Sense of self
In philosophical questions in particular, self-esteem is understood to be a reflexive sensation linked to self-perception , which is to be distinguished from self-awareness and self-knowledge . In contrast to other subject-related basic feelings , such as hunger, thirst and need for sleep, it is a feeling that arises from the reflection of the subject's own effect on his fellow human beings.
In common parlance, self-esteem is understood to be the awareness of one's own condition. As an affect, it is also to be distinguished from self-image and self-worth .
philosophy
The philosophical term did not appear in Germany until the second half of the 18th century, which is related to the development of the terms self and feeling . The substantiated word “Selbst”, for example, can only be traced back to 1702 and the expression “emotion” according to the German dictionary in the second half of the 17th century. Johann Gottfried Herder addressed self-esteem in connection with his ethical anthropology .
With Johann Gottlieb Fichte , German idealism takes on self-esteem, prepared by Immanuel Kant's thoughts on self-affection . The sense of self is genetically older than the self-confidence . The poetry accompanying German idealism sees self-esteem as noble and autonomous. Novalis speaks of the “sacred self-esteem of innocence and morality” and describes philosophy as an original feeling that is connected with self-esteem. The philosopher Manfred Frank examined self-esteem as a cultural-historical phenomenon of early romanticism and introduced it into the debates of analytical philosophy on the philosophy of mind .
literature
- Hermann Drüe : Self-awareness. In: Historical Dictionary of Philosophy. Volume 9, pp. 444-454.
- Manfred Frank: Self-confidence. A historical-systematic exploration. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-518-29211-0 .
- Thomas Grundmann (Ed.): Anatomy of Subjectivity. Consciousness, Self-Awareness, and Self-Esteem. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-518-29335-4 .
- Entry self-esteem. In: Rudolf Eisler: Dictionary of Philosophical Terms. 1905.
