Know Thyself - The Value and Limits of Self-Knowledge: The Examined Life

Course image
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Medium description

According to legend, inscribed on walls of the temple on the sacred site of Delphi in Ancient Greece were two premier injunctions: NOTHING IN EXCESS, and KNOW THYSELF.

This course looks at the latter injunction to discover what self-knowledge is, why it might be valuable, and what, if any, limitations it might face.

Gain familiarity with:

  • prominent themes from Western, classical Chinese, and Buddhist approaches to our knowledge of ourselves
  • contemporary research in experimental social psychology, philosophy, neuroscience and the unconscious.

This is one of two courses designed for anyone interested in this area of philosophy.

External platform sentence

This course is hosted on an external learning platform.

Learner reviews
The course was well laid out, well explained, the videos and animations helped visually and the added extras such as questioning events in your own life and the meditative moment really made for an engaging learning experience.
Summary
  • Type of course
    Short course: Study a subject through videos, articles, discussions or quizzes.
  • Cost and certification
    Free, with option to upgrade for a certificate
  • Duration
    4 weeks
  • Weekly effort
    2-3 hours
  • Difficulty level
    Introductory: No previous knowledge required
  • Learning platform
    Coursera
    Platform image
    Coursera logo