Persons are aware of themselves and possess subjective mental states such as desires, emotions, thoughts, dreams, imaginations etc. But how should we describe the transition from this immediate self-awareness to the self-consciousness of being agents? What is for actors an attractive end or a good reason and how are ends and reasons generated? Starting from the Stoic theory of self-appropriation (oikeiôsis) we will discuss some ancient and medieval thinkers before we come to German idealism (Kant, Fichte, Hegel, and Kierkegaard). Finally, we will look at the contemporary debate in continental and analytic philosophy.