To know yourself and to know others is useful because you will be better able to conduct yourself in the world.
Without error, you don’t learn. But to learn, you have to undergo the painful experience of destroying previous conceptualizations of the world. Error is unpleasant but necessary. If you don’t err, and you get what you want, then your conceptual model of the world is working, and this is a psychologically satisfying experience. You are constantly trying to adapt your schema, so that reality meets your expectations. This process of testing your model for accuracy is how you learn, and it is how you act in the world. (A Piagetean idea).
The course will contain the philosophical underpinnings of psychology and will touch on mythology and shamanism, before tackling the hard sciences. Peterson admits that his style is unorganized and chaotic, but this allows him to better engage with his students. When you read a book, it is better to close the book and recall what you remembered rather than go through the material again. The former activity improves recall, while the latter may merely improve recognition. Recall is much more useful.
The world is made out of values. If you didn’t have any values, that is, if different potential behaviors didn’t carry with them different values for you, then there would be no reason to do anything. The prerequisite got any activity is a value system.
Your personality is very complex. There is conflict between psychological thinkers when it comes to personality, but there is also agreement. It is important to note that this knowledge primarily consists of the work of western thinkers who’s primary presupposition is that the individual is someone who ought to know how to act independently in the world.