the Me and the I

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the me and the i. Essentially, George Herbert Mead stated that, the 'me' is the socialised aspect of the person. It is what is learned in interaction with others and (more generally) with the environment. This includes both knowledge about that environment and society, but also about who he or she is: his or her 'sense of self'. This is because the person learns to see who he or she is (man or woman, old or young, etc.) by observing the responses of others to himself/herself or his/her actions. If others respond to the person as (for instance) a woman, the person develops a sense of herself indeed as a woman.

The 'I' is the active aspect of the person. This acts creatively, though within the context of the 'me'. (Mead notes that it is only after we act or speak that we know what we were going to do or say.) People, he argues, are not automations. They do not blindly follow rules. They construct a response on the basis of what they have learned, the 'me'.

Taken together, the 'I' and the 'me' form the person or the 'self' in Mead's social philosophy.

I find this incredibly interesting. Right now, I am simply applying it to myself, but I think that once I've got the concept figured out applying it to everyone else would provide intersesting things to think about.

I am going to try more drawing, more art making, more creating.

Fifteen minutes and everything will be switched from my old laptop to the new laptop and life will be back to normal.

Happy Holidays.