Know Thyself

 

 

‘to find ourselves is to know our source’

(Plotinus, 1991, The Enneads, Penguin, p. 544)

 

‘One must know who one is’

(Nietzsche, 1982, p. 517).

 

‘Most men live in relation to their own self as if they were constantly out, never at home’

(Kierkegaard, 1994, The Book on Adler, London, Everyman, p. 244).

 

 

‘Let us consider the question whether it is inevitable that everything which has an opposite be generated from its opposite and from it only’

(Plato, 1982, Phaedo, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, p. 245).

 

‘a weeping man is better than a happy worm’

(St Augustine, (1953) Of True Religion, Indiana, Gateway, p. 74)

 

‘truth cannot be truth’s contrary’

Aquinas, (1975)  Summa Contra Gentiles Book IV,Indiana, University of Notre Dame Press, ch. 8, p. 62

 

 

 

In this module I try to do several things. First, to think about what freedom means – and this is appropriate as you prepare to become free from university – by using Hegel’s example of the master and slave relationship. Second, to see if we can find this master/slave dialectic of freedom in some of the most profound questions that face us as human beings; the kind of questions that often get submerged under the day to day business of getting on with our lives, but which will inevitably face us at some time our lives. Third, always to keep in mind what this dialectic and these big questions teach us about ourselves.

 

Therefore, the theme of the module is you. Its imperative, therefore, is the oldest piece of philosophical advice in the Western tradition: Know Thyself.

 

Note that the first essay is due in week 3! This is to get it out of the way of the FYP which (I hope) you will be working on over Easter. It is a short essay, and worth 25% of the total for the module. There is no set title for the second essay. You and I will negotiate a title between us that speaks to your self. It is due in on Friday week 11.

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Carved into the lintel at the Temple of Apollo in ancient Athens were the words gnothi seauton, or know thyself. It is thought that these words expressed the answer to a question from Chilon of Sparta, namely, ‘what is best for man?’ The other inscriptions on the Temple were ‘nothing in excess’ and ‘upon these all other precepts depend.’

 

Even as far back as the first few lectures in Year one of the degree we saw from Schon and Socrates how central this idea of Know Thyself is to education, speaking as it does about the soul and the question of its integrity.  Cicero gave the maxim a similar philosophical and religious flavour by saying that ‘Know Thyself’ meant to know the nature of the soul, to know one’s mind (animus) – see Cicero, first Tusculan Disputation, 1.22.52. This can be read at http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?pageno=19&fk_files=168537

But a module called Know Thyself is fraught with danger. If we try to know ourselves, it is possible that we won’t much like what we find out. Equally, our questioning may lead to confusions and difficulties that we feel we could well do without. Some of the theorists we will look in this module also use the negative and doubt as tools by which we might know thyself. This poses a great challenge to us, for they might be asking us to doubt or to negate ourselves, and that, of course, can be unsettling. So, despite the fact that so much formal education really doesn’t seem to have any relevance to our lives, do not embark upon the module without being aware that what we learn might matter.

In the greatest confusion there is still an open channel to the soul. It may be difficult to find because by midlife it is overgrown, and some of the wildest thickets that surround it grow out of what we describe as our education. But the channel is always there, and it is our business to keep it open, to have access to the deepest part of ourselves—to that part of us which is conscious of a higher consciousness, by means of which we make final judgements and put everything together. The independence of this consciousness, which has the strength to be immune to the noise of history and the distractions of our immediate surroundings, is what the life struggle is all about. The soul has to find and hold its ground against hostile forces, sometimes embodied in ideas which frequently deny its very existence, and which indeed often seems to be trying to annul it altogether (Saul Bellow, Foreword, in Bloom, A. (1987) The Closing of the American Mind, New York: Simon and Schuster, pp. 16-17).

