"The Self," "I," and "a Single-Consciousness-and-'I'": Consciousness in the Study of Human Life and Experience V

Klaus G. Witz, Hyunju Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article discusses some thrusts and implications of Witz and Goodwin's (2012) conception of "a single consciousness-and-'I' from childhood to old age" for getting a much larger understanding of the human being in Qualitative Research and Inquiry. Already portraiture tacitly assumes the human being to be essentially unlimited and capable of being subjectively understood by empathy and reflection (Section 1). The bulk of the article argues that the conception of the single consciousness-and-"I" explicates a vision of universal human nature. Namely, it suggests that there is an astronomical amount of subjective experience of "I" (or of "I being," "I-feeling," "self-feeling") that goes on in a person on a scale of seconds, minutes, hours every day and that there is a harmony, a unity, almost oneness between these processes and the unfolding in the individual of self-understanding and higher (moral, metaphysical) aspects and other "quests" connected with this (Section 3).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)419-430
Number of pages12
JournalQualitative Inquiry
Volume19
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2013

Keywords

  • consciousness
  • consciousness-and-"I"
  • I
  • portraiture
  • self
  • subjective

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