A critical theory of the self: Wittgenstein, nietzsche, foucault

Abstract

Critical thinking, considered as a version of informal logic, must consider emotions and personal attitudes in assessing assertions and conclusions in any analysis of discourse. It must therefore presuppose some notion of the self. Critical theory may be seen as providing a substantive and non-neutral position for the exercise of critical thinking. It therefore must presuppose some notion of the self. This paper argues for a Foucauldean position on the self to extend critical theory and provide a particular position on the self for critical thinking. This position on the self is developed from more traditional accounts of the self from Descartes to Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.