The present paper advocates for the use of phenomenology in the study of the self, presenting the findings from a phenomenological study on the participants’ engagement with challenges to the self brought about by their experience studying postmodern thought. Accordingly, the present study utilised Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to investigate the influence of postmodernism on the self, beliefs, and values. Seven participants took part in semi-structured interviews, in which four themes and 14 subthemes were identified in response to postmodernism: ‘ambivalence’; ‘uncertainty’; ‘responses to uncertainty’; and ‘self as an exception’. These findings were both consistent and inconsistent with criticisms of postmodernism, as participants expressed a sense of postmodernism as destabilising, however, the need for action and stability frequently led participants to respond with the strengthening of their beliefs, or an unwillingness to refute them. The experiences and responses of participants to postmodernism challenge the view that postmodern thinking has a negative influence upon individuals and their beliefs and demonstrate the efficacy of phenomenological approaches in understanding experiences of the self, particularly where they encounter challenges and complexity.

中文翻译：

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后现代思想与自我：一种解释性的现象学分析

本文提倡在自我研究中使用现象学，展示了一项现象学研究的结果，即参与者因研究后现代思想的经验而面临对自我的挑战。因此，本研究利用解释性现象学分析来调查后现代主义对自我、信仰和价值观的影响。七名参与者参加了半结构化访谈，其中确定了四个主题和 14 个子主题以回应后现代主义：“矛盾心理”；'不确定'; “对不确定性的反应”；和“自我作为例外”。这些发现与对后现代主义的批评既一致又不一致，因为参与者表示后现代主义是不稳定的，然而，行动和稳定的需要经常导致参与者以强化他们的信念或不愿反驳他们的方式做出回应。参与者对后现代主义的经历和反应挑战了后现代思维对个人及其信仰产生负面影响的观点，并证明了现象学方法在理解自我体验方面的功效，尤其是在他们遇到挑战和复杂性的情况下。