I know I haven’t been updating this blog because I’m too lazy. Years 2 and 3 have been an exciting flurry of business (both work and busy-ness). I constantly spew bite-sized thoughts that stream into my mind on Instagram Stories anyway, and I am remarkably easily bored and excitable, so longer, more considered pieces on Blogger aren’t sustainable. I digress. Many exciting life updates! I’m now officially done with my undergraduate PPE programme at King’s College London. I loved every bit of it: the depth, rigour and intellectual intensity of the course, the international student community, the bustling city of London and all the travel opportunities around Europe. Words can’t do justice to the profundity of the experience. In typical Quincean fashion, I milked everything I could out of the three years: went to Cumberland Lodge (for free) as a photographer with the Philosophy Department in Years 1 and 3, clinched the Principal’s Global Leadership Award (PGLA) in my second year (spending...
The Self , © 2015 Quince Pan I have struggled with the concept of self for quite a while. It is an amusing coincidence that "The Mind and Self in Literature" has come back to bite me at the A Levels. What is the self? Here, I wish to focus not on the physical self, but the mental self. Essence, not existence. Hence, by "self", I mean "personal identity". (Allow me to use these two terms interchangeably because "self" is much shorter and thus more convenient to use than "personal identity".) Common wisdom says that the value of the self stems from its authenticity. "Stay true to yourself," or so they say. But what is a true self? Can we ever know who we are? This view assumes that the self is foundational and constant, so that we can make decisions based on this unchanging standard. This problem can be circumvented by ditching authenticity altogether. "Stay true to your beliefs about yourself." In thi...