Self-Feeling: Can Self-Consciousness be Understood as a Feeling? (Contributions to Phenomenology Book 107)

This monograph offers new insights into the connection between self-consciousness and emotion. It focuses on what fundamental “feelings of being” tell us about ourselves. The results enrich the philosophy of human affectivity and help shed new light on some pressing, current problems. The author seeks to understand self-consciousness as an affective phenomenon, namely as self-feeling. He identifies it as a pre-reflective, pre-propositional, bodily feeling that shapes our space of possibilities. It is the affective disclosure of individual existence. His account overcomes the difficulties of infinite regress and vicious circularity that reflective (or higher-order) accounts of self-consciousness struggle with. At the same time, it helps build a bridge between the basic level of self-consciousness and the higher level of more substantial thoughts about oneself. The title explores fundamental affectivity, Matthew Ratcliffe’s theory of existential feelings, features of self-feeling, and appropriateness and inappropriateness in self-interpretation. It also considers the contributions of the Heidelberg School of self-consciousness to current debates. The title provides students and researchers with a unique look into such vital philosophical questions as: What is self-consciousness? How do we know ourselves? It will also appeal to a wider audience interested in self-consciousness and/or human affectivity since it does not presuppose knowledge of the jargon. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 A Brief Overview of Philosophy of Self-Consciousness (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 3-9 Challenges in Current Philosophy of Self-Consciousness – The Heidelberg School (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 11-47 The Affective Turn (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 49-57 Self-Consciousness: Conclusion (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 59-60 Front Matter ....Pages 61-61 A Brief Overview of Philosophy of Human Affectivity (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 63-71 Matthew Ratcliffe’s Theory of Existential Feelings (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 73-99 Stephan and Slaby’s Complementary Work (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 101-117 Affectivity: Conclusion (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 119-119 Front Matter ....Pages 121-121 The Features of Self-Feeling (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 123-148 How This Account of Self-Feeling Contributes to Today’s Debates (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 149-160 Self-Feeling and Unity (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 161-170 Appropriateness of Self-Feeling (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 171-195 Self-Feeling: Conclusion (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 197-197 Front Matter ....Pages 199-199 Self-Interpretation (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 201-216 Appropriateness and Inappropriateness in Self-Interpretation (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 217-227 Authenticity (Gerhard Kreuch)....Pages 229-239 Back Matter ....Pages 241-266