Self-Identification Requires Dialogue With Others

It is impossible to define our self-identity in pure isolation for several reasons:

1. The language we use to think, our thoughts themselves and the values we consider are all inherited by our interaction with our surrounding culture, and it’s development as a culture across time. For example, ideals of intellect, honesty, athleticism, etc. are all taught to us.

2. These ideals have no meaning without a comparison to others. For example, You cannot consider yourself athletic without an understanding that you are faster, stronger, etc. than someone else.

3. Self-identifying as an ideal cannot be held without testing against the world. If you consider yourself to be athletic, yet you consistently find yourself slower and weaker than those around you, and those around you do not consider yourself to be athletic, you would have to be delusional to continue with that belief.

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Connections

Defining One’s Self Requires Differentiating and Associating Personal Qualities With Others

Self-Discovery Requires Dialogue With The World

Defining Oneself Is Degrading

We Are Temporal Beings

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Reference

� The Ethics of Authenticity