The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development

Kegan, Robert

ISBN 10: 0674272315 / ISBN 13: 9780674272316

Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2001

About this Item

American printing. Presents as unread (see pictures). All our books at the moment are reduced so the price you see reflects a 33% discount. You may be interested in The Literaticus Book Service. We specialise in tracking down those harder to find editions, among other bookish services such as gift fulfilment. Get in touch to send us your Book Wants or ask a bookish question. If this is intended as a gift, please email first and we can gift wrap for no extra charge. If you would like special delivery but don't see an option for it, just email first and we can obtain a quote. If you have any questions, require more information or if you would like more pictures, do not hesitate to get in touch.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674272315
• ISBN 13: 9780674272316
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 5th or later Printin
• Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

The Evolving Self focuses upon the most basic and universal of psychological problems―the individual’s effort to make sense of experience, to make meaning of life. According to Robert Kegan, meaning-making is a lifelong activity that begins in earliest infancy and continues to evolve through a series of stages encompassing childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The Evolving Self describes this process of evolution in rich and human detail, concentrating especially on the internal experience of growth and transition, its costs and disruptions as well as its triumphs.

At the heart of our meaning-making activity, the book suggests, is the drawing and redrawing of the distinction between self and other. Using Piagetian theory in a creative new way to make sense of how we make sense of ourselves, Kegan shows that each meaning-making stage is a new solution to the lifelong tension between the universal human yearning to be connected, attached, and included, on the one hand, and to be distinct, independent, and autonomous on the other. The Evolving Self is the story of our continuing negotiation of this tension. It is a book that is theoretically daring enough to propose a reinterpretation of the Oedipus complex and clinically concerned enough to suggest a variety of fresh new ways to treat those psychological complaints that commonly arise in the course of development.

Kegan is an irrepressible storyteller, an impassioned opponent of the health-and-illness approach to psychological distress, and a sturdy builder of psychological theory. His is an original and distinctive new voice in the growing discussion of human development across the life span.

About the Author

Robert Kegan is William and Miriam Meehan Professor of Adult Learning and Professional Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.