Knowing Self, Changing Self: The Interplay of Reality, Fantasy, and Friendship

(Hardback)

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Description

This book uses philosophy, psychology, and autobiography in an innovative exploration of self and self-knowledge. It argues that our sense of who we are is an ever-changing response to the world of interpersonal experience, an essential project that is always subject to revision and change. It explores self-knowledge through linked topics. What characteristics make an individual identifiable and unique, and how are they experienced introspectively What insight can be gained through the metaphors of acting and roles How does fantasy plays a crucial part in self-definition and self-exploration How do trust and fear define our perception of others and what is their contribution to our sense of self The second half of the book uses the friendship of the authors, a philosopher and a psychologist, to investigate how ones ability to navigate the world, along with ones self-knowledge, changes through mutual care, respect, and complementarityand through an explicit dialogic focus on self and self-understanding.

Reviews

In Knowing Self, Changing Self, Morawetz (Univ. of Connecticut School of Law) and Enyart, a practicing psychologist, explore self at the intersection of philosophy and psychology. The result is a fascinating read that blends both historical viewpoints and practical applications. One of the main themes that runs throughout is how much of knowing self is a matter of fact and how much a matter of interpretation. Rather than judge interpretation as somehow less valuable than fact, the authors suggest that self as interpretation is equally vital to understand. In the tradition of such works as Mayeroffs On Caring (1971), this book demonstrates the power of understanding self through shared friendship and the ability to care for others as much as for self. It is refreshing to have a work that balances conversation on the role of trust and fear (many works discuss one or the other but rarely both) in navigating through the self-exploration process and coming to understand self. . . this thin but powerful volume is well suited to counseling and philosophy and of much value to helping professionals. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * CHOICE *

Author Bio

Thomas Morawetz is the Tapping Reeve Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Scotty Enyart works in private practice at The Enyart Group.