We live in a world where our livelihood depends on our ability to relate
to strangers. The central quality that defines strangers is that they
are unknown. Because strangers are unknown, they represent, in the world
outside, the unknown self within. The unknown self is the core of the
personality considered as a potential to become something yet to be
determined. To be already known is to be determined prior to and
independently of our presence in our lives. At the outset of the process
of taking form, the individual is, in a sense, a stranger to self and to
others. The more this is the case, the greater the openness of the
process of self-formation and the more marked the role of freedom from
predetermination in that process. Freedom from predetermination exists
along three dimensions: the free movement of thoughts and ideas or
"inner freedom"; the freedom to relate, which is also the freedom not to
relate; and freedom in relating, which is the possibility of maintaining
secure self-boundaries in relations with others. In exploring freedom
understood in this way, Professor Levine considers such topics as: the
nature of inner freedom and its relationship to deliberation and choice;
stranger anxiety and its connection to group dynamics and social
connection; the internal factors that enable us to make the decisions
that shape our lives and through our actions realize the ends embedded
in our decisions; how our memories shape our thought processes and
therefore the choices we make and the lives we lead that result from
them; what makes it possible for us to live comfortably with and depend
on people we do not know; concern for the welfare of strangers and how
our welfare can be secure in a world where we do not care about others
and they do not care about us.
