The Importance Of Self-Agency

Some deeper understanding of ourselves is possible, though only at the moments prior to our deaths. Throughout this paper, I will primarily focus on the implications with attempting to understand one’s self. In the opening portion of this paper, I will discuss and explain problems of two separate chapters that pose particular difficulties for us to understand ourselves from Walker Percy’s Lost in the Cosmos. This will then lead me to my next section, where I will reflect on self-understanding and examine the possibility of resolving the problems of self-understanding that I discussed in the opening portion of this paper.

The self could be defined simply as the sense of who we are, and who we are is created and developed over time and through interactions with other individuals in society. Charles Horton Cooley compares the development of self to a mirror in which an individual’s self is basically a reflection of how we think we are viewed by society. This idea of the “looking-glass self” focuses on how we imagine others see us opposed to how they really see us. There are three phases of the looking-glass self that repeats throughout life. In the first phase, an individual imagines he or she appear to others. The second phase involves imagining how others would judge him or her, based off that appearance. In the final phase, the individual uses the assumptions from the first two phases to define his or her

“How is one to know and define oneself? From the inside- within a context that is self-defined, from a grounding in a community… or from the

The approach I selected is human agency, which is the idea in where an individual within a culture has the right to act a particular way according to the environment/situation they are in. Human agency expresses how people in various societies consist of numerous view points and experiences that have been endured or is being endured within a condition, based on their shaped beliefs or morality. The health topic I choose to discuss is mental health management, a system of methods to help regulate or keep an individual’s psychological and emotional well-being under control. Mental health management also assists in gathering information to determine the ways humans handle ailments, such as the choices they make and how they relate.

To the ignorant and self-oblivious person, the true individuality of a man’s self is presumed through his ability to possess an apt and socially preferable state of mind. Quite ironic in fact—and if I’m not mistaken—the widespread consensus regarding human identity, is that it is at its most ripe, and fertile upon one’s inevitable decision to conform to the mass. Such logic is somewhat of a paradox-in-itself and if we deconstruct the meaning of the terms ‘conform’ and ‘individuality’ their contrast is vast, and their apparent use is irrational, therefore all aspects of the human mind remain complacent, and mundane to a certain degree that it erases any former beliefs of a unique human being. Rather, human personality is an

Since the moment one is born, until one’s life comes to a halting end, he or she is always in a quest to find his or her self. Clearly, the concept of self is rather complex. Humans are different entities, with varied views on the world, which is what makes the universe such an interesting place. Of course, people are born with certain characteristics that become the bases for who he or she is. Yet, the components that fall under the self, such as, self concept, self knowledge, self esteem continue to change. Interestingly enough, the self falls under a specific spectrum. When he or she is young, he or she can merely recognize him or herself. Therefore the self is lost. However when he or she begins school the self he or she fall under one of the two

The question “What are we?” in an ontological sense is currently inconclusive and open for debate. Nevertheless, identifying a description of what we are not shall help uncover what we are. We are not a psychological continuity account of personal identity over time. Under this context, “psychological continuity” is defined as continuous mental states over time. For example, characteristics of one’s mind such as sentience, memory, and other mental faculties, must remain an uninterrupted continuum over time to be considered psychologically continuous. Additionally, under this context, the term “person” will hereafter refer to beings that have mental properties. Under philosophical context, the term “identity” is generally defined as its

Derek Parfit's views on personal identity and the Ego and Bundle Theory are all summarized in his article “Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons”. In his article, Parfit explains the distinction between Ego theory and Bundle theory and provides several arguments against Ego Theory. Although it proves to be very difficult to believe the Bundle Theory, Parfit’s critique is convincing and well thought out.

The public self is often times not the true self. This indication of a difference between the public and true self leads to the idea that the self and identity of an individual are different concepts. The self, is a person’s essential being that makes each individual unique compared to others; whereas the identity, is a person’s character that is essentially created to help the individual fit into society. These two concepts begin to form early in life through influences from society, family, and culture. However, as the individual beings to assimilate the world around them, their sense of identity transforms in order to adapt to the new environment, while their sense of self remains the same.

Prompt 1: An Exploration of Self Self is a definition of who we are, and that definition can come from two sources: ourselves and those we are close to. The resulting person is usually some combination of the two perceptions of self. In the works The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, this idea of self is explored.

Maintained through self-reflection, this identity of the self

Any time someone thinks, their brain has a special, designated voice for their thoughts. This voice, allows an individual to in some degree, have a conversation with their self, without necessarily communicating out loud. This voice in our heads has had numerous names throughout the years, such as a person’s conscious or recently has been called the “self.” Many researchers have wanted to know who and or what the actual voice is that we hear in our conversations. Richard Rass author of “Introduction to Perspectives on the Self: Conversations on Identity and Consciousness”, explains that “self has assumed radically different meanings…” throughout the years (Rass 2). Knowing what “self” is and why it helps enlighten our lives is apart of the journey. Rass stated that the “self” or conscious could play a role in knowing humans “psychological composition” (Rass 2). With new research appearing more than ever before, we are gradually obtaining the ability to

     Two things can happen when we are required to base our definition of “self” on others.  One can take others’ ways of living and thinking, process them, and formulate his or her own definition, independent of anyone else.  Or, one can use the relationships he or she has with other people on which to base their own definition of self, thus making him or her dependent on those other people.  As young people, we learn and take in all we can through the world, our experiences, and relationships with other people.  From there, we grow and establish our own identities, our own “selves”, in response to those interactions with others.  This definition is continually growing and progressing as we evolve as people, interacting with different people in different environments and

Many people question themselves, what is it exactly that makes them unique? What is it that defines them as a unique person that no one in the world possesses? In philosophy, these questions do not have just one answer, and all answers are correct depending on which theory appeals most and makes sense to you. In general, there are two ways people approach this question, some say that a person’s identity is the “self” that carries all of their experiences, thoughts, memories, and consciousness (ego theorists), and some say that a person’s identity is just a bundle of experiences and events that a person has been through in their life, these people deny that the “self” exists (bundle theorists). In this paper, I will be arguing that a person’s identity is just a bundle of experiences, denying the self and the memory criterion.

The relation between the self and the otherness is necessary to define human awareness and more importantly desire. This desire is part of the primordial human