Simplifying complexity: Know thyself and others

In her recent book “Critical lessons: What our schools should teach”, Nel Noddings(2006) reminds us of the ancient “Know Thyself” principle as the necessary, albeit more often than not disregarded, goal of education. It was the quest for meanings and evaluation of experience – an examined vs. unexamined life – that Socrates was calling for. Noddings (2006) is adamant about the importance of self-knowledge as the very core of education: “when we claim to educate, we must take Socrates seriously. Unexamined lives may well be valuable and worth living, but an education that does not invite such examination may not be worthy of the label education” (Noddings 2006)