Course Outline (3 Sessions × 1.5 hours each, every Thursday between 9 and 23 October 2025)
Session 1 – 9 October 2025, 6pm
Alfred Adler and the Psychology of Personality
• Who was Alfred Adler?
• Brief biography and intellectual context (Vienna, Freud, Jung, breakaway).
• Adler’s contribution to psychology as a holistic and socially oriented discipline.
• Core Concepts from Understanding Human Nature
• Inferiority feelings and compensation.
• The striving for superiority / significance.
• Unity of personality (“style of life”).
• Group Discussion: Are feelings of inferiority a universal human experience?
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Session 2 – 16 October 2025, 6pm
Human Nature, Society, and Social Interest
• Adler’s concept of “Gemeinschaftsgefühl” (social interest / community feeling).
• The individual as a social being.
• Responsibility toward others.
• Philosophical Connections:
• Comparisons with Aristotle’s zoon politikon, Nietzsche’s will to power, and existentialist notions of responsibility.
• Case Studies: Historical and literary examples of individuals overcoming or mismanaging inferiority complexes (e.g., Helen Keller, Napoleon).
• Discussion Prompt: To what extent is social interest innate, and to what extent is it cultivated?
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Session 3 – 23 October 2025, 6pm
Freedom, Responsibility, and the Shaping of Life
• Adler’s View of Choice and Responsibility
• Lifestyles as self-created narratives.
• Role of early memories and family constellation.
• Philosophical Resonances:
• Existentialist themes of freedom, choice, and authenticity.
• Contrast with deterministic views of human behaviour.
• Practical Reflection: How can Adler’s insights help us understand personality in today’s world?
• Closing Discussion: What is human nature according to Adler ? And how does this challenge or complement other philosophical perspectives?
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This course aims to introduce participants to Alfred Adler’s key ideas as presented in Understanding Human Nature: The Psychology of Personality. Through guided discussion, case illustrations, and philosophical reflection, participants will explore Adler’s concepts of inferiority and superiority, the striving for significance, social interest, and lifestyle formation. The course encourages critical engagement with Adler’s psychology in relation to broader philosophical questions about human nature, freedom, and responsibility.
About the Lecturer:
Ms Gail Debono is Senior Forensic Psychologist at the Correctional Services Agency in Malta, President of the Malta Chamber of Psychologists, and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. She is currently reading for a PhD at the University of Malta, focusing on trauma-informed prison reform.
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