Abstract

My dissertation argues for a conception of "complex identity," that draws on communitarian and feminist conceptions to construct an understanding of the self that is situated, yet not fully determined by its communities of origin. Complex identity is formed through the self-reflection of an agent situated in more than one community or tradition, using the competing pulls of plural traditions to criticize each tradition. ;The contemporary liberal assumption of an abstract self has been challenged both in communitarian political theory and feminist theory. The communitarian critique of liberalism rests on a reconceptualization of the self as situated in a history and tradition. Feminist theory, in particular psychological theory, has developed a conception of the self which also departs from the abstract, autonomous, individualistic model. This intersubjective model of self recognizes the embeddedness of self in a social network, as relational and constituted through those relationships. ;I develop and critique the contributions that communitarians and feminists have made to a conception of a situated self. In order to do this I address the following three issues. First, not all communities constitute us in the same way or to the same degree. Distinctions need to be made among groups, communities, institutions, roles, practices, traditions and the different ways they constitute selves. Second, consider that each of us belongs to various communities which may be in tension with one another. If these communities form our identities, then each of us may have a plurality of identities, or at least a complex identity comprising a plurality of different potentially conflictual strands. Third, the constituted self must have the ability to have a critical distance on the communities which constitute it. The acknowledgement of some soil of critical capacity is necessary in order to avoid a self completely determined by circumstances. I argue that a situated model of self with a complex identity can retain moral agency while still being informed by, and grounded in, communities