Poles Apart? A Question Of Identity: From A Unified Self To A Divided Subject

The philosopher Bertrand Russell once referred to common sense as the 'metaphysics of the savages' and in this rather smug way I think he was attempting to draw a distinction between serious reflection and what can at times pass for such. This quote struck me quite often as I was writing the present work for it seemed to cut to the quick of my subject matter. In other words, is the true-self the opium of a psychologically informed cultural discourse, a search for a psychic holy grail, or is it, as Lacan would argue, an alienating fiction produced as a defence against the painful realities of unconscious desire?…