 

 

Sessions

 

Week 1           master and slave; independence and dependence

8^th February

 

 

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy." President Abraham Lincoln (1809-65)

 

 

This week we look at a very famous passage from Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit about the relationship of master to slave. It is very difficult reading, particularly on the first go. But if you are struggling just try to get a feeling for the plot of the story; what is happening, and to whom? There are some readings below that can help you with the master/slave section and these are asterisked below.

 

Reading

 

Hegel, G.W.F. (1977) Phenomenology of Spirit, Oxford University Press, pp. 111-119.

 

Further (difficult) reading:

 

St. Augustine, (1972) City of God, Harmondsworth: Penguin, Book XIX, chapters 14-16.

O'Neill, J. (1996) Hegel's Dialectic of Desire and Recognition, SUNY. The master/slave piece is reproduced in this text along with a number of critical essays on it. You might like to follow up any of the authors you find helpful.

Browning, G. (ed.) (1997) Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: A Reappraisal, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, all of it, but chapter 12 if pushed for time!.

Harris, H.S. (1995) Hegel: Phenomenology and System, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co.

Hyppolite, J. (1974) Genesis and Structure of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, pp. 172-177.

Kojeve, A. (1969) Introduction to the Reading of Hegel, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 45-53.

Rose, G. (1996) Mourning Becomes the Law, Cambridge University Press, chapter 3.

Tubbs, N. (1997) Contradiction of Enlightenment; Hegel and the Broken Middle, Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 156-165.

Tubbs, N. (2003) ‘The Concept of “Teachability”, Educational Theory, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 79-80.

Tubbs, N. (2004) Philosophy’s Higher Education, Dordrecht, Kluwer, chapter 2.

Tubbs, N. (2005) Philosophy of the Teacher, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 164-169.

Tubbs, N. (2008) Education in Hegel, London: Continuum, chapter 1.

Marx, W. (1988) Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, University of Chicago Press.

Norman, R. (1976) Hegel's Phenomenology, Sussex University Press.

Rockmore, T. (1992) Before and After Hegel, University of California Press, pp. 103-107.

For the ‘equality’ of slaves, see Seneca, (2004) Letters from a Stoic, trans, R. Campbell, London: Penguin, letter XLVII.

 

 

 

Week 2           free and not free

15^th February

 

 

In some ways we return here to the themes from last week of independence and dependence. In putting Kant and Dostoevsky together we raise the issues of the whether the self can know itself as a free subject (Kant) or whether the self is mostly too fearful of freedom and willing to cede freedom to others to ‘look after’ on their behalf. The section called ‘The Grand Inquisitor’ in The Brothers Karamzov is very famous; it challenges all of us to think about ourselves and how we act in the world.

 

Reading

 

Kant, I. (1990) ‘What is Enlightenment’ in Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, New York, Macmillan, pp. 83-90.

Dostoevsky, F. (1993) The Brothers Karamazov, London: Penguin, pp. 283-304.

 

Further reading

 

Williams. R. (2008) Dostoevsky: Language, Faith and Fiction, London: Continuum, pp. 27-34.

 

 

 

Week 3           Freedom and music

22^nd Feb

 

Something a little lighter this week. We will explore the question as to whether music is something that embodies the master/slave relationship, and therefore the dialectic of freedom. We will go back to Plato to see how he warned of the dangers of music, and then look at some modern examples of music to see if his warnings have been heeded. Inevitably, today, our question will be are you a ‘slave to the rhythm?’

 

Reading

 

Plato, (1994) The Republic, London: Dent, paragraphs 398c-403c.

Plato, (1975) The Laws, London: Penguin, pp. 290-1.

Bloom, A. (1987) The Closing of the American Mind, New York: Simon & Schuster, pp. 68-81.

Nietzsche, F. (1968) ‘The Birth of Tragedy’ in Basic Writings of Nietzsche, trans. W Kaufmann, New York: The Modern Library, pp. 36, and 87-9.

Barenboim, D. (2008) Everything is Connected, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, pp. 76-8, 115-6, 133-4 and 16.

 

Further Reading

Aristotle, The Politics, in (1984) The Complete Works of Aristotle, volume 2, Book VIII, chapters 5-7, pp. 2124-2129.

