MA Philosophy and Psychoanalysis

Dissertation Plan

Title: The relationship between internal conflicts and existential crisis on

an understanding of the self-concept

Internal conflict is the (conscious) but most of the times unconscious struggle within

an individual's mind when opposing views simultaneously exist for that individual in

relation to a specific thing. Such conflicts can sometimes lead to certain anxiety

disorders. For the purpose of this dissertation, I will make an attempt to focus on the

unconscious internal conflicts which are more difficult for someone to identify and

give specific meanings. Therefore, I think to approach the unconscious internal

conflicts through Freudian psychoanalysis or objects relations theory and very

possibly through a systemic approach (e.g. groups relations or family systems theory).

Existential crisis is a stage of development at which an individual questions the very

foundations of his or her life such as whether his or her life has any meaning, purpose

or value. For instance, An existential crisis may result from 1) The sense of being

alone and isolated in the world (premise of personal, interpersonal and existential

loneliness), 2) a new-found grasp or appreciation of one's mortality (premise of

death), 3) believing that one's life has no purpose or external meaning (meaning of

life), 4) awareness of one's freedom and the consequences of accepting or rejecting

that freedom (premise of freedom), 5) existential anxiety - existential vacuum , 6) an

extremely pleasurable or hurtful experience that leaves one seeking meaning.

Thereby, I will try to approach the premise of existential crisis by the existential

psychotherapy (Victor Frankl, Irvin Yalom, Rollo May) and existential philosophy

(Martin Heidegger , Soren Kierkegaard).

Self-concept: In terms of wider philosophical terms the concept of self is used to refer

to the ultimate locus of personal identity, the agent and the knower involved in each

person’s actions and cognitions. More precisely, the self-concept is a multi-

dimensional construct that refers to an individual's perception of "self" in relation to

any number of characteristics including: culture – racial identity, gender roles,

sexuality and many others. The self-concept is mainly an internal model which

comprises self-assessments.

Therefore, my aim is to write a theoretical dissertation, and I will try to argue that

there may be a substantial interrelationship and interaction between unconscious

internal conflicts and all of these fundamental existential issues in order to provide a

wider clarification, more multidimensional and holistic understanding on the concept

of self.