Possible Selves in Late Antiquity: Ideal Selfhood and Embodied Selves in Evagrian Anthropology

In social psychology an ideal self is understood as a psychological component of the self that serves as the core mechanism for self-regulation and motivation. According to the theory of Possible Selves put forward by psychologists Hazel Markus and Paula Nurius, the self is a collection of schemas or possible selves, which represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming. According to this prominent model, people evaluate their current selves with reference to possible selves. The latter function as incentives for behavior by providing a conceptual link between cognition and motivation. This article considers the intellectual background that gave rise to this double view of selfhood and examines the ideal self model prescribed by the Alexandrian theologians and their followers. The identification of the self is tied to value judgments, namely, to what one believes to express oneself best, be that cognition, desire, moral choices or personality.