The Self and Social Relations
This book is concerned with the human individual and her relationship with the communities of which she is a member. It argues against the traditional atomistic view that individuals are essentially independent of the social relations into which they ente
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cial Relatio ns
Matthew Whitting ham
The Self and Social Relations
Matthew Whittingham
The Self and Social Relations
Matthew Whittingham University of Kent Canterbury, UK
ISBN 978-3-319-77245-5 ISBN 978-3-319-77246-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77246-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018943701 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: XiXinXing/Getty Images Cover design: Akihiro Nakayama Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. —John Donne
Preface
In this book I argue against an atomistic conception of the individual and in favour of a holistic conception. The former position takes the human individual to exist self-sufficiently and prior to any involvement in social relations and the latter takes social relations to be constitutive of the properly human individual. The atomistic view does not necessarily deny that social relations can and do enhance the lives of individuals, or that social relations can and do play a causal role in the individual’s own personal development. Their claim is that the properly human individual can be abstracted away from social relations without ceasing to be what he or she essentially is. The holistic view, by contrast, holds that social relations are constitutive of the essence of properly human individuals and abstracted away from those relations the individual could no longer exist. Resistance to the holistic view often comes from the erroneous perception that it is perilous to our ordinary conceptions of
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