Abstract
A number of influential schools of thought converge on the view that human beings are self-creating: through our actions and practices, individual and collective, we define our identities and draw our boundaries. On this view, morality and law play a role in determining not only what we do but also who we are. Consequently, in devising behavior-guiding norms we must ask: what subjects will emerge from the practices and activities generated by a particular set of norms? And what considerations bear on the construction of selves through our normative engagements?
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- 1.
* This essay provides an overview of some themes pursued in greater detail in Dan-Cohen (2002).
- 2.
Although I borrow the notion of role distance from Goffman, I employ it in ways that depart from his own use.
References
Dan-Cohen, M. (2002). Harmful Thoughts: Essays on Law, Self, and Morality. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Goffman, E. (1961a). Encounters: Two Studies in the Sociology of Interaction. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.
Goffman, E. (1961b). Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. New York: Anchor Books.
Pico della Mirandola, G. (1956). Oration on the Dignity of Man. (A. R. Caponigri, trans.). Washington, DC: Regency Gateway.
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© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Dan-Cohen, M. (2009). Constructing Selves. In: Cross, T., Ambrose, D. (eds) Morality, Ethics, and Gifted Minds. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89368-6_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89368-6_11
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