Selves in Conflict: Gill vs. Sorabji on the Conception of Selfhood in Antiquity: A Reconciliatory Review

This article provides a critical overview of the current scholarly debate regarding ancient notions of selfhood and personal identity. It does so by focusing on the ideas of two of the most prominent contributors to this debate, Christopher Gill and Richard Sorabji. The views of these two scholars appear to be in direct opposition: while Gill claims that there is a fundamental difference between ancient and modern conceptions of personality (he identifies these as “objective-participant” and “subjective-individualist”), Sorabji, on the other hand, stresses continuity and identifies a number of central recurring elements of selfhood. Through an analysis of several relevant examples from ancient literature and philosophy (Cicero on the theory of personae, Epictetus’ concept of prohaeresis, the motives of Medea in Euripides’ play), it is argued that the two positions are not as contradictory as they may at first appear. Instead, the readings point toward a synthesis in which central elements of both perspectives are combined.