Existentialist - Be That Self Which One Truly Is 做真实的自己
BEFORE 早期研究：
5th Century BCE, Socrates(470-399 BCE), states the key to happiness is discovering the "true self".
He believed that the main purpose of philosophy is to increase happiness through analysing and understanding oneself, famously saying: "The unexamined life is not worth living.".
APPROACH - Existentialist 存在主义
Key Character - 主要人物
1849，Søren Kierkegaard(1813-1855), wrote《The Sickness Unto Death》.
It offers self-analysis as a means to understanding the problem of "despair", which he considered to stem not from depression, but rather from the alienation of the self.
The lowest and most common level of despair, stems from ignorance: a person has the wrong idea about what "self" is and is unaware of the existence of his potential self.
Real desperation arises, he suggested, with growing self-awareness:
1. I fail and despise myself for failing.
2.I succeed and abandon my true self.
3.The deeper levels of despair stem from an acute consciousness of the self, coupled with a profound dislike of it.
He concluded that a man can find peace and inner harmony by finding the courage to be his true self, rather than wanting to be someone else.
Kierkegaard's emphasis on the need to find one's true essence and purpose in life is frequently regarded as the beginning of existentialist philosophy.
Kierkegaard's Key works:
1843 Fear and Trembling 《恐惧与颤栗》
1843 Either/Or 《非此即彼》
1844 The Concept of Anxiety 《焦虑的概念》
1849 The Sickness Unto Death 《致死的疾病》
AFTER 后期研究
1879, Wilhem Wundt uses self-analysis as an approach to psychological research.
1913, John B. Watsondenounces self-analysis in psychology, stating that "introspection forms no essential part of its methods"
1951, Carl Rogers publishes 《Client-centered Therapy》, and in 1961, 《On Becoming a Person》.
1960, R.D. Laing's The Deivided Self redefines "madness", offering existential analysis of inner conflict as therapy.
1996, Rollo May bases this book, 《The Meaning of Anxiety》, on Kiergegaard's 《The Concept of Anxiety》.