Know Thyself - The Value and Limits of Self-Knowledge: The Examined Life
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Know Thyself - The Value and Limits of Self-Knowledge: The Examined Life
The University of Edinburgh
About this Course
4.6
53 ratings
According to legend, inscribed on walls of the temple on the sacred site of Delphi in Ancient Greece were two premier injunctions: NOTHING IN EXCESS, and KNOW THYSELF. This course will be an examination of the latter injunction in an effort to discover what self-knowledge is, why it might be valuable, and what, if any, limitations it might face. What is missing from a person lacking in self-knowledge that makes her less wise, virtuous, or competent in certain areas than others who have this capacity, and what if anything might she do to fill that gap? Historical sources as well as recent research in philosophy, experimental social psychology, and neuroscience will inform our investigation, in the course of which we will become students of our own dreams, and cultivate some meditative practices.
Learning Outcomes:
Learners will gain familiarity with prominent themes from Western, classical Chinese, and Buddhist approaches to our knowledge of ourselves. In the course of doing so, they will gain an appreciation of the relation of self-knowledge to wisdom, of the value of intellectual humility, as well as of methods of learning about oneself that do not depend on introspection.
Learners will also become familiar with contemporary research in experimental social psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience into the emotions, the unconscious, the role of affect in decision making, and self-deception. They will also gain an appreciation of a challenge to the assumption of a coherent, unified self that derives from the Buddhist tradition.
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This course was created by a partnership between The University of Edinburgh and Humility & Conviction and Public Life Project, an engaged research project based at the University of Connecticut and funded by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
1
Section
Getting started
4 readings
4 readings
Introduction: Know Thyself @ Wireless Philosophy6m
About this course5m
Course assessments and exercises5m
Optional companion bookm
Socrates and the Examined Life
At his trial, charged with corrupting the Athenian youth, Socrates isn't exactly apologetic. He tells the jury to their faces that they only charged him because they don't like that he forces them to confront uncomfortable truths. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the jury sentences him to death. Socrates accepts the sentence unfazed, famously stating that he'd rather die than stop making people think, as 'an unexamined life is not worth living'. In this module we will examine this dictum and ask: was Socrates right to throw shade on the unexamimed life?
8 videos (Total 48 min), 6 readings, 7 quizzes
8 videos
Is anyone wiser than Socrates?4m
I know that I know (almost) nothing6m
Meditative moment3m
Is an unexamined life worth living?5m
"Not to be lived"10m
What is knowledge good for?8m
Summary2m
6 readings
Existentialist Comics - The "Apology"10m
Know Thyself, Chapter One10m
Interesting videos and podcasts10m
Plato's Apology - full text10m
'Socrates' by Professor Deborah Nails10m
'The Delphic Oracle: A Multidisciplinary Defense of the Gaseous Vent Theory' By Spiller et al10m
7 practice exercises
Initial thoughtsm
Practice Quiz 1: The Oraclem
Practice Quiz 2: knowledge, wisdom and ignorancem
Knowledge and ignorance15m
Do you agree?5m
Module One Quiz: 5 questions assessed10m
Chapter One Quiz10m
2
Section
Descartes' Essence
Are you dreaming right now? How do you know you're not? Rene Descartes set himself a pretty titanic task: to doubt absolutely everything he cannot be certain of - even that the world exists! - and then try to see if we can rebuild our knowledge of ourselves and the world only from what we can be really certain of. In the process, he formulated some provocative thoughts on the radical separation of the mind from the body.
9 videos (Total 67 min), 7 readings, 6 quizzes
9 videos
Descartes11m
What can be called into doubt?9m
Are you dreaming now?8m
I think, therefore I am8m
Concerning God9m
The physical and the mental6m
Divisibility of mind and body4m
Meditative moment2m
Dualism5m
7 readings
Know Thyself, Chapter Two10m
Interesting videos and podcasts10m
Brief essay on Descartes' argument for dualism10m
Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy10m
Correspondence between Descartes and Princess Elisabeth10m
Prof. Christia Mercer on Descartes' debt to Teresa of Avila10m
Rationalism vs Empiricism10m
6 practice exercises
Initial thoughts5m
Practice Quiz 12m
Practice Quiz 22m
Evaluate Descartes' argument10m
Evaluate the arguments again10m
Module Two Quiz: 5 questions assessed10m
3
Section
A re-casting of the Mind/Body problem
Descartes' dualistic picture of the mind-body relation was highly influential for centuries. A vocal minority of thinkers challenged dualism, but only in the Twentieth Century did Gilbert Ryle manage to discern how Descartes' dualistic reasoning went wrong. In understanding Ryle's approach, we will also gain an appreciation of how know-how is a legitimate form of knowledge, and of how one way of gaining self-knowledge is by looking outward rather than looking inward.
7 videos (Total 66 min), 7 readings, 5 quizzes
7 videos
Ghost in the machine9m
Stupid is, as stupid does12m
Embodied cognition13m
Locked in12m
The materialist strikes back6m
Meditative moment3m
7 readings
Know Thyself, chapter three10m
Interesting videos and podcasts10m
On embodied cognition10m
Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mindm
Gilbert Ryle at the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy10m
Locked-In Syndrome10m
Another MOOC: more about embodied cognitionm
5 practice exercises
Initial thoughts5m
Practice quiz2m
More know-how intelligence2m
Examples of failed phosphorescence or introspection/infallibility15m
Module Three Quiz: 5 questions assessed10m
4
Section
MIND AND SELF: Some Aspects of Human Nature
Is there such a thing as a human nature? And if there is, how can we know what it is? In this module we will look at how the concept of human nature is used and potentially misused, and what can all this tell us about ourselves. And finally: can human nature be changed?
7 videos (Total 50 min), 8 readings, 5 quizzes
7 videos
Investigating human nature7m
How best to live?8m
Theory of human emotions8m
Non-basic emotions7m
Second nature8m
Meditative moment2m
8 readings
Existentialist Comics - Sartre10m
Human nature: Six things we all do (New Scientist)20m
Human nature matters (Aeon)20m
Some interesting videos and podcasts30m
Read more about Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)10m
Read more about Sartre, Existentialism, and Nothingness (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)10m
Steve Darwall: Empathy, Sympathy, Care10m
More on basic emotions10m
5 practice exercises
Initial thoughts5m
Your rituals2m
Human nature as an excuse15m
Part of human nature?2m
Module Four Quiz: 5 questions assessed10m
Final assessment
2 readings, 1 quiz
2 readings
Share what you've learned by editing the Wikipedia entry on self-knowledge!m
A brief How-To10m
4.6
Top Reviews
By TG•Sep 3rd 2018
I learned a lot about what self-knowledge and how it can enhance my life. The lectures and forum discussions were very thought-provoking. The meditative moments were an added bonus!
By RR•Sep 7th 2018
this course was super well explained, lovely to watch, and very easy to absorb and apply to self through the introspection questions.
Instructors
Mitchell Green
Professor of Philosophy
Dr Simon Fokt
Learning TechnologistUniversity of Edinburgh
About The University of Edinburgh
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