Using an interdisciplinary approach to the problem of the self, this study focuses on a gap left by previous philosophers. This shortcoming is related to the nature of the self to commit errors that become part of the identity of the self. These errors stain the self and make "I" what it is. This study shines light on the self that will give the reader a more balanced understanding of it. Fictional literature will be invoked to illustrate features of the self associated with errors. The book is divided into two parts: a review of selected theories of the self and a reconsideration of the self and errors producing being.

Table of Contents:
Preface Part 1  Past Approaches to the Problem of the Self 1 Introduction  1 Problematic Nature of Comparative Philosophy  2 Indian Philosophy on the Nature of Error  3 The Role of Error in Life  4 Selected Western Thinkers and Error  5 Error and Narrative  6 Existence of the Self  7 Preview of Future Chapters 2 Narrative Theorists  1 Ricoeur and Narrative Self  2 Taylor and Narrative Self  3 Dennett and the Narrative Self  4 Anti-narrative Position of Strawson  5 Strawson’s Concept of the Self  6 Critical Critique of Thinkers  7 Concluding Comments 3 Postmodernism, Non-self, and Other  1 Levinas and the Face of the Other  2 Derrida and Deconstruction of the Self  3 Deleuze and the Changing Self  4 French Feminist Critique of the Self: Kristeva and Irigaray  5 Non-Self and Buddhism  6 Critical Critique of Postmodernists  7 Concluding Remarks Part 2 A Reconsideration of the Problem of the Self 4 Journey, Place, Play, Escape, and Identity  1 Space and Place  2 Eastern Counterpoints to Tuan’s Notion of Place  3 Remarks about the Nature of Play  4 Escapism and Play  5 The Hindu Theistic Mode of Escape  6 The Daoist Mode of Adjusting  7 Human Identity  8 Concluding Remarks 5 The Self and the Nightmare of History  1 DeLillo and Historical Time  2 Mitchell and Time  3 Self, History, and Violence  4 Reactions to the Terror of History  5 The Absurdity of It All  6 Self and Time in the Comparative Mode  7 Time, Error, and the Postmodern Perspective  8 Concluding Comments 6 Self, Other, Body and God  1 The Other  2 The Self and Embodiment  3 Flesh and Sexuality  4 The Existence of the Wholly Other  5 God, Nature, and Ecology  6 Concluding Remarks 7 Opps!  1 Discovering Selfhood  2 Identity Lost  3 Identity Found  4 Impersonal Identity  5 False Identity  6 Death and the Narrative Conclusion  7 Stained Memory  8 The Stain of Error  9 Identity of the Self  10 The Stain of Opps  11 Paradoxical Aspects of the Self  12 Play and Work  13 Concluding Remarks Bibliography Index