Self-Knowledge

09/27/22 • 60 min

Know thyself, the inscription at the shrine of Delphi reads. But can we truly know ourselves, like the Ancient Greeks believed? In episode 61 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore the concept of self-knowledge from looking inside ourselves to the reflection we put out into the world. Do we gain self knowledge through introspection, or are there better ways of finding out who we are? They discuss everything from imagination to doubting as a way to get a sense of ourselves.
Works Discussed
Catriona MacKenzie, Relational Autonomy: Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Social Self
Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution
Henri Bergson, The Creative Mind: An Introduction to Metaphysics
Jimena Canales, The Physicist and the Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson, and the Debate That Changed Our Understanding of Time
Krista Lawlor, “Knowing What One Wants”
Montaigne, Essays of Montaigne
Plato, Dialogues
René Descartes, Discourse on Method
René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy
Richard Moran, Authority and Estrangement
William James, The Principles of Psychology