Margaret Archer’s theory of the human person: an assessment

Abstract

ABSTRACT Margaret Archer addresses the fundamental question: does society make the human person or does the person make society? This question has gripped all social theory since the beginning of modernity and gave rise to the well-known agency vs structure debate. Archer proposes to overcome this debate by reformulating the problem within an innovative scheme (that of morpho-stasis/morpho-genesis) in which the human person mediates between action and social structure through her own personal reflexivity (internal conversation). The evaluation of this theory highlights the importance of personal reflexivity, but claims the relational character of reflexivity. Overall, the author expresses some reservations about the entire Archerian approach to the human person. The definition of reflexivity, as an individual mental activity, underestimates the role of relationships and social networks, with the risk of providing an individualizing rather than a personalized vision of social agents/actors. This is demonstrated by the fact that in her latest works, Archer also grants personality to sophisticated AI robots. In short, the Archerian theory of the human person is a great contribution, but it should be inserted in a properly relational vision.