Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
1994
Journal / Book Title
Children: Thinking and Philosophy. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of Philosophy for Children, Graz 1992
Abstract
Feeling good about oneself is, today, a fashionable way of describing self-esteem. Collections of more or less discrete feeling states, whether of happiness, confidence, competence, success, well-being and others, supposedly add up to feeling good about oneself. Accordingly, a villain and a saint might implausibly find themselves in company, as belonging to the class of those enjoying self-esteem. That both may be victims of self-deception, pathological cases, is irrelevant, for to the extent that self-esteem is tied to feeling states, virtually anyone may be a candidate. What makes this idea of self-esteem slippery is that one may possess it irrespective of the worth of one's deeds. For the educator bent on abetting self-esteem, the task must surely be viewed with great apprehension; for whatever measures are taken, the results could be disastrous. Flattery, gold stars, slogans (we applaud ourselves), and a host of other incentives, just as they are successful in making us feel good about ourselves, could, after all, unwittingly nourish the growth of the most obdurate tendencies already in place.
Book Publisher
Academia Verlag
Book Editor(s)
Daniela G. Camhy
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Guin, Philip C., "(1994) The Growth of Self-Esteem Within a Community of Inquiry" (1994). Collected Papers of Philip C. Guin. 9.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/pguin/9
Published Citation
Guin, Philip C. (1994) The Growth of Self-Esteem Within a Community of Inquiry. In Daniela G. Camhy (Ed.) Children: Thinking and Philosophy. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of Philosophy for Children, Graz 1992, pp. 128-135. Sankt Augustin, Germany: Academia Verlag.