Romulus, My father - philosophical question? (1 Viewer)

[harrietty]

In Chapter 7, Gaita has this philosophical rant about character and personality.

Page 102-104; the question is;
Gaita's philosophical reflection on personality and character highlight attributes that are valued in relation to belonging to a society. How is this reflected in the characters in the memoir? Why are these two words emphasised in italics?

I am having difficulty understanding what he is defining as 'character' and what is 'personality'... Does anyone have a general idea about what he's saying in these few pages? Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[DamTameNaken]

Karakter is a persons inherent attributes such as honesty, tenacity, kindness, intelligence etc. Whereas personality is to do with how a person presents themselves such as funny or charming. Another difference is that character can't be faked whereas personality can.
The example he gives is that Christine has a personality but doesn't have character. This is because she is lazy and isn't considering of others i.e. no character. But she does have a recognizable personality such as being promiscuous.
In regards to belonging, someone is very likely to change their personality to belong but unlikely to change their character.

 

[harrietty]

^ Thankyou.