Shaping Our Selves

When bioethicists debate the ethics of using technologies like surgery and pharmacology to shape our selves, they are debating what it means for human beings to flourish. They are debating what makes animals like us truly happy, and whether the technologies at issue will bring us closer to or farther from such happiness. The positions that participants adopt in debates regarding such ancient and fundamental questions are often polarized, and cannot help but be deeply personal. It is no wonder that these debates are sometimes acrimonious. How can critics of and enthusiasts about technological self- transformation move forward in the midst of polarizing arguments? Based on his experience as a scholar at The Hastings Center, the oldest free-standing bioethics research institute in the world, Erik Parens proposes a habit of thinking, which he calls Binocular thinking lets us benefit from the insights that are visible from the stance of the enthusiast, who emphasizes that using technology to creatively transform our selves will make us happier, and to benefit from the insights that are visible from the stance of the critic, who emphasizes that learning to let ourselves be will make us happier. Because these debates ultimately entail critics and enthusiasts giving justifications for their own ways of being in the world, they entail the exchange of more than just impartial reasons. In the throes of our passion to make our case, we exaggerate our insights and all-too-often fall into the conceptual traps that our languages constantly set for us: Are human beings by nature creators or creatures? Are technologies morally neutral or value- laden? Is disability a medical or a social phenomenon? Indeed, are we free or determined? Parens explains how participating in these debates helped him articulate a habit of thinking, which is better at benefiting from the insights embedded in both poles of those binaries than was the habit of thinking he broug

This book is open access under a CC BY license. Selfies, blogs and lifelogging devices help us understand ourselves, building on long histories of written, visual and quantitative modes of self-representations. This book uses examples to explore the balance between using technology to see ourselves and allowing our machines to tell us who we are.

This book gives answers to questions surrounding the rise of autobiographical writing from the sixteenth to the twentieth century by analyzing texts varying from the time of the Spanish Inquisition to post-war Japan.

Anne Poirier's The Body Joyful is a game changer. It is an anti-diet book, a rejector of societies "thin ideal," and a new perspective in a Covid world. It provides insights and strategies and is a roadmap to help you shift the way you think, act, and live. Inspiring and empowering, this relatable story offers the reader permission to find self-worth, hope, healing, and transformation, regardless of weight, size or shape. In the words of author and speaker Brian Tracy "This inspiring, motivational book will help you unlock your self-confidence and feel wonderful about yourself. You'll learn that you have no limits" If you are ready to stop depriving yourself with diets and beating yourself up with self-criticism, this book is for you! Read it and join the Body Joyful Revolution Tribe now.

Of course not all great art has its genesis in pain, and not all pain-not even a fraction-leads to the partial consolations of art. But if lancing an abscess is the surest way to healing, can poetry offer that same cleansing of emotional wounds? Shaping the Fractured Self showcases twenty-eight of Australia's finest poets who happen to live with chronic illness and pain. The autobiographical short essays, in conjunction with the three poems from each of the poets, capture the body in trauma in its many and varied moods. Because those who live with chronic illness and pain experience shifts in their relationship to it on a yearly, monthly, or daily basis, so do the words they use to describe it. This book gives voice to sufferers, carers, medical practitioners, and researchers, building understanding in a community of caring. [Subject: Chronic Illness, Poetry, Health Studies]

In 'Descartes's Method of Doubt', Broughton analyses Descartes's novel way of raising radical doubt and argues that he thought he could use doubt to achieve certainty by uncovering the conditions that make radical doubt possible.

Bringing together philosophy and psychology, this work offers an exploration of the self and its function. Benson investigates the way we orient ourselves in the world and the language we use to describe our position, whether it may be in space or time.

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Predictably Irrational tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Dan Ariely’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of Predictably Irrational includes: Historical context Chapter-by-chapter overviews Important quotes Fascinating trivia Glossary of terms Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely: Predictably Irrational, the New York Times bestseller by Duke psychology and behavioral economics professor Dan Ariely, challenges the idea that we always make perfectly rational decisions. Featuring examples from daily life alongside results of his fascinating experiments, Ariely explains how emotional, psychological, and social factors can lead to irrational behavior—which can be damaging to ourselves and others. From the coffee we drink or the medicine we take, to the companies we support and the relationships we value, we make irrational decisions every day that can cost us in the long run. Ariely reveals not only when and how we tend to act irrationally, but why, so we can learn from our mistakes and design ways to facilitate smarter decision-making. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.