Rethinking the Western Understanding of the Self
Author | : Ulrich Steinvorth |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : 231 |
Release | : 2009-06-22 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780521762748 |
ISBN-13 | : 052176274X |
Rating | : 4/5 (48 Downloads) |
Download or read book Rethinking the Western Understanding of the Self written by Ulrich Steinvorth and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-22 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Ulrich Steinvorth offers a fresh analysis and critique of rationality as a defining element in Western thinking. Steinvorth argues that Descartes' understanding of the self offers a more plausible and realistic alternative to the prevailing understanding of the self formed by the Lockean conception and utilitarianism. When freed from Cartesian dualism, such a conceptualization enables us to distinguish between self and subject. Moreover, it enables us to understand why individualism - one of the hallmarks of modernity in the West - became a universal ideal to be granted to every member of society; how acceptance of this notion could peak in the seventeenth century; and why it is now in decline, though not irreversibly so. Most importantly, the Cartesian concept of the self presents a way of saving modernity from the dangers that it now encounters.