The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self - by Raymond Martin & John Barresi (Paperback)

About the Book

Raymond Martin and John Barresi trace the development of Western ideas about personal identity and reveal the larger intellectual trends, controversies, and ideas that have revolutionized the way we think about ourselves. They begin with ancient Greece, where the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, and the materialistic atomists laid the groundwork for future theories. They then discuss the ideas of the church fathers and medieval and Renaissance philosophers, including St. Paul, Origen, Augustine, Aquinas, and Montaigne. In their coverage of the emergence of a new mechanistic conception of nature in the seventeenth century, Martin and Barresi note a shift away from religious and purely philosophical notions of self and personal identity to more scientific and social conceptions, a trend that has continued to the present day. They explore modern philosophy and psychology, including the origins of different traditions within each discipline, and explain the theoretical relevance of both feminism and gender and ethnic studies and also the ways that Derrida and other recent thinkers have challenged the very idea that a unified self or personal identity even exists.

Book Synopsis

This book traces the development of theories of the self and personal identity from the ancient Greeks to the present day. From Plato and Aristotle to Freud and Foucault, Raymond Martin and John Barresi explore the works of a wide range of thinkers and reveal the larger intellectual trends, controversies, and ideas that have revolutionized the way we think about ourselves.

The authors open with ancient Greece, where the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, and the materialistic atomists laid the groundwork for future theories. They then discuss the ideas of the church fathers and medieval and Renaissance philosophers, including St. Paul, Philo, Augustine, Aquinas, and Montaigne. In their coverage of the emergence of a new mechanistic conception of nature in the seventeenth century, Martin and Barresi note a shift away from religious and purely philosophical notions of self and personal identity to more scientific and social conceptions, a trend that has continued to the present day. They explore modern philosophy and psychology, including the origins of different traditions within each discipline, and explain both the theoretical relevance of feminism and gender and ethnic studies and also the ways that Derrida and other recent thinkers have challenged the very idea that a unified self or personal identity even exists.

Martin and Barresi cover a number of issues broached by philosophers and psychologists, such as the existence of a fixed and unchanging self and whether the concept of the soul has a use outside of religious contexts. They address the question of whether notions of the soul and the self are still viable in today's world. Together, they reveal the fascinating ways in which great thinkers have grappled with these and other questions and the astounding impact their ideas have had on the development of self-understanding in the west.

Review Quotes

The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self is... destined to become a benchmark of sorts.--Chris Scott "The Globe and Mail"

Barresi and Martin provide an enjoyable and rich account of the history of personal identity in Western thought.--Simon Blackburn "New Scientist"

Inviting, informative, and free of mystification and arrogance.-- "PsycCRITIQUES"

Martin and Barresi offer a succinct but comprehensive history of the concept of self. Their work is uniquely successful... Highly recommended.-- "Choice"

The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self is probably destined to become a benchmark of sorts.--Chris Scott "Ideas Book Review"

This solid book faithfully and intelligibly summarises the ideas of all the western figures who have tackled personal identity.--Christian Tyler "Financial Times"

With plentiful notes and a full list of references; recommended for academic and larger public systems.--Jason Moore "Library Journal Review"

About the Author

Raymond Martin is professor and chair of the department of philosophy at Union College. He is the author of several books, including Self-Concern: An Experiential Approach to What Matters in Survival.John Barresi is retired professor of psychology and philosophy at Dalhousie University and the coauthor (with Raymond Martin) of Naturalization of the Soul: Self and Personal Identity in the Eighteenth Century.