Augustine, (2002) On Music, in The Fathers of the Church volume 4, Washington: The Catholic University of America Press.

Augustine, (2009) On Christian Doctrine, New York: Dover Publications, Book II, chapters 17 & 18.

Mann, T. (1999) The Magic Mountain, London: Vintage, p. 113-5.

Locke, J. (1996) Some Thoughts Concerning Education, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, para. 197.

Martianus Capella, (1977) Martianus Capella and the Seven Liberal Arts, vol. 2 The Marriage of Philology and Mercury, New York: Columbia University Press, pp. Book IX.

Nietzshce, F. ‘The Case of Wagner’, in Basic Writings of Nietzsche, trans. W Kaufmann.

Wagner, D. (ed.) (1983) The Seven Liberal Arts in the Middle Ages, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, chapter 7.

 

As Daniel Barenboim refers to these, you might like to look at some of Richard Wagner’s writings that link music with the Jews. These can be found at http://users.belgacom.net/wagnerlibrary/prose/index.htm

In particular, look at ‘Judaism in Music’ (1850), ‘What is German?’ (1878), and ‘Religion and Art’ (1880).

 

 

 

Week 4           Freedom and the End of History

1^st March

 

One of the most controversial claims over the last few years has come from Francis Fukuyama. He has argued that western-style liberal democracy is about as far as human beings can progress in political and social organisation. It represents the highest achievement possible. We will look at what he says, and at some of the opposition this has aroused, not least that this is amounts to saying that the USA is man’s greatest society and something that all other cultures should or will emulate.

 

Reading

 

Fukuyama, F. (1992) The End of History and the Last Man, London: Penguin, pp. 45-6, 217, 236-7.

Fukuyama, F. (1989) ‘The End of History?’ The National Interest, Summer.

Hegel, GWF, (1967) Philosophy of Right, Oxford: Oxford University Press, paragraphs 44-6, 49(n. 2^nd para), 52, and 21.

Hegel, GWF. (1977) Phenomenology of Spirit, Oxford: Oxford University Press, para. 802, p. 488.

 

Further Reading

Tubbs, N. (2008) Education in Hegel, London: Continuum, chapter 2.

Tubbs, N. (2009) History of Western Philosophy, Basingstoke: Palgrave, chapter 7.

 

 

 

Week 5           Freedom with God – Christianity, Judaism and Islam

8^th March

 

Remembering what Fukuyama said about liberal democracy being the end of history, we now look at three spiritual critiques of liberal democracy by three writers from the three traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam: Rowan Williams, Abdolkarim Soroush, and the musician and conductor Daniel Barenboim .

 

 

Readings

 

Soroush, A. ‘Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam’, in Mehran Kamrava (ed.) (2006) The New Voices in Islam, London: I.B.Tauris, chapter 14.

Williams, R. (2008) Dostoevsky, London: Continuum, pp. 11, 14, 171-5, 183, 187, 219-21.

Barenboim, D. (2008) Everything is Connected, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, pp. 10-11, 59, 45-6, 67-8, 52, and then 60-89 and 181-4 (read them in this order!).

 

 

 

 

 

Week 6           Freedom with God – this time in colour (van Gogh)

15^th March

 

This time we look at a very different approach to the experience of spiritual freedom in liberal democracy. We trace the idea of the master/slave relationship through the experiences, the paintings and the letters of Vincent Van Gogh.

 

Reading

 

De Leeuw, R. (1996) The Letters of Van Gogh, Harmondsworth: Penguin, selected letters.

 

 

Week 7           Freedom without God – Nietzsche (1)

22^nd March

 

If Fukayama is right to question the contribution that religion and God can make to liberal democracy, then it is worth our while looking at the ideas of the man credited with idea that in the West ‘God is dead’. This will take us two weeks, but spread across the Easter break, which Nietzsche, perhaps, would find somehow appropriate. This week we look at his critique of Western morality.

