The Postmodern Self and the Problem of Developing a Democratic Mind

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between self-construction and the search for the self as problems in the postmodern condition and discusses possible consequences for the development of the “democratic mind.” It is argued that modernity paradoxically stands for both, the notion of a consistent self, which seem necessary with regard to moral claims in democratic forms of life, and, at the same time, for the notion of a non-consistent and de-centered plural self that can be regarded as the psychological counterpart of the “external” (moral and non-moral) pluralism of modern societies. These different notions of the self are then described by means of two metaphors, the (modern) “master of the self” and the (postmodern) “language game player.” The paper closes with a discussion on the problems of the self in appreciating the values of democratic forms of life and to get access to public life under the conditions of (post) modern mass societies.