The importance of how we see ourselves : self-identity and responsible agency

184 Pages·2010·0.74 MB·English

by  Marina A. L. Oshana

The Importance of How
We See Ourselves
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The Importance of How
We See Ourselves
Self-Identity and
Responsible Agency
Marina Oshana
LEXINGTON BOOKS
A division of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham• Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
Published by Lexington Books
A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2010 by Lexington Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote pas-
sages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Oshana, Marina, 1957–
The Importance of How We See Ourselves: Self-Identity and Responsible Agency.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7391-2625-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-2626-4 (pbk.:
alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-7391-4935-5 (ebook)
1. Self (Philosophy) 2. Self. 3. Agent (Philosophy) 4. Act
(Philosophy) 5. Responsibility. I. Title.
BD450.O765 2010
126—dc22 2010014178
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:1) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
For David, whom I love the most.
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Chapter One Self and Identity 15
Chapter Two Being Oneself 55
Chapter Three Pathologies of the Self 87
Chapter Four Accountability 115
Chapter Five How We See Ourselves 133
Bibliography 155
Index 165
vii
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Acknowledgments
Portions of this book are drawn from previously published papers. Chapter 2
draws on ideas developed in “Autonomy and the Question of Authenticity,”
Social Theory and Practice 33, No. 3 (July 2007). Chapter 4 incorporates
material from “Moral Accountability,” Philosophical Topics (Fayetteville:
University of Arkansas Press, 2006). Chapter 5 takes account of the discus-
sion in “The Misguided Marriage of Autonomy and Responsibility,” Journal
of Ethics 6/3 (2002): 261–80, and is reproduced with the kind permission of
Springer Science and Business Media. I would like to thank the editors and
publishers for permitting me to reproduce this material here.
ix