Bakhtin’s Theory of Self Knowledge

Mikhail Bakhtin in his theory of Self-Knowledge was primarily concerned with the freedom that a â€Å"fictional† character could have and its connection to the author. Accordingly, Bakhtin have suggested, what he calls, the theory of â€Å"surplus-vision† which corresponds to the inability of the character to obtain a self-knowledge which is only possible through having the chance to observe him self.In a more simple terms, Bakhtin explained that the character could or any other human being for that instance that exist outside of a person’s mind could not contemplate and think about the same things that the person who is contemplating has been thinking. Thus, when a person is contemplating about someone else, he would â€Å"see and know somethingâ€Å"that the character that the person has been contemplating could never see and know†.In such case that someone whom the person is contemplating, or that character that the person have been thinking could not act independently on his own without author, as its creator could have thought. Put plainly, this means that the character could never be in a situation wherein he can decide and write about himself without the authors will or foreknowledge. Bakhtin have further discussed that the character’s ability to act liberally would depend upon his being able to act in surprising manner. Such that, a free action is an action that no one else have thought of or have predicted.However, in the case of the character in its relation to its author, it seems to be very impossible for it to be able to act freely from the author’s wishes. This is where Bakhtin’s theory of self-knowledge plays an important role. It is when the analogy of the author and God that Human self-knowledge was put into question. Yet, according to Joseph Bartlett, even without the analogy to God, any person’s action is still predictable or can still be predicted by other person for instance, by someo ne who has known the other person for quite a long time.Thus the only way, in a view that divine intervention is not counted, that the person could be free is through knowing the expectation of other people and acting surprisingly (2005). Bakhtin believes that this was the only way that the person could act freely and not determined, having a self-knowledge of thy self is the only way to free thyself. For instance one of my friends has been living a very active lifestyle. He joins different sports and was engaged in interdisciplinary activities and courses.This is when he was to choose a humanities course for his senior year; I along with some of our friends have been really surprise when he took up an art course. It was really surprising and even more, when I asked him about his decision, he simply stated that he wants to surprise himself. References Bartlett, J. (2005). Freedom And Self-Knowledge In The Dramatic Works Of Anton Chekhov. University of Missouri-Columbia.