Giving an Account of Oneself
Giving an Account of Oneself
Cite
Abstract
What does it mean to lead a moral life? This book offers a provocative outline for a new ethical practice—one responsive to the need for critical autonomy and grounded in a new sense of the human subject. It takes as her starting point one's ability to answer the questions “What have I done?” and “What ought I to do?” The book shows that these questions can be answered only by asking a prior question, “Who is this who is under an obligation to give an account of itself and to act in certain ways?” Because I find that I cannot give an account of myself without accounting for the social conditions under which I emerge, ethical reflection requires a turn to social theory. In three chapters, the book demonstrates how difficult it is to give an account of oneself, and how this lack of self-transparency and narratibility is crucial to an ethical understanding of the human. In brilliant dialogue with Adorno, Levinas, Foucault, and other thinkers, it eloquently argues the limits, possibilities, and dangers of contemporary ethical thought. The book offers a critique of the moral self, arguing that the transparent, rational, and continuous ethical subject is an impossible construct that seeks to deny the specificity of what it is to be human. We can know ourselves only incompletely, and only in relation to a broader social world that has always preceded us and already shaped us in ways we cannot grasp. If inevitably we are partially opaque to ourselves, how can giving an account of ourselves define the ethical act? And doesn't an ethical system that holds us impossibly accountable for full self-knowledge and self-consistency inflict a kind of psychic violence, leading to a culture of self-beratement and cruelty? How does the turn to social theory offer us a chance to understand the specifically social character of our own unknowingness about ourselves? By recasting ethics as a project in which being ethical means becoming critical of norms under which we are asked to act, but which we can never fully choose, the book illuminates what it means for us as “fallible creatures” to create and share an ethics of vulnerability, humility, and ethical responsiveness.
Sign in
Get help with access
Personal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
Institutional access
-
Sign in through your institution
- Sign in with a library card Sign in with username/password Recommend to your librarian
Institutional account management
Sign in as administratorPurchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing information| Month: | Total Views: |
|---|---|
| October 2022 | 19 |
| October 2022 | 10 |
| October 2022 | 2 |
| October 2022 | 12 |
| October 2022 | 2 |
| October 2022 | 4 |
| October 2022 | 4 |
| October 2022 | 4 |
| November 2022 | 18 |
| November 2022 | 2 |
| November 2022 | 2 |
| November 2022 | 2 |
| November 2022 | 2 |
| November 2022 | 1 |
| November 2022 | 8 |
| November 2022 | 11 |
| December 2022 | 14 |
| December 2022 | 8 |
| December 2022 | 2 |
| December 2022 | 1 |
| December 2022 | 1 |
| December 2022 | 9 |
| January 2023 | 9 |
| January 2023 | 8 |
| January 2023 | 9 |
| February 2023 | 2 |
| February 2023 | 3 |
| March 2023 | 10 |
| March 2023 | 6 |
| March 2023 | 1 |
| March 2023 | 2 |
| March 2023 | 1 |
| March 2023 | 4 |
| April 2023 | 13 |
| April 2023 | 3 |
| April 2023 | 8 |
| April 2023 | 6 |
| April 2023 | 3 |
| April 2023 | 6 |
| April 2023 | 7 |
| April 2023 | 8 |
| May 2023 | 4 |
| May 2023 | 2 |
| May 2023 | 4 |
| June 2023 | 8 |
| June 2023 | 4 |
| June 2023 | 1 |
| June 2023 | 5 |
| July 2023 | 8 |
| July 2023 | 1 |
| July 2023 | 1 |
| July 2023 | 1 |
| August 2023 | 12 |
| August 2023 | 3 |
| August 2023 | 4 |
| September 2023 | 7 |
| September 2023 | 2 |
| September 2023 | 2 |
| October 2023 | 47 |
| October 2023 | 7 |
| October 2023 | 1 |
| October 2023 | 2 |
| October 2023 | 2 |
| October 2023 | 3 |
| October 2023 | 2 |
| October 2023 | 20 |
| November 2023 | 9 |
| November 2023 | 2 |
| November 2023 | 2 |
| November 2023 | 1 |
| November 2023 | 2 |
| December 2023 | 3 |
| December 2023 | 2 |
| December 2023 | 5 |
| January 2024 | 14 |
| January 2024 | 1 |
| January 2024 | 7 |
| January 2024 | 2 |
| January 2024 | 6 |
| February 2024 | 14 |
| February 2024 | 4 |
| February 2024 | 1 |
| February 2024 | 4 |
| February 2024 | 2 |
| February 2024 | 2 |
| February 2024 | 4 |
| March 2024 | 15 |
| March 2024 | 7 |
| March 2024 | 6 |
| April 2024 | 7 |
| April 2024 | 4 |
| April 2024 | 5 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.