First: Drawing from the Introduction to The Examined Life (in particular pages 11-13), explain what it means to construct a Philosophical Self Portrait (PSP) and provide any additions that you believe would improve his theory.

Second: Then clearly state the central theme of your portrait, the main idea that will give the rest shape and contour. Themes could be: Self-Knowledge, Emotion, Identity, Meaning, etc. It is yours to set, make it clear to the reader. Identify and meditate (Nozick style) upon 3 theoretical elements covered anywhere in the course. These could be any princple, theory, question or thought experiment covered anywhere in the course. You can consult your study guides to remember what these are - emotion, knowledge, love, doubt, Socratic method, self knowledge, Mind/Body Dualism, family,reason, and more. Get thoroughly into each, but focus on connecting your theoretical elements around the main theme you set. This requires insight and creativity in many cases to see non-obvious connections. Creativity is fine in making connections.

Third, drawing on Chapter 15 definitions of value and meaning, discuss how value and meaning are found or lost in real life; specificallyin the relation to the ideas discussed above. Consider any real life choices that are relevant to your discussion and how they might effect the value or meaning of your life.

Finally, It would be great if you could create a cover page with images or visual accompanyment that express your PSP in a different medium than words on a page. You can use computer or hand made representations. If you cannot or do not want to do this, you can simply write "No Image Available" and your name!


Specifications: 4-5 pages, typed & double spaced. References to course text can be made using parentheses, author and pg. number.


Sample PSP