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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 June 2010
Self-knowledge is a permanent and necessary aim for man. By ‘self-knowledge’ I mean the knowledge of oneself as a human being; the understanding of what it is to be a human being; the grasp of human nature as such. There are many sides to this knowledge: the sciences and social sciences, the arts, history, reflexion on day-to-day experience. Philosophy has traditionally been seen as a road that can lead towards self-knowledge. What I propose here is an essay in the philosophy of self-knowledge. It is a study of one aspect of human nature among others, namely human embodiment.
1 See Williams, Bernard and Montefiore, Alan (edd.): British Analytical Philosophy. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966. p. 39.Google Scholar
2 Laing, R. D.: The Divided Self. Penguin Books, 1965. p. 65Google Scholar. My italics. I owe to this book many of the points made in this paper.
3 Freud: Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Hogarth Press, 1962. p. 69.Google Scholar
