
On Personality
Peter Goldie(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 16. June 2004
Book
Hardback
160 pages
978-0-415-30513-6 (ISBN)
Description
Warm, sensitive, creative, outgoing, cheeky, creepy. Scan any personal ads page and it's clear that to get a life you need a personality first. It is also a notion with a long and often bizarre history: in early Greece and medieval Europe, it was thought to depend on the balance of bile in the body.
On Personality is a thoughtful and stimulating look under the skin of this widely-used but little understood phenomenon. Peter Goldie points out that we rely on personality to do a lot of work: describe, judge, understand, explain and predict others as well as ourselves. Is it really up to this task? If personality is about 'character', is it a relic of a bygone Victorian age? If personality is so reliable, how can a virtue in one person be a vice in another?
Drawing on a great range of philosophers, novelists and films, from Aristotle, Hume, Kant and Nietzsche to Joseph Conrad, Middlemarch, War and Peace and Bridget Jones' Diary, Peter Goldie also discusses some famous psychology experiments. If personality is a reliable guide to predicting what people will do, he reflects on why people often surprise us and asks whether personality is simply down to chance and circumstance.
On Personality is essential reading for anyone interested in this fascinating but slippery concept. It will also make you think twice before writing your CV.
On Personality is a thoughtful and stimulating look under the skin of this widely-used but little understood phenomenon. Peter Goldie points out that we rely on personality to do a lot of work: describe, judge, understand, explain and predict others as well as ourselves. Is it really up to this task? If personality is about 'character', is it a relic of a bygone Victorian age? If personality is so reliable, how can a virtue in one person be a vice in another?
Drawing on a great range of philosophers, novelists and films, from Aristotle, Hume, Kant and Nietzsche to Joseph Conrad, Middlemarch, War and Peace and Bridget Jones' Diary, Peter Goldie also discusses some famous psychology experiments. If personality is a reliable guide to predicting what people will do, he reflects on why people often surprise us and asks whether personality is simply down to chance and circumstance.
On Personality is essential reading for anyone interested in this fascinating but slippery concept. It will also make you think twice before writing your CV.
Reviews / Votes
'Goldie writes in warmly accessible fashion.' - Steven Poole, The Guardian'a clear, lively, illuminating, urbane and thoughtful little book on personality and character' Metapsychology Online 'It is exciting to see a philosopher, rather than a psychologist, wrestle with the concept of personality' - Paul Crichton, Times Literary Supplement
'Goldie writes in warmly accessible fashion.' - Steven Poole, The Guardian
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Weight
272 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-415-30513-6 (9780415305136)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions



Person
Goldie, Peter
Content
Preface, The Pervasiveness of Personality, Good and Bad People: A Question of Character, The Fragility of Character, Character, Responsibility and Circumspection, Personality, Narrative and Living a Life, Notes, Index