itseydestä

Itseydestä is a Finnish term referring to the concept of selfhood or the quality of being oneself. In academic and philosophical usage, it denotes the persisting subjectivity that characterizes a person, including how one experiences, understands, and acts as a continuous agent over time. The term is used across disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, and theology to analyze what makes a person a single, identifiable being.

Etymologically, the word combines the pronoun itse (self) with a suffix that creates an abstract noun, and the elative form -stä indicates relation or aboutness. In Finnish discourse, itseys and its genitive forms (such as itseydestä) express discussions of the essence, core, or existence of the self, as distinct from social roles or external attributes.

Conceptually, itseys encompasses aspects of consciousness, agency, and personal continuity. It relates to how a subject experiences thoughts and feelings, maintains a sense of identity through memory and change, and bears responsibility for choices. It is often contrasted with related notions such as identiteetti (identity in social or legal senses) and minuus (the ego or sense of self from a psychological perspective). In philosophy, itseys is a core theme in discussions of subjectivity, authenticity, and the nature of the self within mind–body problems and existential questions.

In practice, discussions of itseydestä explore questions such as what constitutes a person’s core identity, how selfhood develops, and how it is affected by social, cultural, and historical contexts. The term is commonly found in Finnish-language scholarly writing on philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and ethics.

See also: Self, Identity, Subjectivity, Philosophy of mind.