Rethinking the Western Understanding of the Self

Ulrich Steinvorth is professor of philosophy at Bilkent University in Ankara. He has taught at Hamburg and other German universities and as a guest professor at French and American universities. He is editor of Rechtsphilosophische Hefte, is on the Advisory Board of Wittgenstein Studies, and has published a dozen books on topics in political philosophy, ethics, and metaphysics.

• Part I. Introduction: 1. The West and the self; Part II. Basics of Philosophical Psychology: 2. Heideggerian and Cartesian self; 3. Free will; 4. Cartesian, Lockean and Kantian self; 5. Extraordinariness and the two stages of rationality; Part III. The Cartesian Self in History: 6. The cause and content of modernity; 7. The second-stage rationality in history; 8. Economic rationality; 9. The Cartesian self in the 20th century; Part IV. Value Spheres: 10. A diagnosis and therapy for modernity; 11. Value spheres defined and the state; 12. The serving spheres; 13. Technology; 14. Utilitarian or Cartesian approach; 15. The media and other professions; 16. Science; 17. Art and religion; 18. Sport; 19. Latin and absolute love; Part V. A Self-Understanding Not Only for the West: 20. Liberty and equality; 21. Harnessing extraordinariness; 22. Cartesian modernity; 23. The undivided universally developed individual; 24. The end of history?