Self and Subjectivity

Kim Atkins is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Tasmania, Australia. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Applied Philosophy, Philosophy Today, and The International Journal of Philosophical Studies.

"...promises to establish [itself] as a key reference text, an invaluable aid for teachers as much as students in the fields of philosophy, social and political sciences, literary and cultural studies." The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory” Vol.14, 2006“Self and Subjectivity is a superb reader. Kim Atkins’s gem-like introductions to each reading, together with the generosity and diversity of her selections, will make this an invaluable text for teachers across a range of disciplines.” J. M. Bernstein, New School for Social Research “Atkins’s imaginative selection of texts from both analytic and continental thinkers –along with cogent samples of feminist, psychoanalytic, and postmodern theories of selfhood – places this work at the cutting edge of contemporary scholarship.” Richard Kearney, Boston College “The extracts are wide-ranging and well-chosen; and Atkins’s commentaries on her selections are informative, clear, and concise. This will be an extremely useful collection for both students and teachers of philosophy.” Christopher Cordner, University of Melbourne

• Acknowledgments ixIntroduction 1Part I Early Modern Philosophy 51 Commentary on Descartes 7René Descartes: “Meditation II” 122 Commentary on Locke 19John Locke: “Of Identity and Diversity” 243 Commentary on Hume 33David Hume: “Of Personal Identity” 37Part II Later Modern Philosophy 454 Commentary on Kant 47Immanuel Kant: Critique of Pure Reason,“Paralogisms of Pure Reason (A)” (first, second, and third paralogisms) 525 Commentary on Hegel 60G. W. F. Hegel: Phenomenology of Spirit, “Self-consciousness: Lordship and Bondage” 656 Commentary on Nietzsche 71Friedrich Nietzsche: “The Genealogy of Morals” 76Part III Phenomenology and Existentialism 857 Commentary on Sartre 87Jean-Paul Sartre: “The Look” 928 Commentary on Merleau-Ponty 101Maurice Merleau-Ponty: “The Spatiality of One’s Own Body and Motility” 1069 Commentary on Heidegger 113Martin Heidegger: “Exposition of the Task of a Preparatory Analysis of Dasein” 117Part IV Analytic Philosophy 12510 Commentary on Strawson 127P. F. Strawson: “Persons” 13211 Commentary on Frankfurt 139Harry Frankfurt: “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person” 14412 Commentary on Shoemaker 153Sydney Shoemaker: “Personal Identity: A Materialist’s Account” 15713 Commentary on Williams 163Bernard Williams: “Bodily Continuity and Personal Identity” 16814 Commentary on Parfit 173Derek Parfit: Reasons and Persons, “What We Believe Ourselves To Be” 178Part V Post-structuralism 19315 Commentary on Freud 195Sigmund Freud: “The Ego and the Id” 20016 Commentary on Foucault 206Michel Foucault: “About the Beginnings of the Hermeneutics of the Self:Two Lectures at Dartmouth” 22117 Commentary on Ricoeur 220Paul Ricoeur: “Personal Identity and Narrative Identity” 225Part VI Feminist Philosophy 23518 Commentary on de Beauvoir 237Simone de Beauvoir: “Introduction” to The Second Sex 24219 Commentary on Butler 252Judith Butler: “Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity” 25720 Commentary on Irigaray 266Luce Irigaray: “Any Theory of the ‘Subject’ Has Always Been Appropriated by the ‘Masculine’ ” 27121 Commentary on Mackenzie 279Catriona Mackenzie: “Imagining Oneself Otherwise” 284Bibliography 300Index 305