The Self: Beyond the Postmodern Crisis

by Paul C. Vitz (Editor), Susan M. Felch (Editor)

The peculiar dilemma of the self in our era has been noted by a wide range of writers, even as they have emphasized different aspects of that dilemma, such as the self’s alienation, disorientation, inflation, or fragmentation. In The Self: Beyond the Postmodern Crisis, Paul C. Vitz and Susan M. Felch bring together scholars from the disciplines of psychology, philosophy, theology, literature, biology, and physics to address the inadequacies of modern and postmodern selves and, ultimately, to suggest what an alternative, “transmodern” account of the self might look like. The transmodern self, the editors argue, acknowledges meaning and purpose transcending the individual. In other words, it reflects an understanding of the human person that is not only intimately connected with the Judeo-Christian tradition but also rejects the twin delusions of absolute autonomy and cosmic meaninglessness that mark the present age.

Genres: Psychology, Theology, Philosophy, History

415 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2006

About the author

Paul C. Vitz (born August 27, 1935) is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at New York University, whose work focuses on the relationship between psychology and Christianity. He currently teaches at the Institute of the Psychological Sciences in Arlington, VA. (WIKI)

Reviews

[J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for so many different readers, whether they agree with the findings or not. This book proposes a new way and its called, "Transmodernism" not as a theological idea, but as an idea in which one can take into account the best parts of Modernism and Postmodernism while critiquing the more limited parts of it as well. Each contributor in this book does a spectacular job addressing the issues found in society today as it relates specifically to the self, and showing the points of convergence and divergence, only then to propose a new understanding grounded in a philosophical fruits of Catholic Theology, which will have far-reaching application in psychology.

This book proposes new theories of the self, it shows how values and love create the the self, it addresses even the physiological side of body as it relates to a more sound understanding of self, the book addresses socio-cultural values in the understanding of the self, it then addresses the college student and the self as it pertains to the emergent Transmodernist philosophy, only to conclude with Trinitarian Theology and how the Triune God who we were made in the image and likeness of can give us better insight into who we are as persons.

The editor of this novel, is an author of other books, which have indeed been a most insightful and helpful read, this book will be referred to by this reviewer for a while to come and has piqued his interest in the Transmodernist philosophy, in order to address the postmodern [hyper-modern] culture.