The Self in George Herbert Mead’s Thought: A Socio-Ontological Analysis

Year 2019, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 103 - 136, 30.06.2019

Mustafa Kınağ

Abstract

Abstract:
The self, which grounds moral ontology and moral
values, is closely related to how one understands what is outside of oneself
and how one relates oneself to it through conscious behaviors. George Herbert
Mead, in his social self-theory, argues that the relationship between the
individual and the world develops the self which provides a ground for these
vital issues. At the same time this ground makes both the organism and the mind
necessary for the formation of the self. Mead argues that the organism is not
passive in the relation of the external world, rather there is an interaction
between the two. Mead argues firstly against reductive materialistic conception
of the self by pointing to the fact that the self is a matter that transcends
the organism; secondly against the rationalist self-understandings by
suggesting that the organism is a necessary condition for the formation of the
self; and lastly idealistic self-understandings by his conception of “the world
that is there” as the base of the reality for the self. In this framework, the
social self is discussed, Mead argues, in terms of two functional stages as the
subject self (I) and the object self (me). The subject self represents the
stage of the first reaction of individual to an external stimulus, while the
object self represents the stage in which this reaction is seen, recognized,
questioned and interpreted in the imagination. The subject self and the object
self are equally obligatory for the formation of a complete/whole social self.

Keywords

contemporary philosophy, pragmatism, George Herbert Mead, the social self, the social mind

George Herbert Mead Düşüncesinde Kendilik: Sosyo-Ontolojik Bir Analiz

Abstract

Öz: Bir ahlak ontolojisinden
ve değer alanından söz etmenin gerekliliği olan kendilik, insanın kendi
dışındaki âlemi nasıl anladığı ve bilinçli davranışlar üzerinden onunla nasıl
bir ilişki kurması gerektiği hususunu yakından ilgilendirir. George Herbert
Mead, sosyal kendilik kuramında birey ile alem arasında kurulacak ilişkinin bu
hususlardan birini göz ardı etmeyecek bir zemine sahip olması gerektiğini
savunur. Bu zemin aynı zamanda kendiliğin oluşumu için hem organizmayı hem de
zihni gerekli kılar. Mead, organizma-dış dünya ilişkisinde organizmanın salt
edilgen olmayıp her ikisi arasında bir etkileşim söz konusu olduğunu savunur.
Mead, kendiliğin organizmayı aşan bir husus olduğuna işaret ederek indirgemeci
materyalist kendilik anlayışlarına; kendiliğin oluşması için organizmanın
zorunlu koşul olduğunu savunarak da rasyonalist kendilik anlayışlarına;
kendiliğin gerçeklik zemini olarak “orada var olan dünya” kavramı ile idealist
kendilik anlayışlarına karşı çıkmıştır. Bu çerçevede sosyal kendilik, özne
kendilik (I) ve nesne kendilik (me) olmak üzere Mead açısından iki işlevsel
aşamada ele alınır. Özne kendilik, bireyin dışsal bir uyartıya karşı ilk
tepkisinin mahallini oluştururken, nesne kendilik bu tepkinin imgelem
içerisinde görüldüğü, fark edildiği, sorgulandığı, anlamlandırıldığı aşamayı
temsil eder. Özne kendilik ile nesne kendilik, tam bir sosyal kendiliğin
oluşumu açısından eş derecede zorunludur.

Keywords

çağdaş felsefe, pragmatizm, George Herbert Mead, sosyal kendilik, sosyal zihin

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