The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness
The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness by R. D. Laing, published by Penguin Books on August 30, 1976, is a thought-provoking exploration of the human experience. This edition spans 224 pages and is presented in English. Laing contrasts the lives of those who feel secure in their existence with those who struggle to maintain their identity and autonomy, highlighting the complex interplay between self-perception and the perceptions of others.
Readers will find that Laing delves into the concept of “ontological insecurity,” illustrating how individuals navigate their realities shaped by the expectations and models held by others. The book presents a nuanced examination of how our feelings and motivations are influenced by our relationships and interactions, ultimately affecting our sense of self. Through case studies in psychiatry, Laing articulates the profound implications of existing in a world where identity is often defined by external perceptions, making this work a significant contribution to the field.
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In The Divided Self (1960), Laing contrasted the experience of the “ontologically secure” person with that of a person who “cannot take the realness, aliveness, autonomy and identity of himself and others for granted” and who consequently contrives strategies to avoid “losing his self”. Laing explains how we all exist in the world as beings, defined by others who carry a model of us in their heads, just as we carry models of them in our heads. In later writings he often takes this to deeper levels, laboriously spelling out how “A knows that B knows that A knows that B knows…”! Our feelings and motivations derive very much from this condition of “being in the world” in the sense of existing for others, who exist for us. Without this we suffer “ontological insecurity”, a condition often expressed in terms of “being dead” by people who are clearly still physically alive.
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