Abstract

This theoretical dissertation applied a process model of knowledge to an understanding of the development of the self and its relation to the world. The work was informed by the "poetic influence" of developmental, psychoanalytic, and existential thinkers. The resulting integration depended on the use of a language, namely, that provided by an interactive approach, which is theoretically adequate to describe process. It is hoped that the work made a contribution in three ways. First, the approach was based on an interactive definition of knowledge, which, unlike traditional definitions, does not view knowledge as being of a copying variety and does not suffer from the logical fallacy that constrains these traditional definitions. Rather, from an interactive perspective, knowledge is defined as the ability to interact with the world in the service of one's goals. Thus, interaction or a relationship to the world is central. Second, consistent with this emphasis on relationship, the dissertation took very literally the basic tenet of an interactive approach, namely, the idea that the individual can only know the world through his or her interactions with it. Knowledge is therefore a personal construction based on one's history of interactions. Third, development was understood within the context of an open system, that is, within an interpersonal matrix. Thus, the approach has implications for a variety of interpersonal domains, three of which were explored: the self as an historical being; the process of becoming a self disrelation in the self or a failure to posit the relationships that constitute the self