TWO ASPECTS OF THE SELF

I said in Chapter 1 that the discussion of the nature of philosophical inquiry in Chapters 9–11 would allow us to fill out and complete the ethical argument of Chapters 2–4. I now undertake this task in several stages in the next three chapters (12–14), beginning with some further reflections on the themes of Chapter 11.

As noted in Chapter 11, the two dimensions of objective worth are connected to two aspects of the self. Worthiness for glory, or clear recognition with praise for deeds and accomplishments, is associated with the outer or public self – the roles, accomplishments, projects and achievements that (like Alan and his paintings) we identify as ours and want to be worthy of recognition by others, whether or not we receive such recognition. Worthiness for concern or care, by contrast (as in the Solaris story), is connected to the inner or private self – the inner life of consciousness and feeling that Hopkins called the “inscape.” In reality, each of us is only one self, as noted, with inner and outer aspects; and we must use our imagination, as in the Solaris story, to think of the inner and outer aspects separately. But it is important to use our imagination in this way, if we are to understand why such worth for self-conscious beings has these two aspects.