A Philosophical Happy Hour questioning how and how well we come to know ourselves. Who are we, really?
Commonly we presume today that we know ourselves by a turn inward. We associate self-knowledge with “introspection” and “authenticity”. But despite this contemporary insistence, it seems many people do not know themselves: conflicted in motivation and desire, in belief and action, in knowing their responsibilities or accurately assessing their characters compared to what is seen by others.
Can we truly accomplish an understanding—even just a partway accurate sense—of who we are? The psychologist Rudolph Allers (a teacher to both Viktor Frankl and Hans Urs von Balthasar) claims that we can. But, as he writes, we must study our own actions and our “whole behavior”. This observational method, rather than reliance upon introspection, no doubt brooks much dissent today. For this week’s Happy Hour, we want therefore to take up this short reading from Allers, to see how well his argument moves us.
Character and Revelatory Action
Actions, on this view, are not merely outward expressions of an already-known self; they are revelatory. They show not only what we intend, but what we are actually ordered toward. This raises the possibility that sincerity may coexist with self-deception, and that good intentions may fail to capture the operative structure of a person’s life.
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From here arises the question of the limits of self-knowledge itself. Is complete self-knowledge possible, or is it necessarily partial and mediated? Allers emphasizes the role of others—not as judges, but as witnesses who see patterns we cannot see from within. Friends, colleagues, and even adversaries may grasp the coherence (or incoherence) of our actions better than we do ourselves. Self-knowledge, then, may be less a private possession than a shared, gradual, and often humbling achievement.
Habit, Will, and Affecting True Change
If our actions reveal who we are, a further problem follows: why is genuine change so difficult? Why do we persist in patterns we explicitly reject? Allers directs attention away from episodic choices and toward habit and character. What we call “personality” is not a fixed essence, but neither is it easily malleable; it is the sediment of repeated actions, reinforced over time.
This casts doubt on popular appeals to “willpower.” Is willpower simply a matter of effort, or is it itself shaped by habit? The will does not operate in a vacuum. It is strengthened or weakened by the dispositions it has already formed. Expecting sheer resolve to overcome entrenched habits may therefore misunderstand both the will and the human person.
The question deepens when considered in terms of the true vs. the merely apparent good. Are we always aware of the good we are seeking, or why? We often pursue goods under partial, confused, or distorted descriptions. Moral failure may lie less in choosing evil as such than in mistaking lesser or apparent goods for genuine ones. Self-knowledge, then, is inseparable from learning to name—accurately—the goods that truly govern our lives.
Γνῶθι σεαυτόν
How well do you know yourself? Have you been deceived—by your own false reflections? If knowledge of self is the start of all wisdom, is ignorance of the self the beginning of all folly?
This Wednesday (28 January 2026, from 5:45-7:15+ pm ET) we invite you—yes, you yourself!—to join our Philosophical Happy Hour as we take up these and related questions:
- What do our actions reveal about us compared to our “inner” thoughts, intentions, desires, etc.?
- Is it possible to obtain a complete knowledge of oneself? What role might others play in this endeavor?
- In what does the difficulty of altering one’s habits, or one’s personality or character, lie? Is it only a matter of willpower? What is willpower anyway?
- If every art, inquiry, action and pursuit aims at some good, are we always, of necessity, aware of the good for which we are aiming?
philosophical happy hour
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Come join us for drinks (adult or otherwise) and a meaningful conversation. Open to the public! Held every Wednesday from 5:45–7:15pm ET.
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