Abstract
The notion of the ‘true self’ is one that figures rarely in contemporary philosophy. However, that has not always been the case, and this paper demonstrates how extremely important an idea it was in British Idealist thinking. The paper examines four different senses in which they urge us to pursue our ‘true’ self. In purely ethical terms, the notion of the true self gives us a tool to understand what it means to speak of value or goodness. In metaethical terms, the true self functions as an explanation of the obligating character of moral demands. Metaphysically, the notion is connected to that of freedom since freedom identifies for us our true selves. Finally, the notion of the true self is connected with that of teleology.
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Mander, W.J. (2016). Idealism and the True Self. In: Mander, W., Panagakou, S. (eds) British Idealism and the Concept of the Self. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46671-6_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46671-6_14
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