Note 37 — Chapter V · THE SOCIAL SELF—1. THE MEANING OF “I”

“The words ME, then, and SELF, so far as they arouse feeling and connote emotional worth, are OBJECTIVE designations meaning ALL THE THINGS which have the power to produce in a stream of consciousness excitement of a certain peculiar sort.” Psychology, i., p. 319. A little earlier he says: “In its widest possible sense, however, a man’s self is the sum total of all he CAN call his, not only his body and his psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children, his ancestors and friends, his reputation and works, his lands and horses and yacht and bank account. All these things give him the same emotions.” Idem, p. 291.

So Wundt says of “Ich”: “Es ist ein Gefühl, nicht eine Vorstellung, wie es häufig genannt wird.” Grundriss der Psychologie 4. Auflage, S. 265.