In contemporary discussions of self-knowledge the primary way in which the other enters the scene is this: Our knowledge of the other figures as the contrast case that can help us get at the specificity and peculiarity of self-knowledge. Whereas our knowledge of others requires observation and inference, we know ourselves immediately and, thus, with distinctive authority. Entering the discussion from this side, self-knowledge and knowledge of others seem fundamentally opposed.
This conference is based on the idea that there is another way in which self-knowledge and knowledge of others are to be related: They are not simply opposed, but fundamentally intertwined – so much so that it is doubtful whether I can actually know myself without knowing others and being known to them. On the most fundamental level, self-knowledge and knowledge of others would thus not be two contrary types of knowledge. Rather, they would co-constitute the shared space in which we can at all know ourselves – know our own self as well as other selves.
Our aim at this conference is to discuss a variety of approaches and explore different ways in which this internal nexus between self-knowledge and knowledge of others can be brought to the fore. This may involve looking at the way in which self-consciousness requires recognition. It can involve developing the way in which what is known in self-knowledge constitutively requires objectivity and communicability. It may include exploring “self-conscious emotions” (as e.g. shame, embarrassment, and pride), which show how others make us aware of ourselves, suggesting that our self-knowledge is directly affected by the view of others. And it may finally involve investigating the various social processes and conditions enabling, shaping and potentially transforming self-knowledge (as e.g. trust, love, epistemic justice, conversation, formation, education, talking cure).
