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The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

The Divided Self: Internal Conflict in Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>This thematic project examines the notion of self-division, particularly in terms of the conflict between cognition and metacognition, across the fields of philosophy, psychology, and, most recently, the cognitive and neurosciences. The project offers a historic overview of models of self-division, as well as analyses of the various problems presented in theoretical models to date. This work explores how self-division has been depicted in the literary works of Edgar Allan Poe, Don DeLillo, and Mary Shelley. It examines the ways in which artistic renderings alternately assimilate, resist, and/or critique dominant philosophical, psychological, and scientific discourses about the self and its divisions. This dissertation argues that the internal conflict portrayed by the writers of these literary characters is conscious: it is the conflict of the metacognitive “I” against akratic impulses, unwanted cognitions, and, ultimately, consciousness as a whole.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy
Level thesis:degree_level
Doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Comparative Literature
Grantor
The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York
Year dc:date.available
2024

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Greyman, Yulia
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Vincent Crapanzano
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Jason Tougaw
  • André Aciman

Subjects

dc:subject × 16

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5621
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-6721

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
City University of New York - Graduate Center
Base URL
academicworks.cuny.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Greyman, Yulia. The Divided Self: Internal Conflict in Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience. Doctoral thesis, The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York, 2024. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5621