The plural self: An interdisciplinary approach

Abstract

The paper presents a case study in the interdisciplinary comparison of psychology and a related non-psychological intellectual tradition. Specifically, it will aim to bring into dialogue conceptions of the self in contemporary psychology and Christian theology and look at the growing body of work that brings the two perspectives into dialogue. It will be suggested that it is helpful to distinguish different kinds of psychological theory, such as representational and experiential theories, as the experience of a unitary self can exist alongside representational self-pluralism, and also to distinguish different theological traditions according to what assumptions they make about the origin of the soul. Neither tradition is monolithic in its approach. What at first appears to be a debate between psychology and theology can actually be found within both disciplines.