“In his in many ways very important book A Theory of Justice (1971), John Rawls introduces the idea of a plan of life (taken over from Josiah Royce) to characterize the purposes or aims which make of a man “a conscious, unified moral person”. I suggest that this idea of a man-made World 3 plan of life may be somewhat modified: it is not the unity of one unified and perhaps unchanging plan of life which is needed to establish the unity of the self, but rather the fact that there is, behind every action taken, a plan, a set of expectations (or of theories) , aims and preferences, which may develop and mature, and which at times, though infrequently, may even change radically, for example under the impact of a new theoretical insight. It is this developing plan which – following Rawls – gives unity to the person, and which largely determines our moral character. The idea is closely similar to my idea that our selves are anchored in World 3; only that I should lay much stress, in addition to the aims and preferences, on the expectations and theories of the universe (of Worlds 1, 2 and 3) which are held by a person at a certain time. It is the possession of such a (changing) plan, or set of theories and preferences, which makes us transcend ourselves – that is to say, transcend our instinctive desires and inclinations (“Neigungen”, as Kant called them).” Karl Popper, The Self and Its Brain (part of this book was written by John Eccles). There is an explanation of World 1, 2 and 3 in a comment.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 06:56:44 +0000