Book Description
I hear myself when I speak; therefore, I make a representation of the world when I speak, live, and labor. I hear the inner narrative of self regardless of whether I speak or not; therefore, I experience the endless murmuring stream of consciousness. We have only a little idea about what kind of self we deserve. The little answer is simple: it is all about the awarenessof the self-the modern or the postmodern, whichever suits your feeling at the moment-the same awareness of the self that mankind has gazed upon from the beginning. In This Self We Deserve: A Quest after Modernity, scholar and cultural critic Fuoco B. Fann o?ers a fresh examination of how we structure our understanding of our selves. Drawing from such thinkers as Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard,and Jean Baudrillard, Fann broadens the questions asked in Western philosophy since the ancient Greek injunction to Know thyself. He expands on Foucault's discussion of the "doubling" of phonetic language and Derrida's critique of "logocentrism," in contrast with non-phonetic language (Chinese script), to understand how modern language signi/es knowledge and forms the self. Based on a series of lectures given at the Philosophy & Art Collaboratory, this book providesan insightful and innovative understanding of our contemporary thought and modern life.
