Self-Esteem

The seminar explores various questions about self-esteem, broadly conceived to encompass also self-love and self-respect. What are the varieties of self-esteem (self-esteem in the narrow sense, self-respect, self-love, self-confidence) and how do they differ from one another? What are the emotions associated with self esteem (pride, shame, guilt, but also envy and resentment, etc.)? Can self-esteem be a motivation, and what happens when it does? What is the importance of self-esteem, and what kind of good is it, if it is a good? Are there pathologies of self-esteem? We will explore these questions by engaging with pertinent mostly (though not exclusively) philosophical literature from the past few decades.