by Marco Deodati
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The main idea of the paper is that the analysis of what can be broadly defined as “self-awareness” is strictly connected to practical and existential issues, insofar as the latter enable the concrete individuation of the self. This is an interpretative juncture where psychology, phenomenology and clarification of existence fruitfully intersect, reflecting the attention to complexity that characterises Jaspers’ best investigations. The theoretical gain of this reading can be assessed from two interrelated perspectives: on the one hand, it presents an experience of the self which, since it cannot be reduced to a simple logical, self-perceptive or self-representative function, is originally inseparable from the volitional dimension that identifies the existing subject; on the other hand, conversely, it allows us to consider freedom precisely starting from the intrinsic limits of the theoretical-objectifying modes of self-consciousness, following Jaspers’ criticism to the classical disputes of Western thought. From this point of view, being oneself appears as a form of practical self-consciousness identified in the will to unfold one’s own possibilities.
