Session 1: Individuality, Self-identity and Love, 1
3rd Global Conference
Friday 6th November – Sunday 8th November 2009
Salzburg, Austria
Memory, Excess and the Fictional Self
Andrew Markham
Southampton Solent University, United Kingdom
When recalling a sense of a past Self I suggest that characteristics can be identified – ones that have been discarded as well as some that have been carried into the present moment. Acts of remembrance form the basis of this research document, where I look to explore the construction, through experience, of a person’s sense of who they are, where they have come from and who they may become in the future.
In exploring common links between two memories, I will look to question the possibility of being able to consciously and continuously inhabit a space where there is the possibility of recognition of something that is not entirely visible to one’s Self. As a result, questions may arise surrounding Barthes’ ‘blind field’ and Bergson’s ‘state of flux’.
Sarah Ahmed suggests in ‘Queer Phenomenology’ that ‘things become queer precisely given how bodies are touched by objects’ and frames these ‘things’ or “experiences” and “interactions” in the context of ‘here’, ‘there’ and ‘within’. It is this sense of ‘queering’ experience that will look to challenge commonly understood notions that discuss memory as integral to the construct of Self.
I will suggest that through acts of remembrance, a space is continually sought to create a space for an invisible Self – a Self that is not continually visible, rather, only visible in relation to Richard Dyers ‘orientation towards others’. In considering this, the emphasis will be placed upon the fluid nature of identity and its ability to move between non-fictional, “real” states of being to the socially constructed. Furthermore. parallels drawn between “excess” (not trash or rubbish, rather an amount that is more than acceptable, expected or reasonable), Deleuzian notions of ‘vibration’ and Derrida’s ‘under erasure’ will be integral to this discussion insofar as suggesting that our “secret” Self gains meaning from its absence.
Download Draft Conference Paper (pdf)
Eroding the Otherness
Jennifer Anyan
Southampton Solent University, United Kingdom
This research paper is constructed through the undertaking of practical research via observation within public spaces and interaction with strangers as a method to explore the power of the gaze and the relationship with the Other in the Non-Place.
My interest in the gaze within the Non Place is grounded in the concept that in a public place, with strangers, we are more susceptible to erosion and recreating ourselves as a response to observing and being observed. Furthermore, this paper questions what constitutes the otherness of the Other (the site of the symbolic, that which cannot be clearly defined or fixed), as well as, aiming to define the moment when that otherness becomes eroded, creating a relationship or connection that impacts upon our sense of self.
The term ‘erosion’ is used to define how the essence of otherness might be worn away. This ‘erosion’ is linked to ideas of domination and control, through my behaviour in the moments documented I am actively gnawing away at what constitutes other; revealing a connection within the realm of the imaginaryii.
The paper uses the format of confession to explore the relationship between myself and the Other. Freeman (1993) says ‘the concept of the self is very much informed by time and place’ (Freeman, 1993 p 27, his emphasis) and that ‘[t]he concept of the self …hovers in the space between recollection and development’ (Freeman, 1993 p 48-9). I am associating this mental space with a real physical space (the Non Place of the train, station, tube and bus) by using that designated time and space, with all the experiential possibilities that it offers, as a place in which to reflect upon the self (myself) and the impact of experiencing the Other and the experience of being Other through my responses to my encounters with Other that cause me to constantly rewrite myself.
Download Draft Conference Paper (pdf)
The Social Self: Identity-formation through Love in Recognition Theory and in Psychology
Julia van Ooststroom
Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In my paper I would like to make a connection between social philosophical theory and empirical results from social psychology and developmental psychopathology.
Taking the perspective of Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition, I will show what a socially constructed identity means, in what way love is a neccesary condition for a healthy identity formation and how this idea gets supported by empirical results.
Honneth’s work, The Struggle for Recognition (1995), differentiates between three forms of recognition, all three being necessary and essential to being a full fledged self-conscious person: love, respect and esteem. Honneth considers all three to be essential for being human in the full sense of the word, because these three forms of recognition are linked to three levels of personal identity: basic self-confidence, self-respect and self-esteem.
Love and self-confidence concern the affective relation aimed at the well-being and the fulfillment of needs of the concrete other – between parent and child, between partners in a love-relationship or in a friendship. Love is the most fundamental form of recognition because the development of basic self-confidence through love is a psychological pre-condition, necessary for the other forms of mutual recognition and self-respect to be realized.
Referring to developmental psychology, Honneth argues that a balance between symbiosis and ego-demarcation is important in these kinds of relationships if a healthy form of emotional attachment is to be attained. In relation to the significant other we are not independent, but interdependent.
The self has been the object of psychological research like in social psychology. On the one hand, this research can illustrate what we mean by this social self, by showing how our identity gets shaped by others. On the other hand, we might be able to understand these psychological mechanisms better by framing them in the dialectical paradigm of recognition.
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