How to Find Your True Self According to Philosophy

Is the self something we find—or something we create? We’re
constantly told to “be ourselves,” but the world teaches us fast
that we also need to be likable, marketable, and hot. No wonder
we’re all confused. In this episode, we dive into how different
philosophers—from Socrates to Simone de Beauvoir to Carl
Jung—understood the search for the true self and how their
insights can help us stop performing and start living more
honestly. If you’ve ever felt like you’re performing your
personality instead of living it, this one’s for you.





EPISODE OUTLINE 





00:00 Intro


05:49 Sigmund Freud


09:08 Attachment theory (Bowlby & Ainsworth)


10:55 Carl Jung’s theory on masks and shadows


12:15 The chill girl mask (Gone Girl)


13:34 Shapeshifter (MAKE BELIEVE) 


14:38 The masks vs. the Self


15:04 Rousseau’s natural vs. social man


17:15 Using logic to hide from passion 


17:55 For the ones who left (MAKE BELIEVE)


19:37 Freud, Jung & Rousseau reflection questions 


21:48 Sartre: owning your agency as authenticity


23:08 Sartre’s concept of bad faith 


24:12 Simone de Beauvoir on social class 


26:41 The upper limit theory (Gay Hendricks)


27:25 But also, the playing field isn’t level


27:48 Sartre & de Beauvoir reflection questions


29:27 Heidegger: inauthenticity due to death denial 


31:33 Authenticity vs. ethics and compassion


33:23 Authenticity vs. self-protection 


34:01 Kant’s categorical imperative


34:48 Socrates: dying on the hill of authenticity


35:26 Socrates and Kant reflection questions


36:46 Nietzsche on creation of the true self 


37:17 Does everyone have a calling?


38:19 Jealousy as a clue to your passions


38:33 The “love it for you, want it for me” folder


39:53 Nothing grows if you don’t water it


40:18 Nietzsche reflection questions  


41:50 Lightning round recap 





EPISODE LINKS





• Carl Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective
Unconscious (1959) and Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933)


• Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness (1943)


• Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949)


• Authenticity episode of In Our Time:
Philosophy








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