What is “self” according to Dreyfus?
Starting with Kierkegaard's definition, “A self is a relation that relates itself to itself.” Dreyfus reads this in a Heideggerian way. According to him, the self is not an inner substance, not a soul-entity, but a way of being-in-the-world. The self is formed when I commit my life to something and understand myself through that commitment. That is, the self is a lived commitment structure.
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Despair is an existential sickness, but not death. Dreyfus emphasizes that “the sickness unto death” does not mean dying. Despair means failing to become oneself. Dreyfus explains despair in three main forms.
Unconscious Despair—The person is unaware that they are in despair; they are lost in roles, pleasure, and success; there is no unconditional commitment. This is the default mode of modern life.
Conscious Despair - Not wanting to be alone. The person knows that life is empty, but does not want to take risks and is afraid of commitment. This is the reflective modern person.
Conscious Despair - Wanting to be oneself (Defiant despair) The individual wants to be himself but does not want a connection to a higher source. He says, "I'll do it my way." Dreyfus calls this, "Self-grounded selfhood," which is ultimately unstable.
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Why despair arises is Dreyfus's core insight. Despair arises because we try to anchor ourselves to something that can break. Pleasure ends, roles change, morality collapses. When grounding is fragile, despair is inevitable.
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Saved is the process of becoming a self.
For Dreyfus, "saved" does not mean heaven or religious reward, but rather attaining a life that is internally unified. Being saved means, "I am not running away from my life, I do not back down from my commitment, I am beyond fragmentation." The saved self takes risks, accepts finite limitations. He does, yet he drowns completely.
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The solution to despair is unconditional commitment. According to Dreyfus, Kierkegaard's radical claim is that the solution to despair is not introspection, but commitment. But this is not an ordinary commitment. Unconditional commitment is one that occurs without guarantees, without calculations, without exit clauses. This is the same movement that Abraham shows in Fear and Trembling, and conceptually explained in The Sickness Unto Death.
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Dreyfus calls the Dialectical Movement of the Self, not Hegelian logic, but the Existential Passage. Despair is the fragmented self. Accepting despair is being honest with oneself. Risky unconditional commitment is, in effect, a form of faith. Faith locates the division of the subjective and objective self in unity. It is what gives life to the true meaning of self. It is not a formula, but a process of living.
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In Dreyfus's secular-friendly reading, God is an ontological anchor.
Dreyfus says, "God" here need not be read as a literal deity. God means the source that gives the self absolute grounding, something I do not control but to which I am completely committed. This is not an ideology, it is an existential orientation.
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Dreyfus concludes that Kierkegaard's book, *Fear and Trembling*, shows what unconditional commitment feels like, and his second book, *Sickness Unto Death*, explains why life falls apart without it. Together, they say, "Self is not what you think; Self is what you risk living for."
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Dreyfus summarizes the final meaning thus: "Modern despair comes from wanting meaning without risk. Kierkegaard teaches that meaning only comes with unconditional commitment.”
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The Sickness unto Death
Book by Søren Kierkegaard (1849) Interpretation of Hubert Dreyfus
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