves, they should have left their footprints. Notoriously, history bears many interpretations, so it would be pretentious to call such a search a test of the Cartesian conception by history. Yet if history becomes better understandable by looking at it with certain conceptual glasses, we may take such understanding for evidence that the conception is not falsified and the expected traces can be found. I dare say that the two-stage concept of the self and rationality makes history more understandable than one-stage conceptions.
By tracking the Cartesian self in history, it will also be possible to detail the two stages of rationality. As I aim at an assessment of the West and its potentialities today, and presume they are not independent of the self and the way it is grasped, it is necessary to understand the historical forms of rationality and the self. To understand them, Freud's and Heidegger's analyses have to be enriched by historical analysis. Yet a look at history needs to be guided by concepts. If I followed only the Cartesian conception of the self and rationality, I could not check it by history. I have tried avoiding prejudice by using both the Cartesian and the utilitarian conception in reading history.
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- Rethinking the Western Understanding of the Self , pp. 59 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009