Select polygons within polygons using a single feature layer?

[SarahSienaert]

Hello,

I have a polygon feature layer containing approx. 2000 polygons. Hundreds of the polygons reside within other polygons and I want to use the smaller polygons to erase areas from the larger polygons. The erase tool is perfect for this, but I first need to create a separate layer of the smaller polygons to be used as the 'erase feature' in the erase tool. Unfortunately I am struggling to find a way to select the polygons that reside within other polygons because all of the polygons are from the same feature layer. Consequently, 'select by location' does not work as it requires separate input and target layers, and 'select by attributes' does not work because there are no defining attributes that distinguish between the polygons (e.g. selecting by size/area is not an option as the size range of the polygons I want to select overlaps considerably with the size of the polygons that I don't want to select). Is there a way to perform a spatial selection that selects features that are completely contained within other features when all features are within the same feature layer? 

(I am using ArcMap 10.6.1 and I have virtually no programming knowledge. Please note I am aware that a similar question was asked at https://community.esri.com/thread/108935-how-to-detect-polygon-within-a-polygon-in-the-same-layer but the replies are not helpful in my case.)

I am grateful for any suggestions. Thank you very much.

Sarah

[JoeBorgione]

What if you add the feature to a topoplogy with a rule of must not overlap? That will at least identify those in violation...

[SarahSienaert]

Thank you for the suggestion, Joe, it's much appreciated. I would have used this work-around had Kory not come up with a more optimal solution. 

[JoeBorgione]

His is a better solution!

[KoryKramer · Accepted solution]

What if you make a copy of the layer, add it to the Table of Contents, and select all features.

Then work with Select by Location using the two layers and operators that might meet your needs:

[SarahSienaert]

Thank you, Kory! Exactly the solution I was after.

[KoryKramer]

Awesome!  Glad to help:)