Reddit mentions of Self, Value, and Narrative: A Kierkegaardian Approach

One book that might be a little out of left field but also could have some interesting thoughts on the topic is Sexuality and Its Discontents, which looks at the history of the study of sexuality. Weeks looks at the extremes of sexology, some saying sexuality is a complete social construction that's malleable to whatever we want it to be, others saying it's a pure biological reality that we just need the right methods to understand perfectly, and finds both of them too extreme and simplistic. Instead, Weeks finds a more nuanced and moderate middle-ground in someone many people don't consider to have moderate views on sexuality: Sigmund Freud. Freud argued that sexuality was based on biological urges, but that these urges then were adjusted and intepreted in social frameworks. While Weeks doesn't take on all of Freud, he finds this Radical Pluralist position of seeing the body as a starting point, but society as a molding factor for creating a healthier sense of the sexual self. Obviously this is focused on sexual selves, but I've found it to be an interesting way of thinking about persons in general, and I don't think you'd be too hard pressed to find ways to make this book connect with your question. I did a book report on this one which I'd be happy to send your way if you're interested.

Another interesting book on the question of selfhood is Rudd's Self, Value and Narrative, which takes a Kierkegaardian/Platonic approach to the question of personhood and argues for the importance of self-orientation to the Good, which he claims involves seeing the self as real and having some sort of constancy.

> The scholarship all use the Hong translation

Generally, although I remember this used Hannay where possible.

A few months ago I got interested in this topic as well, largely due to reading Ben Morgan's On Becoming God, which talked about identity as something that we do in communities. To do this, Morgan first 'clears the ground' of contemporary thoughts about identity, which are generally isolated objects, and goes back to medieval Europe, and in Meister Eckhart finds a way of doing identity that is more communal. It's a wonderful entry into the subject, as well as a great introduction to religious mysticism as well.

Another book that's arriving in the mail tomorrow is Self, Value and Narrative, which I obviously haven't read yet, but it apparently is going to pick of the lens of Kierkegaard as a means of understanding identity. I'm super excited to read it.