1. Who am I, and how should I act in the world?
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1.1 Introduction to Confucius' Notions of the Self
MICHAEL PUETT: Hello.
My name is Michael Puett.
And today we will begin our discussion of classical Chinese philosophy, one
of the truly great philosophical traditions in world history.
Our goal in these sessions will be to take you
through the great philosophers in the tradition.
And particularly to look at how, when we really take these ideas seriously,
they will challenge some of our most fundamental assumptions.
And today, we begin with the self.
What are our assumptions about the self?
What would, in this case, Confucius say about the self?
And how would it lead us to fundamentally rethink our notions,
our assumptions?
And how, even more importantly, would it lead
us to live a very, very different life if we are convinced?
And I suspect, at least in part, we might be convinced.
Now, to begin this discussion, let me start out
with some characteristic assumptions we tend to make about the self, words,
phrases, thoughts we tend to have.
So let me just lay out a few of those.
So oftentimes, especially when we're thinking
about how to be a good person, how to lead a fulfilled life,
we'll use phrases like the following.
Well, the key is to look within.
Look within and find oneself.
So if I'm speaking of myself, I would often say,
I just need to look within, find myself, find my true self,
find who I really am.
And often, we'll think about this in terms of a life arc.
So oftentimes, we'll say to children, particularly maybe high school age,
moving into college, look within.
Find yourself.
Once you've found yourself, then learn to love yourself
and embrace yourself for who you are.
Learn to love your great qualities and love your bad qualities, too,
because that's just you.
And you should love yourself for who you are.
And then we will say, now moving into college often,
once you've successfully found this true self that you love and embrace,
then you want to start thinking how rationally
to lead your life in ways that will allow this true self to be fulfilled.
So what career options best fit who I really am?
And we will even start giving students-- in fact,
even beginning in high school now--
personality tests, that will help them find out who they are,
what careers will fit who they are, what careers would not fit who they are,
and therefore what careers they should avoid.
And then they will hopefully spend their college years
picking a major that fits who that will be.
And that will propel them into a career that will best accord with themselves,
their true selves.
And same things with our personal life, right.
So given who you are, you want to find a partner who matches who you are.
And here, too, personality tests and now dating apps
will actually help you match who you are with who you would best fit with.
If you're type XYZ, would you best fit with type GHQ?
And it will match you up with who is best for you.
And then, we like to think, as long as I live my life being true to myself,
loving myself, rationally deciding according to what's best for me,
this true self, how I fit best in the world,
we will lead a happy and fulfilled life.
- Friday 17 December 21