 

 

Reading

 

Nietzsche, F. (1968) Genealogy of Morals, New York: The Modern Library, pp. 493-8, 520-1, and 531-2.

Sermon on the Mount – beatitudes.

 

 

 

EASTER BREAK

 

 

Week 8           Freedom without God – Nietzsche (2)

26^th April

 

Before the break, Nietzsche left us with a critique of religion and morality, and promised us a man of the future who could live without God. This week we look at this promised man – Zarathustra – and his godless life.

 

 

Reading

Nietzsche, (1982) Thus Spake Zarathustra, in The Portable Nietzsche, New York: Viking Portable Library, trans. W. Kaufmann, pp. 121-39, 225-8, 267-71, 342-3.

 

 

Further reading on Nietzsche

Aviram, A. ‘Nietzsche as Educator,’ Journal of Philosophy of Education, vol. 25, no. 2, 1991, pp. 219-234.

Bingham, C. ‘What Friedrich Nietzsche cannot stand about education: toward a pedagogy of self-reformation,’ Educational Studies, vol 51, no. 3, Summer 2001, pp. 37-352.

Blake et al. (2000) Education in an Age of Nihilism, London: Routledge Falmer, try chapter 7.

Johnston, J.S. ‘Nietzsche as Educator: a re-examination,’ Educational Studies, vol. 48, no. 1, Winter 1990, pp. 67-83.

Lampert, L. (1986) Nietzsche’s Teaching, Yale University Press

Nietzsche, F. (1982) Thus Spake Zarathustra, Penguin, the rest of it, but particularly the Prologue and ‘On the three metamorphoses’.

Nietzsche, F. (1968) The Will To Power, New York: Vintage Books

Nietzsche, F. (1974) The Gay Science, New York: Vintage Books.

Peters, M. Marshall, J. and Smeyers, P. (eds) (2001) Nietzsche’s Legacy for Education, Westport: Bergin and Garvey, try chapter 6 or chapter 12 from p. 198.

Ramaekers, S. ‘Teaching to Lie and Obey: Nietzsche on Education,’ Journal of Philosophy of Education, vol. 35, no. 2, May 2001, pp. 255-268.

Rosen, S. (1995) The Mask of Enlightenment, Cambridge University Press.

Rosenow, E. ‘Nietzsche’s Educational Legacy: Reflections on Interpretations of a controversial philosopher,’ Journal of Philosophy of Education, vol. 34, no. 4, Novenber 2000, pp. 673-685.

Sassone, L.A. ‘Philosophy across the Curriculum: A democratic Nietzschean pedagogy,’ Educational Studies, vol. 46, no. 4, Fall 1996, pp. 511-524.

Solomon, R.C. and Sherman, D. (eds.) (2003) The Blackwell Guide to Continental Philosophy, Oxford, Blackwell, chapter 5.

Tubbs, N., (1997) Contradiction of Enlightenment, Aldershot: Ashgate, chapter 8.

Tubbs, N. (2003) ‘The Return of the Teacher’, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 35: 1.

Tubbs, N. (2005) Philosophy of the Teacher, Oxford: Blackwell, chapter 7.

 

 

 

 

Week 9           Bank Holiday

3^rd May

 

 

Week 10         Freedom and Death

10^th May

 

‘even a human death is something learned’ (Oakeshott, 2001, The Voice of Liberal Learning, 10)

 

It is always a difficult decision as to whether or not to include death as a subject for our thinking. Talking about death can be difficult, and one never knows the personal circumstances of students at the time. However, I have decided to include it, not least because of the encouragement of previous students in doing so. I hope that its timing is not unfortunate for anyone.

 

We take three different approaches to death this week, but again we are interested to find the master/slave dialectic in our thinking about death. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story tells of how we fear death and try to hide it, while Socrates says philosophers should seek death and embrace its truth. Finally, Soren Kierkegaard warns us not to let death take us by surprise.

 

Reading

 

Hawthorne, N. (1987) ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’ in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tales, New York: Norton, pp. 97-107.

