Philosophy of Personal Growth
What is true excellence? Achievement, wealth and fame, or something more inward? The literature of success tells us how to obtain outward results, but rarely asks what kind of person one ought to become.
This series explores the philosophical foundations of personal growth. A human being is not ready-made, but shapes himself or herself through action. As Hegel put it, a person is the series of his or her deeds. True excellence is not the mere display of talent; it is the work of turning potential into reality through labour, learning and discipline, turning what is possible “in itself” into character that exists “for itself”. Along the way, the individual and society, freedom and discipline, goals and process, talent and effort all show themselves as opposites that depend on and pass into one another.
We will discuss character and habit, will and self-discipline, career and vocation, failure and growth, individuality and the universal, and how to keep surpassing oneself in ordinary daily life. Once we understand the laws of self-formation, growth is no longer blind struggle, but a clear and steady path that can last a lifetime.