This was one of the dicta inscribed in gold on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. In the two-and-a-half centuries since the Greeks laid the value of life itself on the sacrificial altar of self-knowledge, we of the Western world and especially - for us today - since the Enlightenment, we are seen to lack responsibility (a virtue of great importance to the theologians and capitalists) if we do not examine our own “hearts and minds” and render judgment upon ourselves. (The source of the table of values used to make these self-judgments is a topic for another time.)
In more modern terms, let’s cast the goal of the ancient quest to mean self-awareness or, in more philosophical terms, self-consciousness. In more psychological terms I am thinking of a mental analog to proprioception. A healthy proprioception basically means that we normally do not need to be conscious of the moment-by-moment position and movement of our body because our brain is on the job even as we are not aware of it; however, normally at any time we are able to perceive the position of our body. For example, we can be forced into conscious awareness if we suddenly feel a twinge of pain only to find that our arm is in an awkward position.
As the mental correlate, I am referring to the awareness of memory and recall, reasoning, language ability and other mental activities. For the most part, our mentation carries on without the need for constant awareness of the processes which make up our mental state at any given moment. But there are moments when we become aware of our mental state either because we deliberately do so or because we are presented with the awareness as a result of a glitch such as not being able to recall something or misspeaking a thought. Others also make judgments about our mental state from such externalities as expressivity and reactivity.
With the necessity of the self-inquiry having been justified, at least historically, it would seem relevant to the current Democratic rearrangement of the deck chairs to inquire: Did Biden know his state when he walked into the debate with Trump? This question which arises from Biden’s debate performance on June 27 is more important than Biden’s performance itself because it underlies his ability to make decisions about himself based on his self-awareness and resultant self-evaluation. Regardless of how he does in upcoming pressers, interviews, rallies and other appearances, Biden is the one who will decide whether or not to continue his candidacy. He will restore confidence in his ability to defeat Trump if and only if he convinces people that his decision is the result of a thoroughgoing and honest self-evaluation. Just saying that he is convinced that he can and will win the Presidential election will not suffice.
Biden has to lay out those facts about himself that lead him to judge himself as up to the race and another term. People are justified in their doubts about a bare expression of belief in himself because their confidence has been compromised in the debate as well as subsequent reports of some 15- 20 “lapses” in the White House as well as reports of similar occurrences by some foreign leaders at the G7. Saying that the last two weeks is the result of a “bad night” is like brushing off a train wreck with an “Oops.”
Making decisions is a sine qua non of being an effective President. Popular confidence in them affects his success or failure. Among these decisions and at all times and because he is the “decider-in-chief”, decisions about himself are of paramount importance. Biden’s best course of action now is to lay out for all to see what underlies his confidence. To regain the support of those backed him to this point but are wavering now he must show them that he has followed the ancient dictum.