Self-Knowledge as a Personal Achievement

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Self-Knowledge as a Personal Achievement proposes a novel approach to the idea that self-knowledge--or an improvement of it--is something to which we should aspire. Expressed in the Delphic injunction 'Know thyself', this idea has often been associated with Socrates, and has been passed down from the ancients through many centuries of philosophy. This emphasis on the importance of self-knowledge is largely absent in contemporary philosophical debate. Instead, philosophical research largely centers on the awareness of our mental states. Thus, it has been argued that there are two distinct kinds of self-knowledge: knowledge and awareness of our mental states and the kind of insight into our condition by which we attain a better understanding of ourselves. Drawing on a variety of early modern philosophical texts, this book presents an alternative approach to the idea of Socratic self-knowledge. Its point of departure is idea that the concept of self-knowledge refers to a whole spectrum of possible epistemic self-relations. It argues that the kind of self-insight helping us to come closer to the ideal of Socratic self-knowledge is both possible and worth pursuing. We should seek to know ourselves better, both to obtain prudential benefit, and to find meaning in our lives.