David Hume reported that introspection revealed nothing corresponding to a self. All his inward gaze revealed was a succession of experiences. If this were all that the self amounted to, it would be difficult to understand how human creativity – in everyday life, never mind art and science – would be possible.
In this talk, I shall argue that Hume (along with many contemporary ‘autocides’) was looking in the wrong place. I shall rescue the self by focussing on our unity at a time and over a time, the enduring character of our beliefs, habits, attitudes, duties and relationships, the social scaffolding that comes from others recognition, acknowledgement and expectations of ourselves, our bodily continuity, and our self-affirmation as agents. It is out of this rich, enduring, complex, multi-dimensional self that creativity is possible.