Care for Oneself and Failures of Self-knowledge.

The research project "Care for Oneself and Failures of Self-Knowledge" investigates in what way knowledge of who we are and who we want to be guides our deliberations about how to act. An important role is played by practical identities: those roles or identities that we find valuable and that give guidelines as to which actions are valuable for us to undertake. For example, if I value my identity as a parent I find those actions that let my child flourish worthwhile. A question that has raised quite some philosophical interest is how and whether our practical identities should cohere. That they often do not is a common experience. For example, the identity as parent and the identity as teacher can come in conflict if the soccer match of one's daughter is on a Sunday and the deadline for having the papers of the students graded is directly the Monday after. According to a widespread assumption in contemporary philosophical debates our practical identities can only guide practical deliberation about what to do if they are unified into a harmonious and coherent whole. This unification-requirement calls for systematic scrutiny. That this contention can be contested can be illustrated by examples of people who are defined by conflict in their identity: for example, a homosexual man who grew up within the orthodox church might not only experience a strong conflict between his homosexual and orthodox identity, but is as well defined by it. As such, he stays more true to himself by acting on the conflict than by trying to overcome or solve it. This research project will investigate and question the unification requirement in a systematic fashion— thereby already going beyond the state of the art. It will deliver a unique contribution to the current debate in three ways: 1) by laying bare some pre-theoretical commitments inherent in the use of the image of distance-taking as a prerequisite of self-knowledge. This image suggests that we need to divide ourselves in order to get to know ourselves, and that we subsequently need to unify ourselves. A historical analysis will reveal the ubiquity as well as the legacy of the use of the metaphor of distance-taking. 2) by executing a systematic analysis of the contemporary debate along two axes: A) the first axis is defined by the form of unity that is required: contemporary philosophers characterize the required unity respectively as a matter of being wholehearted, of being rational, or of having a life narrative; B) the second axis is defined by the reasons offered in favour of striving for this unity. In the literature one can read justifications invoking I) a psychological necessity (f.e. a condition of happiness), II) a requirement of agency, III) a moral requirement, IV) a necessary condition of self-understanding V) or a necessary condition for being understood by others. None of these justifications will prove sufficient, which frees the way for another approach to self-knowledge and practical deliberation.3) by proposing an alternative theory of the way in which practical deliberation is guided by practical identities, avoiding the unnecessary and even harmful unification-requirement.

Keywords:PERSONAL IDENTITY, SELF-KNOWLEDGE, CARE

Disciplines:Philosophy, Ethics, Other philosophy, ethics and religious studies not elsewhere classified