Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

121397

Consciousness, self-consciousness, and selfhood

Dan Zahavi(Center for Subjectivity Research, Københavns Universitet)

pp. 10-24

Abstract

The chapter introduces two very different conceptions of self. According to social constructivism, one cannot be a self on one’s own, but only together with others. According to a more experience-based approach, selfhood is a built-in feature of experiential life. Importantly, both these approaches reject the definition of the self espoused by the anti-realists, that is, the view that the self, if it exists, must be an unchanging and ontologically independent entity. Most of the chapter is then taken up by a closer examination of the experience-based, phenomenological, proposal. In a first step, this is done through an examination of the relation between phenomenal consciousness and self-consciousness. Next, different conceptions of experiential ownership are distinguished and discussed, and the notion of an experiential self is then defined in terms of the first-personal character of experience.

Publication details

Published in:

Zahavi Dan (2014) Self and other: Exploring subjectivity, empathy, and shame. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Pages: 10-24

DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590681.003.0002

Full citation:

Zahavi Dan (2014) Consciousness, self-consciousness, and selfhood, In: Self and other, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 10–24.