A01=Charles Larmore
academic
Author_Charles Larmore
autonomy
belief
Category=QDTK
classical
classics
commitment
contemporary
creation
desire
desires
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
faith
identity
literary
literature
mimetism
montaigne
philosopher
philosophical
philosophy
proust
psychology
relation
relationship
research
sartre
scholarly
selfhood
sincerity
stendhal
systematic
truth
understanding
Product details
- ISBN 9780226468877
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 15 x 24mm
- Publication Date: 15 Dec 2010
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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What is the nature of the fundamental relation we have to ourselves that makes each of us a self? To answer this question, Charles Larmore develops a systematic theory of the self, challenging the widespread view that the self's defining relation to itself is to have an immediate knowledge of its own thoughts. On the contrary, Larmore maintains, our essential relation to ourselves is practical, as is clear when we consider the nature of belief and desire. For to believe or desire something consists in committing ourselves to thinking and acting in accord with the presumed truth of our belief or the presumed value of what we desire. Larmore develops this conception with frequent reference to such classic authors as Montaigne, Stendhal, and Proust and by comparing it to other views of the self in contemporary philosophy. He also discusses the important ethical consequences of his theory of the self, arguing that it allows us to better grasp what it means to be ourselves and why self-understanding often involves self-creation. "The Practices of the Self" is that rare kind of lucid yet rigorous work that transcends disciplinary boundaries.
Charles Larmore is the W. Duncan MacMillan Family Professor in the Humanities and professor of philosophy at Brown University. He is the author of numerous books in French and English, including The Autonomy of Morality.
