Moral Education and Imagination
Considering to what extent we are what we emulate.
"They must imitate from childhood what is appropriate for them, namely, people who are courageous, self-controlled, pious, and free, and their actions. They musn't be clever at doing or imitating slavish or shameful actions, lest from enjoying the imitation, they come to enjoy the reality. Or haven't you noticed that imitations practiced from youth become part of nature and settle into habits of gesture, voice, and thought?" Plato, Republic, Book III, 395c-d.
Plato/Socrates's contention here is well taken: namely, one becomes what one routinely does, acts out, and imitates. Therefore, those people who are especially malleable and have yet to form a durable identity—children—ought to be morally educated through narrative art in such a manner as to cultivate a moral character. That is, to embrace the Good and reject the Bad; emulate heroes and detest villains; &c.
The influence of literature, art, and imitation on personal development is not disputed in folk psychology. Intense public debate over public education provide sufficient evidence for this. Moreover, the studies of Meyer et al. and Brown et al., respectively, lend credence to the fact that "the self becomes more similar to the simulated other" and that acting may function to substitute "the actor's self by the character due to their embodiment of the character." As Meyer notes, it follows that we must be judicious in who we choose "to befriend, who to model, and who to ignore [sic]" as these decisions shape "our sense of who we are."
A question for Meyer: I agree that "our psychological identities are not fully formed upon our entry into the world," but what is that constant axis about which our psychologies change? That is, baby Jack's psychology is undeniably different than that of present-day (and future!) Jack. Nonetheless, that psychology was just as much about Jack as his current and future psychologies. Ergo, if we are to maintain continuity of self, the self is not reducible to one's psychology. So, less of a question and more of a challenge to Meyer!
Paper preview: Accepting that we become more like those heroes (and villains [and characters in between]) as we imagine them, how does this process occur? Is it largely inside-out, outside-in (Brown et al.), or some other weighting of both?