The Symbolic Self in Evolutionary Context

Abstract

We propose that the capacity for a symbolic self (a flexible and multifaceted cognitive representation of an organism's own attributes) in humans is a product of evolution. In pursuing this argument, we note that some primates possess rudimentary elements of a self (an objectified self) and that the symbolic self (a) is a trait that is widely shared among humans, (b) serves adaptive functions, and (c) could have evolved in response to environmental pressures, with ecological and social pressures being of particular relevance. We suggest that these two environmental pressures caused the symbolic self to emerge in the Pleistocene epoch as an adaptation for Homo erectus, and we review the possible functions served by such an adaptation.