The First Person Narrative

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The idea of standard, um, utilitarianism is that each person has a utility and you add them up. So I did after while reading your book, I googled when was the first, first person narrative. And at least one of the interesting candidates is the song of songs in the Old Testament. It's like really racy poem. Like, you can see why they don't talk about it very much. But it is also in the voices of a man and a woman. There's a chorus in the background, right? And they're expressing their desires and no uncertain terms.

There is an image, especially in Western cultures, of the rugged, authentic, self-made individual choosing how to navigate the intricacies of the social world. But there is no mystical soul within us, manifesting as the immutable essence of self. What we think of as our "self" is shaped by our environment and our genes, and most of all by our interactions with other people. Psychologist Brian Lowery argues for a strong version of this thesis, positing that our sense of self is largely a social construct. We talk about the implications of this idea, and what it means for shifting notions of personal identity.

Post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/12/239-brian-lowery-on-the-social-self/

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Brian Lowery received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California Los Angeles. He is currently Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. His new book is Selfless: The Social Creation of "You."

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