Modernity generated two rival myths-of-origin about the I and the we, both constructivist. According to the one the individual constructed society, according to the other society constructed the individual. Each took one pole of the dialectic for granted and problematized the other: what we call “individualism” is a theory of how society is generated, while “social behaviorism” is an account of individual self-consciousness. Contractarians interest themselves in politics, social behaviorists in psychology. A Christian belief which understands the agent-self as suspended on the call of God can
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