[lit-ideas] Definitions of self

From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 00:46:40 -0700 (PDT)
Free Dictionary gives the following definitions of
"self"

1. The total, essential, or particular being of a
person; the individual: "An actor's instrument is the
self" Joan Juliet Buck.
2. The essential qualities distinguishing one person
from another; individuality: "He would walk a little
first along the southern walls, shed his European
self, fully enter this world" Howard Kaplan.
3. One's consciousness of one's own being or identity;
the ego: "For some of us, the self's natural doubts
are given in mesmerizing amplification by way of
critics' negative assessments of our writing" Joyce
Carol Oates.
4. One's own interests, welfare, or advantage:
thinking of self alone.
5. Immunology That which the immune system identifies
as belonging to the body: tissues no longer recognized
as self.
pron.
Myself, yourself, himself, or herself: a living wage
for self and family.
adj.
1. Of the same character throughout.
2. Of the same material as the article with which it
is used: a dress with a self belt.
3. Obsolete Same or identical.


Comments:

1. The definition "The total, essential, or particular
being of a person" strikes me as being in danger of
Donal's infinite regress. Surely it does not explain
or clarify anything. "the individual" seems more
intelligible but if the self means nothing more than a
sense of individuality surely that existed in all
historical periods and cultures.

2. "The essential qualities distinguishing one person
from another" This seems more clear but strips the
self of any content other than purely negative, i.e.
the "self" is nothing more than what is not another
person. 

3. "One's consciousness of one's own being or
identity" Again, "being" and "identity" call to be
further defined, as well as "consciousness." There is
also a danger of circularity since it's not clear
whether "personal being" or "identity" can be defined
independently of self or consciousness.

Note that the "self" (as in "himself," "herself" ) is
also used as a pronoun or anaphora, i.e. it has no
fixed content when used in this way. Tricky term,
"self."

O.K.


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[lit-ideas] Definitions of self

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