Plato, (1997) Plato Complete Works, Indianapolis: Hackett, The Phaedo, paras 62c-84c & 107-108d; pp. 54-73 & 92-3.

Kierkegaard, S. (1990) Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses, Princeton: Princeton University Press, trans, H.V. Hong and E.H. Hong, pp. 181-187.

Kierkegaard, S. (1993) ‘At a Graveside’, in Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions, Princeton: Princeton University Press, trans, H.V. Hong and E.H. Hong, pp. 71-102.

 

Further Reading

 

Augustine, (1972) City of God, Harmondsworth, Penguin, book 1 chapter 12; book 6, chapter 12.

LeFevre, P.D. (1963) The Prayers of Kierkegaard, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, particularly part II; see also the last page!

Pascal, B. (1966) Pensées, Harmondsworth, Penguin, ‘The Wager’, pp. 149-164.

 

 

 

Week 11         Many Happy Returns

17^th May

 

 

A few thoughts to end the degree and to begin learning all over again. No specific reading for this week, but a few suggestions to send you on your way, and first a quotation from a ninth century philosopher and theologian called John Scotus Eriugena who sees knowing the self as also a contemplation of God.

 

If we are unwilling to learn and know about ourselves, that means we have no desire to return to that which is above ourselves, namely our proper cause… For there is no other way to the most pure contemplation of the First Cause than the certain knowledge of Its image which comes after it… Man was created for the contemplation of the Creator (Eriugena, J. S. (1987) Periphyseon, Washington, Dumbarton Oaks, p. 619).

 

Rosenzweig, F. (1999) Understanding the Sick and the Healthy: A View of World, Man and God, Harvard University Press; if you read nothing else, try p. 107 as an ‘end’ to your time in higher education!

Oppenheim, M. (1985) What Does Revelation Mean for the Modern Jew? Rosenzweig, Buber, Fackenheim, New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, chapter 2 (not in library, copy with Jenny, not in pack!).

Williams, R. (1992) ‘”Know Thyself”: What Kind of an Injunction?’ in McGhee, M. (ed.) Philosophy, Religion and the Spiritual Life, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement: 32, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Glatzer, N.N. (ed.) (1998) Franz Rosenzweig: His Life and Thought, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Introduction and Forward to the Third edition.

Rose, G. (1993) Judaism and Modernity, Oxford: Blackwell, Introduction.

Rose, G. (1995) Love’s Work, London: Chatto and Windus, chapter 8.

The first six essays in Women: a cultural review, Spring 1998, vol. 9, no. 1.

Rose, G. (1996) Mourning Becomes the Law, Cambridge University Press, introduction and chapter 1.

Rose, G. (1999) Paradiso, London, Menard Press.

Tubbs, N. (2000) ‘Mind the Gap: The Philosophy of Gillian Rose’, Thesis Eleven, no. 60.

Tubbs, N. (2008) Education in Hegel, London: Continuum, chapter 6.

Plato, (1987) Theaetetus, Harmondsworth, Penguin, pp. 29-41.

Nietzsche, F. (1986) Human, All Too Human, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 326, para. 67.

Kierkegaard, S. (1985) Johannes Climacus, Princeton University Press, pp. 118-125, 129-132 and 163-172.

Kierkegaard, S. (1968) Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Princeton, Princeton University Press, trans, David F. Swenson and Walter Lowrie, pp. 177-189, 506-508.

 

 

 

Assessment

 

There are two essays for this module. The first one is the shorter essay and concerns the material from weeks 1 and 2. The title here is:

 

In what ways are we master and slave?’ (1500 words maximum)(25%)

Due Monday 22nd February, week 3, by 3.30 pm to the Ed Studies office.

 

The second essay title (75%) is to be individually negotiated. Come and see me or e mail me when you have an idea and we will discuss it.

Due Friday 21^st May, week 11, by 2.30 p.m. to the Ed Studies office.

Maximum 2500 words.

 

 

Nigel

January 2010