Nahal Jafroudi

The broad aim of my thesis is to develop a holistic conception of the self in relation to the complex interplay between education for ethical literacy and the notion of an agent as an ontological reality capable of self-transformation and self-realisation. The purpose of enquiry into the concept of the self is to highlight that since the self- transformative aims of ethical literacy are exercised on the self by the self, revitalising the focus on the agent’s ethical development therefore depends on grasping the true nature of the person who will live or aspire to live an ethical life. To this end, in the search for a model of the self that may have the potential to close the epistemic gap existing between the differing concepts of the self, the thesis investigates the model postulated by the contemporary Eastern philosopher, Nour Ali Elahi, which in considering the self as an ontological reality, puts a special emphasis on the bi-dimensionality of human beings. Ostad Elahi’s holistic model of the self, as an integrated theory of the self constitutive of its psychological, ontological and metaphysical dimensions, is thus offered as providing an alternative underpinning for a form of education for ethical literacy that is conducive to the enhancement of one’s sense of dignity.