The Other “in” the Self: The sense of self and the threat of relativism
On the traditional view, a sense of selfhood appears relatively late in infancy, since to be, or to possess, a self is taken to require such capacities as language and metacognition. Recent research in psychology, however, shows that there are some rudimentary forms of self-consciousness already in...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Rosenberg & Sellier
2014-06-01
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| Series: | Rivista di Estetica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/estetica/797 |
| _version_ | 1828525992823488512 |
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| author | Cristina Meini Alfredo Paternoster |
| author_facet | Cristina Meini Alfredo Paternoster |
| author_sort | Cristina Meini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | On the traditional view, a sense of selfhood appears relatively late in infancy, since to be, or to possess, a self is taken to require such capacities as language and metacognition. Recent research in psychology, however, shows that there are some rudimentary forms of self-consciousness already in the very first months of life. The exercise of these early abilities in interactional contexts with caretakers shapes gradually a sense of self, or a primitive form of what we also call “personal identity”, following a psychological terminology. In this paper we shall argue that the hypothesis of a very precocious personal identity can accord an important role to the Other in the formation of the Self without being committed to some outdated versions of empiricism or relativism. In the first section we introduce a pair of views about selfhood that seem to lead to relativism. In the second section we present what we call the “precocious identity view”. In the third section we describe the role of the Other in the precocious identity view. Finally, we make some remarks concerning what kind of (self-)consciousness is actually involved in the precocious identity view. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T21:16:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5d86ea4626a54e21babec6bb8d43d57a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0035-6212 2421-5864 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T21:16:52Z |
| publishDate | 2014-06-01 |
| publisher | Rosenberg & Sellier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Rivista di Estetica |
| spelling | doaj.art-5d86ea4626a54e21babec6bb8d43d57a2022-12-22T00:50:34ZengRosenberg & SellierRivista di Estetica0035-62122421-58642014-06-0156213410.4000/estetica.797The Other “in” the Self: The sense of self and the threat of relativismCristina MeiniAlfredo PaternosterOn the traditional view, a sense of selfhood appears relatively late in infancy, since to be, or to possess, a self is taken to require such capacities as language and metacognition. Recent research in psychology, however, shows that there are some rudimentary forms of self-consciousness already in the very first months of life. The exercise of these early abilities in interactional contexts with caretakers shapes gradually a sense of self, or a primitive form of what we also call “personal identity”, following a psychological terminology. In this paper we shall argue that the hypothesis of a very precocious personal identity can accord an important role to the Other in the formation of the Self without being committed to some outdated versions of empiricism or relativism. In the first section we introduce a pair of views about selfhood that seem to lead to relativism. In the second section we present what we call the “precocious identity view”. In the third section we describe the role of the Other in the precocious identity view. Finally, we make some remarks concerning what kind of (self-)consciousness is actually involved in the precocious identity view.http://journals.openedition.org/estetica/797sense of the selfrelativismintersubjectivityself/other |
| spellingShingle | Cristina Meini Alfredo Paternoster The Other “in” the Self: The sense of self and the threat of relativism Rivista di Estetica sense of the self relativism intersubjectivity self/other |
| title | The Other “in” the Self: The sense of self and the threat of relativism |
| title_full | The Other “in” the Self: The sense of self and the threat of relativism |
| title_fullStr | The Other “in” the Self: The sense of self and the threat of relativism |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Other “in” the Self: The sense of self and the threat of relativism |
| title_short | The Other “in” the Self: The sense of self and the threat of relativism |
| title_sort | other in the self the sense of self and the threat of relativism |
| topic | sense of the self relativism intersubjectivity self/other |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/estetica/797 |
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