Title: Being true to yourself: the individual self versus the universal January 20, 2006

Centre for Philosophy
National Institute of Advanced Studies
IISc Campus, Bangalore 560 012

Inaugural Lecture
by
Prof Richard Sorabji
Fellow, Wolfson College, Oxford
and
Emeritus Professor, King's College, London

Title: Being true to yourself: the individual self versus the universal

How should we decide what it is best to do? Kant tells us that we must act
like a rational being and that what is right for me is right universally
for everyone in the same situation. But the idea of acting rationally
leaves far too much open. The ancient Stoics added that the right decision
must be true not only to rationality but to your individual self. (Compare
sadarahama dharma and swadharma.) What is right for one person is not
right for another, even in the same circumstances. This is true not only
of moral decisions but also for example of choosing a career. So we need
to think about our lives as a whole, something that modern moral
philosophy in the West too often forgets. One Stoic thought that ideally
you could shape your identity to make it invulnerable to ill fortune. But
not everybody should try to do that, because it may not be compatible with
being true to your other choices.

Date: Friday, January 20, 2006
Time: 6.30 p.m.
Place: JRD Tata Auditorium, NIAS

Tea : 6.00 p.m.