Synopsis
In this talk I will explore the differences between ancient and modern ideas about what it means to be a person, with a particular focus on the contemporary “self-help” industry and its precursors in ancient philosophy.
Contemporary humans in the developed west share a heavily internalised understanding of personhood that emphasises our unique inner psychological experience as the core feature of being a conscious agent in the world.
From a cross-cultural perspective, this view is bizarre, so where did it come from?
I will argue that we see such a view starting to emerge among the ancient philosophers, and that the psychological self-centrism we have inherited from them is both a blessing and a curse.
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