Philippine E-Journals

Self Identity and Chieftancy Titles among the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria

Chinyere Ukpokolo

Discipline: Philosophy, Social Science

 

Abstract:

'Self' and 'identity' are two concepts that have been of great interest to scholars in various fields. In the discipline of Philosophy, the simultaneous status of 'self' as subject and object of awareness is one of the enduring problems1. Citing Gallagher (2000), Kihlstrom et al noted that the 'self' is a problematic metaphysical problem for philosophers, raising such question as mind-body problem. Philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke and Hume have all interrogated the concept of 'self'; leading to the issue of the constituents of the 'self'. For Aristotle, the 'self' is activity. Socrates and Plato, on the other hand, view the soul as the essence of the 'self'. In cognitive psychology, the 'self' is a mental representation of the individual, including all that one knows about oneself 2. Invariably, self concept is identified by a set of features that distinguish oneself from and identifies one as unique and different from every other person.