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

This book uses philosophy, psychology, and autobiography in an innovative exploration of the nature and evolution of self-knowledge. Topics include the impact of others, the role of fantasy, the construction of self-image, and playing roles; the second part of the book explores how self-understanding evolves through friendship.

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 one’s ability to navigate the world, along with one’s self-knowledge, changes through mutual care, respect, and complementarity—and through an explicit dialogic focus on self and self-understanding.