On Feeling Unable to Continue as Oneself

TY - JOUR

T1 - On Feeling Unable to Continue as Oneself

AU - Ratcliffe, Matthew James

N1 - © 2024 The Authors

PY - 2024/4/29

Y1 - 2024/4/29

N2 - This paper sets out a phenomenological account of what it is to feel unable to continue as oneself. I distinguish the feeling that a particular identity has become unsustainable from a sense that the world has ceased to offer the kinds of possibilities required to sustain any such identity. In feeling unable to continue as oneself, possibilities may remain for carrying on in practically meaningful ways but not as who one is or was. I reflect on the kinds of self and feeling involved in such experiences, emphasizing the essential openness of self-experience to transformative possibilities and the dynamic structure of feeling. To illustrate and further develop my approach, I turn to experiences of grief.

AB - This paper sets out a phenomenological account of what it is to feel unable to continue as oneself. I distinguish the feeling that a particular identity has become unsustainable from a sense that the world has ceased to offer the kinds of possibilities required to sustain any such identity. In feeling unable to continue as oneself, possibilities may remain for carrying on in practically meaningful ways but not as who one is or was. I reflect on the kinds of self and feeling involved in such experiences, emphasizing the essential openness of self-experience to transformative possibilities and the dynamic structure of feeling. To illustrate and further develop my approach, I turn to experiences of grief.

U2 - 10.1111/ejop.12958

DO - 10.1111/ejop.12958

M3 - Article

SN - 0966-8373

JO - European Journal of Philosophy

JF - European Journal of Philosophy

ER -