“The most elusive knowledge is self-knowledge, and it is usually acquired through solitude, rather than through interaction with others.”

It is arguable if self-knowledge is usually gained through solitude, or if it is gained through interaction with others. On one hand, solitude can take away the distractions that is concomitant with social interactions, providing a purer environment for personal reflection and thoughts. On the other hand, interaction with others provide the “mirror reflection” that we use to see and form our self image. However, I believe that self-knowledge is better acquired through interactions with others rather than through solitude.

First, let us take a look at what is self-knowledge. Self knowledge can be defined as a personal understanding of one's individual strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, and generally any other factors that constitutes a person's individual personality. Due to everybody's individual differences, the concept of self knowledge can be very vague and abstract. Therefore to say that self knowledge is the most elusive knowledge is not entirely incorrect.

Humans are inherently social creatures. We have always lived in communities, even from the days when primitive men lived in caves. Interaction with others are an essential part of our lives and through these interactions, we create and build our self image. Charles Horton Cooley had appropriately coined this phenomenon the “looking glass” theory. In essence, we perceive ourselves the way other people sees us. So how does one acquire self knowledge? How do we define ourselves? We may define ourselves with a certain race based on skin color, or by religion, or a certain social class due to our economic status or the types of jobs we hold. Ultimately, all these definitions are formed by interactions with our peers. Without any social experience, we are like empty buckets devoid of true stimulus to provide sufficient insights on makes us the way we truly are. Without interactions with others, we have no way to benchmark our goals, aspirations, or even likes or dislikes. For example, would we have realized about our competitive spirit if we did not have another person to compare it with? Of course, on the flip side, would we have also realize that we do not care for competition had we not experienced it before? Therefore social interactions is an important factor in the search for self knowledge.

It is incorrect to absolutely claim that self knowledge is only gained from social interactions. We do need the external experience that comes from interactions from others to collect materials that make part of our personality. We also need the downtime and solitude to absorb and understand all the information that we have collected. However, self knowledge that is acquired through solitude might not provide a accurate depiction as it is colored by our own personal ego and feelings. By looking at things through our internal lens, we only perceive matters from a one sided point of view. Interactions with others can help temper the internal bias as well as provide refreshing perspectives. For example, a person might think that he or she is really talented at writing music. That might or might not necessarily be true. Constructive criticism can not only help improve the person's music, but also teach him new ways or ideas of to improve his or her future works.

For all the reasons I have presented above, I would like to reiterate my views that self knowledge is better acquired through interactions with others rather than solitude.