How a universal proto-self becomes a singular person is unknown

Evidence

What remains mysterious (and we cannot be satisfied here by evoking ”the wisdom of nature”) is therefore the deep structure of transformation, the transition from a universal self, not yet particularized, to the singular self, to that which I am, that which we are. — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 213

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes the proto-self (universal, unnamed, genetic) from the singular self (particularized ‘that which I am’)—a core conceptual split for plasticity vs. flexibility.