H. Richard Niebuhr's Reading of George Herbert Mead: Correcting, Completing, and Looking Ahead

In this essay, I reconstruct H. Richard Niebuhr's interpretation of George Herbert Mead's account of the social constitution of the self. Specifically, I correct Niebuhr's interpretation, because it mischaracterizes Mead's understanding of social constitution as more dialogical t...

Descrizione completa

Salvato in:  
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Daniel, Joshua M. (Autore)
Tipo di documento: Elettronico Articolo
Lingua:Inglese
Verificare la disponibilità: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Caricamento...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Pubblicazione: Wiley-Blackwell [2016]
In: Journal of religious ethics
Anno: 2016, Volume: 44, Fascicolo: 1, Pagine: 92-115
Altre parole chiave:B George Herbert Mead
B social constitution
B H. Richard Niebuhr
B ecological / dialogical
B Conscience
B Self
Accesso online: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Descrizione
Riepilogo:In this essay, I reconstruct H. Richard Niebuhr's interpretation of George Herbert Mead's account of the social constitution of the self. Specifically, I correct Niebuhr's interpretation, because it mischaracterizes Mead's understanding of social constitution as more dialogical than ecological. I also argue that Niebuhr's interpretation needs completing because it fails to engage one of Mead's more significant notions, the I/me distinction within the self. By reconstructing Niebuhr's account of faith and responsibility as theologically self-constitutive through Mead's I/me distinction, I demonstrate Niebuhr's deep yet unacknowledged agreement with Mead: the self is constituted by its participation in multiple communities, but responds to them creatively by enduring the moral perplexity of competing communal claims. I conclude by initiating a constructive account of conscience that follows from this agreement. Conscience is more ecological than dialogical because it regards our creative participation in multiple ecologies of social roles oriented by patterns of responsive relations.
ISSN:1467-9795
Comprende:Enthalten in: Journal of religious ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/jore.12133