SELF IDENTITY OR RETURNING TO SELF?<br />PARADOXES OF THE EUROPEAN IDEAL OF EDIFICATION

Authors

  • Dan CHIŢOIU Ph.D., Associate Professor, “Al. I.Cuza” University of Iasi (Romania).

Keywords:

self, person, edification, cultural model

Abstract

If the ancient Greeks were the first to formulate the need for paideea as one means to cultivate the self, modernity brings bring the concept of bildung – edification – to the table. But the complexity of the European cultural model is probably best illustrated by the human edifying path described by Christianity, especially by its Eastern branch. In this case, edification is understood as kenosis, self-emptying – which must not be seen as the an anihilation of one’s personality but as an the experience of that which was called the returning to the self.

Author Biography

Dan CHIŢOIU, Ph.D., Associate Professor, “Al. I.Cuza” University of Iasi (Romania).

Author of the books:      Virtute si cunoastere la Platon (Virtue and Knowledge in Plato’s Work) (1999);      Repere în filosofia bizantina (Guiding Marks in the Byzantine Philosophy) (2003). He is member of The Society for Promotion of Byzantine Studies, The American Academy of Religion and Metanexus Institute.

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