Selves,societies,and social sciences: Pluralism in a changing global world

Abstract

This essay reviews two books addressing the nature of the self, and relationships between self and others in the context of modernity and globalization. While each book has many merits of its own, they provide for a particularly interesting and thought-provoking joint reading. I see them as opening up a broader debate about pluralism of self and philosophy of the social sciences. Rather than a self in the singular characteristic of Adams’ post-Freudian account, the contemporary self may have a psychology, for example, of superegos, identities, and reflexivities. Furthermore, in order to address the nature of selves, relationships, and societies in a way that is valid and applicable in a global world, we also need to rethink the social sciences in plural terms. The challenge and opportunity that we face today, in my view, is one of bridging universal theories with cultural ones.