Philosophy

The authentic self consists of internal forces, dynamic and spiritual, and will above all, which courses through men, nature, and objects. This claim is made by Burton F. Porter on Rainer Maria Rilke’s The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge on page 11 of Porter’s Philosophy: A Literary and Conceptual Approach. I am in agreement with this claim that Porter makes on Rilke’s Notebooks. As Porter puts it, “Rilke refuses to identify persons by …showed first 75 words of 993 total…

…showed last 75 words of 993 total…wearing no conclusions or inferences can be made about who that person is. One’s self is internal and nothing worn on the outside, such as face and clothing can be used to tell you who that person is or what they are about. The “self” is internal but society tends to label and categorize people on their appearance and their external features and characteristics and Rilke is saying that to do so is wrong.