ABSTRACT

In Chapter 1, I said that self-identity and questions of the self have been central to the women’s movement from the first. I also said that the way in which these questions have been framed barely overlaps with the ways that questions of personal identity and the self have been defined in mainstream philosophy. I pointed out that the questions for mainstream philosophy were: The ‘I’ seems to be unitary?, But can it be?, and, If it is, how? The questions for women bypassed this, focusing, rather, on: Who or what am I? That is, how did I come to be myself? and, Is what I take to be my self, my real self?—and What can I do about it?