Abstract

In framing his theory of personal identity, John Locke introduced »the self« as a philosophicalterm, and the concept has remained current in English to this day. The translations ofLocke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (2nd edition of 1694) into French (1700) and German(1757) established »le soi [-même]« and »das Selbst« in the philosophical discourse of the eighteenthcentury, but the noun forms of Moi and Ich have persisted in these languages as enduringalternatives to »the Self.« This philologically oriented contribution sketches the linguistic backdropand the translational repercussions of Locke’s immensely influential, if still controversial, conceptformation.