MA Philosophy and Psychoanalysis

Dissertation Plan
Title: The relationship between internal conflicts and existential crisis on
an understanding of the self-concept
Internal conflict is the (conscious) but most of the times unconscious struggle within
an individual's mind when opposing views simultaneously exist for that individual in
relation to a specific thing. Such conflicts can sometimes lead to certain anxiety
disorders. For the purpose of this dissertation, I will make an attempt to focus on the
unconscious internal conflicts which are more difficult for someone to identify and
give specific meanings. Therefore, I think to approach the unconscious internal
conflicts through Freudian psychoanalysis or objects relations theory and very
possibly through a systemic approach (e.g. groups relations or family systems theory).
Existential crisis is a stage of development at which an individual questions the very
foundations of his or her life such as whether his or her life has any meaning, purpose
or value. For instance, An existential crisis may result from 1) The sense of being
alone and isolated in the world (premise of personal, interpersonal and existential
loneliness), 2) a new-found grasp or appreciation of one's mortality (premise of
death), 3) believing that one's life has no purpose or external meaning (meaning of
life), 4) awareness of one's freedom and the consequences of accepting or rejecting
that freedom (premise of freedom), 5) existential anxiety - existential vacuum , 6) an
extremely pleasurable or hurtful experience that leaves one seeking meaning.
Thereby, I will try to approach the premise of existential crisis by the existential
psychotherapy (Victor Frankl, Irvin Yalom, Rollo May) and existential philosophy
(Martin Heidegger , Soren Kierkegaard).
Self-concept: In terms of wider philosophical terms the concept of self is used to refer
to the ultimate locus of personal identity, the agent and the knower involved in each
persons actions and cognitions. More precisely, the self-concept is a multidimensional construct that refers to an individual's perception of "self" in relation to

any number of characteristics including: culture racial identity, gender roles,

sexuality and many others. The self-concept is mainly an internal model which
comprises self-assessments.
Therefore, my aim is to write a theoretical dissertation, and I will try to argue that
there may be a substantial interrelationship and interaction between unconscious
internal conflicts and all of these fundamental existential issues in order to provide a
wider clarification, more multidimensional and holistic understanding on the concept
of self.