Abstract

According to the Jamesian theory presented here, the self is a subjective-objective temporal process. In other words, personal existence entails the togetherness of a subjective dimension and an objective dimension and their continuous interdependence. Thus the being of the self can be symbolized as follows: I ME. Here the "I" indicates the present pulse of care, and the "ME" stands for the entire field of objects that through care are selected and organized into the objective self. The arrows represent the continuous mutual influence between these dimensions of the self. The self is this process as an irreducible whole, and it is only within this process that there is found an "I" and a "ME." I have labeled this Jamesian self Self-Constituting-Historical-Existence in order to emphasize the fact that unlike any "thing" its existence involves both sedimentation and spontaneity. With this conception of the self, personal existence is portrayed as primarily a process of caring. The primary object of care and thus the objective core of the entire self-field is the body. It is because it is an embodied process of care that the self is essentially temporal, social, and active. In other words, the self is a social and historical agent because it is the being that cares. All these essential features of the self are a reflection of the fact that personal existence is intrinsically ambiguous. The ambiguity of selfhood is rooted in the fact that the self is both a dialectic of subjectivity and objectivity and a temporal synthesis of past, present, and future. The identity that this ambiguous being enjoys is not the kind that is impervious to change, growth, or decay. Rather the self has a "loosely constructed identity" based on two principal conditions: the functional identity of the pulses of consciousness and the constituted identity of the "ME," a constitution made possible through: care, the sense of sameness, and that always present and relatively stable structure in experience known as the body