The broad aim of this thesis is to develop a holistic conception of the self in relation to the complex interplay between education for ethical literacy and the notion of an agent as an ontological reality capable of self-transformation and self-realisation. To this end, ethical literacy, as a function of a holistic education, is conceived as enabling individuals to realise their essential nature through leading morally decent lives. The purpose of enquiry into the concept of the self is to highlight that since the self- transformative aims of ethical literacy are exercised on the self by the self, revitalising the focus on the agent’s ethical development therefore depends on grasping the true nature of the person who will live or aspire to live an ethical life. The notion of ethical literacy, as a moral empowerment that enables individuals to understand, analyse, reflect and practice that which makes them humane, postulates a holistic understanding of what it means to be human, which in turn implies that it is in understanding who human agents truly are, how they are to better themselves and what they can become, that the question of ethical literacy acquires a more concrete meaning. This thesis is divided into four parts, with part one providing a brief analysis of the moral landscape existing within the global community and highlights the need for effecting an equitable and compassionate moral horizon through education for ethical literacy. Part two, engages with the conceptual understanding of three influential ‘self‘ paradigms, namely, those of Descartes, Hume and Freud, which in tracing a line of these significant ‘self’ paradigms within the Western evolution of the concept of the self, places contemporary views on this subject in a historical context and informs how the conceptual consequences of these have formed, affected and influenced the postmodern humanist understanding of the self experienced today. To this end, in the search for a model of the self that may have the potential to close the epistemic gap existing between the differing concepts of the self, part three investigates the model postulated by the contemporary Eastern philosopher, Nour Ali Elahi, which in considering the self as an ontological reality, puts a special emphasis on the bi-dimensionality of human beings. Finally, in part four, the thesis is concluded by drawing on the analysis of the aforementioned influential self-paradigms, whose concepts of the disengaged individualistic self, the sense-content illusory self and the drive-driven fragmented self, have contributed to the prevalent ambiguity of the notion of the self in terms of relationality, in terms of continuity in time, and in terms of depth. By contrast, Ostad Elahi’s holistic model of the self, as an integrated theory of the self constitutive of its psychological, ontological and metaphysical dimensions, is offered as providing an alternative underpinning for a form of education for ethical literacy that is conducive to the enhancement of one’s sense of dignity.

Cette recherche se propose d’examiner les racines de l’éthique philosophique chez Ostad Elahi (1895-1974) et la place de ce penseur dans la tradition de l’éthique iranienne et gréco-islamique. Celle-ci comprend, aux côtés de l’éthique philosophique, deux autres courants à savoir l’éthique religieuse et l’éthique mystique/spirituelle. En partant de la division classique qui, dans la philosophie antique, établit le couple theôria/praxis introduit dans la philosophie islamique, nous verrons quels sont, pour Ostad Elahi, les fondements théoriques sur lesquels il fonde son approche de l’âme et bâtit son éthique. De ce socle dérive alors l’articulation de la pratique éthique et spirituelle, une pratique aux effets thérapeutiques qu’il définit comme une « nouvelle médecine » de l’âme. À partir de ce matériau, le fils d’Ostad Elahi, Bahram Elahi (né en 1931), docteur en médecine, va développer cette approche galénique et proposer un schéma du soi qui rapproche les éléments issus de la tradition des apports de la modernité. / This research examines the roots of philosophical ethics in the works and teaching of Ostad Elahi (1895-1974), placing his contributions in the wider comparative context of earlier Greek, Zoroastrian and Islamic traditions of philosophical ethics. Beginning with the classical philosophical distinction of theȏria and praxis, we move on to outline the theoretical foundations of Ostad Elahi’s vision of the soul and ethics. There the metaphysical and spiritual backdrop of Ostad Elahi’s “theory” are complemented by a comprehensive course of ethical and spiritual practice designed to have transformative influences on the soul’s spiritual perfection, an approach which Ostad Elahi refers to as a “new medicine” of the soul. Starting from this teaching, Ostad Elahi’s son, the physician Bahram Elahi (b. 1931), has elaborated on these traditional conceptions for contemporary audiences, proposing a conception of the self where earlier philosophical and spiritual elements are expressed within the perspectives and language of modern science.