Post by tanya on Dec 2, 2017 5:02:10 GMT
When Butt says "what having a self means is having a constructive relationship to the past and the future” (p. 137), he does not mean that the past is directly affecting the action(s), he is saying that the history of events in our life and how we make sense of them affects and informs everything we do. In this case, our thoughts and behaviour can be regarded as influenced by how we perceive our past and what that says about us and the responding world. Butt mentions the future because our anticipation of future events, often those we are certain or fearful of occurring affects how we interact with the situation and the people part of the anticipated situation, and also how these people act in correspondence to our conduct.