Personal Identity

Abstract

Having introduced some of the general themes relating to our exploration of ‘self’ and ‘society’, we shall focus our attention in this chapter on the ‘self’ and consider some of the issues involved in understanding the nature of the ‘self’. ‘Person’, ‘self’, ‘personal identity’, ‘selfhood’, ‘individuality’ and ‘individual’ are all words used by writers with an interest in this area, and the specific meanings of these terms will vary according to the perspective of the writer. For example, the notion of ‘self’ is sometimes used to imply the existence of a core entity which is untouched by social experience, while ‘personal identity’ often refers to our own sense of who we are. Here, we are particularly concerned with the questions suggested by the very different experiences of personal identity found in differing cultures. We lean towards the view that not only is our experience of who we are deeply affected by culture but so also are theories about the nature of the ‘self’. Indeed, some cultural experiences throw into doubt the very idea of the ‘self’ as it exists in some Western theories.