Who Am I- Unmasking The Underpinnings of the Modern Self

Tracing The Origins

In a world obsessed with individual expression and personal freedom, the question of “Who am I?” is no longer simply answered by family heritage, religion, or even scientific reality. Instead, the modern view has redefined identity as self-chosen and fluid, rooted primarily in internal feelings and psychological states. This concept of self, known as expressive individualism, not only encourages but often demands personal autonomy and self-expression as life’s greatest goals. Where once identity might have been drawn from communal roles or divine purposes, today’s culture sees such anchors as repressive or harmful boundaries.

In the previous part of our series, I provided five questions that serve as an interpretive lens to help us discern important presuppositions regarding identity. Now, we’ll step back to ask how we arrived at this moment in history. In this post, I’ll trace the philosophies and thinkers who shaped today’s views, revealing how, over centuries, identity has become synonymous with self-expression, often without regard for external realities or inherited values. As we uncover the cultural origins behind expressive individualism, we’ll gain perspective on how profoundly the concept of self has changed and the impact of this shift on our society and churches alike. There isn’t one singular force that brought us here, but rather a confluence of ideas, aided and made possible by technology and science, that have combined to create our modern values and views.

One of the best explorations of this cultural shift comes from Carl Trueman’s work, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. Much of the following summary I learned from him. With this in view, let’s learn about four key thinkers largely responsible for shaping the modern self.

Four Key Thinkers Who Shaped the Modern Self

1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
   Rousseau believed that humans are naturally good and free, but society imposes artificial constraints that corrupt the individual. True authenticity, according to Rousseau, comes from looking inward and rejecting the corrupting influence of external norms. “Listen to your heart,” he would say. “Let it guide you. Be true to yourself.” These ideas found their seed form in Rousseau’s work. To him, Christianity represented repression of the natural self.
2. Sigmund Freud
   Freud sexualized the self. He argued that sexual desire lies at the core of human identity. To repress your sexual desires is to repress your very being. If you want to truly flourish as a human being, you must be free to pursue whatever you desire sexually. This notion is central to the modern understanding of the self. Consider it: when people identify as something, it’s almost always tied to sexuality. This idea stems from Freud.
3. Friedrich Nietzsche
   Nietzsche rejected objective truth and advocated for creating meaning on your own. He famously declared, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him… Must we not ourselves become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” (The Gay Science, 1882). With Darwin’s theories, the Christian worldview, and even the need for God to explain our world, collapsed, along with the meaning and purpose it provided. Nietzsche contended that if we were to thrive, we must transcend conventional morality and create our own values based on personal will and power. Trueman summarizes Nietzsche’s ideas well: “Freed from the burden of being creatures of God, human beings must rise to the challenge of self-creation, of being whoever they choose to be. Put even more bluntly: be whoever or whatever works for you. You should feel no obligation to conform to the standards or criteria of anybody else.”¹
4. Karl Marx
   Marx viewed society as fundamentally shaped by power struggles, specifically between the bourgeoisie and the working class. Institutions, laws, even religion were tools of the ruling class to maintain power over the working class. Thinkers like Antonio Gramsci and Herbert Marcuse expanded this idea to all cultural struggles, arguing that even societal norms like the nuclear family, gender roles, and race were artificial structures imposed by the ruling class to maintain control. This lens of power and oppression led to the view that any form of difference equals inequality. Gender roles became tools of oppression, and heterosexual relationships as the norm were rejected. Down with the patriarchy. All differences were seen as inequalities to be overthrown, leading to the rise of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and intersectionality.

Summary
All these ideas—building on one another—led us to where we are today. Rousseau emphasized the heart, the inner self, as something basically good that must be expressed. Freud sexualized this inner self. Nietzsche liberated us from moral norms and encouraged self-creation. Marx framed the struggle to actualize the inner self as a power struggle. The highest form of virtue is now fighting against oppression in pursuit of self-actualization.

We now live in the age of expressive individualism, where:

• Personal identity is determined by individual feelings and desires. The highest form of truth is found within the self, and external authorities—such as religion, tradition, or social norms—are increasingly seen as oppressive. Personal autonomy and self-expression are the greatest goods.
• The self is defined by internal psychological states, particularly emotions. Authenticity is found in the unfiltered expression of these internal states. To be “authentic” means living in a way that aligns with one’s internal sense of identity, even when that identity contradicts external norms or biological realities.
• Identity is fluid and self-chosen. This manifests most clearly in the sexual revolution and the rise of transgender ideology, where individuals assert their right to choose their gender identity, regardless of biological sex. The broader cultural shift suggests that the self is viewed as self-constructed, not bound by external realities or inherited traditions.
• Therapeutic culture: The modern self is shaped by a therapeutic understanding of human existence. Psychological well-being and the pursuit of happiness are central. As Trueman notes, this has led to an ethical framework focused on avoiding harm to one’s psychological self. In this culture, the expression of personal identity must be affirmed and validated by society.

Identity According to the World

Notice how these ideas shape how we answer the questions presented earlier in our series.

• What am I? I am a material being, brought into the world by chance.
• Who am I? I am most likely a victim of circumstances and society. I get to decide what I want to be.
• Whose am I? I am my own. I choose which connections matter and which relationships are toxic and need to be severed.
• What should I become? I can become whatever I want. Self-expression and self-actualization are the highest goods.
• What’s my story? I am a victim who will overcome and become whatever I want to be.

Understanding the rise of expressive individualism shows us just how far modern thought has evolved and how it profoundly impacts identity in every facet of life. The work of thinkers like Rousseau, Freud, Nietzsche, and Marx, each layering their philosophies on the nature of self, has influenced a worldview in which the individual’s inner desires are paramount and external truths are largely discarded. The resulting philosophy of expressive individualism isn’t merely a set of academic ideas but something that shapes everything from daily decisions to societal structures, reshaping community life, institutions, and even family.

As we look forward to the next article, we’ll turn our focus to the Church. How has expressive individualism crept into Christian culture, affecting personal faith, community, and teaching? We’ll uncover the subtle signs of this influence and explore ways to anchor our identity in a biblical worldview that transcends shifting cultural norms. Join us as we continue this journey, exploring how faith communities can stand firm amidst a world increasingly defined by expressive individualism.

1. Carl R. Trueman, Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022), 63. ↩︎