| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Attempts to deal with the agent-structure problem have often resulted in the introduction of alternative forms of structuralism. Scholars have thus failed to observe the construction and reconstruction of subjectivity, which occurs as an eternal process because of the simple fact that each of us lives in his or her own time. This article attempts to provide an alternative approach to the agent-structure problem by reformulating it as an issue of identity. Especially in comparison with Lévinas, Ricoeur's thought of memory proves helpful in grappling with the problem, not by presupposing the coherent entity of either agent or structure, but by directing our attention to the in-between. It also enables a nuanced analysis of social change, which always needs to be comprehended in its tension with the leanings toward stability. A brief analysis of the literary discourses after the Great War illustrates this point. As a whole, the article aims to recover beings' temporality at the centre of the agent-structure problem and thus reconstruct the problem as innately unstable agents' search for their constantly changing identity.
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