ABSTRACT
Inspired by the feminist insight that selves are “relational” or “social,” the cumulative network model (CNM) of the self agrees that social relations are constitutive of (not just causally related to) the self. But, the cumulative network model says that the relational constitution of the self should be more broadly understood. The self is a network of psycho-biological, physical, social, cultural, semantic and other relations. Thus, the self is not only influenced by (social) relations, but is a network, a unique interrelated system of relations. In addition, inspired by four-dimensionalist accounts of persons, selves are spread out in space and time, and thus the self is a process, a cumulative network. This chapter develops the cumulative network model of the self, examining the concepts of relation, contingency, property clusters, process, and the notion of the integrity of a cumulative whole network. Contrasts are drawn to psychological and animal theories of persons, and also to Schechtman’s person life view of selves.
