Il sé e la sua realizzazione

This paper analyzes the ideal of self-realization by relating it to different conceptions of the self. To this end, it examines four main accounts: the Perfectionist Account, the Voluntarist Account, and two hybrid views, the Objective Will Account and the Autonomy-Perfectionist Account. The analysis shows that the first three face significant limitations, namely paternalism, arbitrariness, and a reliance on the contingent alignment between objective value and subjective engagement. As an alternative, the paper defends the Autonomy-Perfectionist Account, according to which a person realizes herself by exercising her fundamental capacities in the pursuit of freely chosen life goals. This account integrates normative constraints and self-determination, thereby allowing us to conceive of the self as a dynamic process of articulation and transformation.