As previously mentioned, I am skeptical about the notion of the true self. Recently I’ve done some reading that has reinforced this skepticism. In particular, research by the likes of Roy Baumeister shows that human beings tend to identify with the activities and desires that they think are best (either individually or socially) and toContinue reading “Best Self vs. True Self”
Category Archives: Character
Approaching Excellence
Aristotle is famous for his so-called doctrine of the mean: a particular excellence of character is not the opposite of a single fault (e.g., courage vs. cowardice) but is intermediate between excess and defect (e.g., courage is opposed to both rashness and cowardice). Although some scholars never go deeper than this surface understanding, as IContinue reading “Approaching Excellence”
The Inner Revolution
One of the key themes of Tolstoy’s War and Peace (which I’m currently reading for the first time) is self-deception. The reader quickly perceives that Nikolai Rostov, Andrei Bolkonsky, and many other characters are fooling themselves about their own worth, thoughts, and actions. There is a connection here to a famous quote from Tolstoy: Everyone thinks ofContinue reading “The Inner Revolution”
Political Moderation
Here in America we’ve survived another national election (yet again the most momentous in our history!), so following up on my post last week about moderation it seems timely to offer a few reflections on political and ideological moderation. Having been a dogmatic libertarian earlier in my life, I well understand the allure of politicalContinue reading “Political Moderation”
The True Self
When we delved into the ancient Greek phrases “Know Thyself” and “Become What You Are” recently, I promised to look more closely at the recent notion of the true self, so here we go. One basic illustration of the difference between moderns and ancients on this topic is that nowadays we easily throw around theContinue reading “The True Self”
Decisions Accumulate
In a recent post entitled How a Business Wins, Arnold Kling made the following observation: Building a business, especially an innovative business in a complex environment, requires many, many decisions. You can be lucky with any one decision, but to get enough decisions right to make the business work takes much more than luck. AsContinue reading “Decisions Accumulate”
Egoism, Altruism, and Oxygen Masks
A friend asked me recently if I think that self-improvement is selfish. My short answer was that building up your character is a matter of cultivating your higher self rather than gratifying your lower self, so this activity might exist beyond the dichotomy of egoism vs. altruism. Here’s an analogy that’s fresh in my mindContinue reading “Egoism, Altruism, and Oxygen Masks”
The Self as an Achievement
What is the self? Naturally this question invokes vast reflections spanning philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, sociology, biology, and many other fields. Although I claim no special insight, in my Aristotle readings over the last few years I chanced upon a fascinating perspective that I thought I’d share. In her book Aristotle’s Philosophy of Friendship (SUNY Press, 1995),Continue reading “The Self as an Achievement”
MLK and Personalism
In my recent post on idealism and identity, I mentioned my attraction to the philosophy of personalism, with its emphasis on human dignity. It is perhaps a little-known fact that Martin Luther King, Jr., was greatly influenced by that very philosophy. Early in life he ventured north to study at Boston University, then the centerContinue reading “MLK and Personalism”
Cultivating Curiosity
In my drive to hold fewer opinions (or at least hold them less strongly), for a while I tried to cultivate a healthy skepticism about things I believe – for instance, by attempting to question one opinion every week. This didn’t work, at least for me, because it felt too negative. Instead, now I’m workingContinue reading “Cultivating Curiosity”
Peter Saint-Andre, Philosopher-Coach 