Modern Philosophy: Descartes and the Thinking Self

• Modern Philosophy challenges traditional thinking in the search for truth and paved the way for the Enlightenment.
• Modern Philosophers approach questions about knowledge, reality, and the self from different angles.
• Modern Philosophy emphasizes the origin of knowledge, focusing on the nature of man and the self's view based on what a man knows about himself.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• Known as the father of Modern Philosophy.
• Used methodic doubt, away from Socratic and Scholastic Philosophical Inquiry
• "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am) directs towards rationalism.
• Knowledge begins with certainty, and its foundation must be scrutinized.
• The senses can be deceived.
• Start with the certainty of one's existence.
• One cannot doubt their own existence.
• Man's essence is as a thinking entity.
• The human self is a thinking thing that doubts, reflects, understands, and reasons.
• The self is a dualistic entity: a thinking substance (mind/soul) and material (body).
• The mind/soul is a thinking substance, and the body is governed by the laws of nature.
• The self comprises the body (material) and mind (thinking substance) functioning differently but cannot exist without each other (dualism).
• Knowledge begins at a level of self-awareness.
• Methodological doubt is useful in the epistemological framework of knowing oneself.

David Hume (1711-1776)

• Emphasized the role of the senses in building knowledge through experience.
• Rejected the notion of innate learning and prior knowledge.
• Proposed "bundle theory" to represent the self as a collection of perceived experiences.
• The self collects experiences through impressions and creates ideas.
• Impressions are first-hand sensations of experiences.
• Knowing that self-experiences are processed establishes the idea of certainty in the subject matter.
• Impressions are a continuous process of learning through experiences.
• Perceived personality and self-identity are mere perceptions of the mind.

John Locke (1632-1704)

• Proposed the concept of tabula rasa (blank slate) as the basis of the self.
• The self's development begins at birth when the mind is empty.
• Knowledge comes from sensory experiences, not innate knowledge or ideas.
• The self is the collective consciousness of an individual's past experiences, memories, and discernment.
• Reason and experience are vital in understanding the self.
• Empirical observation of the self through introspection enables self-knowledge and self-shaping.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

• Knowledge is gained through experience and rationalization.
• The self-categorizes knowledge as empirical (understanding) and rational (intrinsic).
• Introduced the concept of transcendental deduction of the self (Transcendental Self).
• The self is an organized process of the external and internal self.
• The external self concerns empirical experiences processed through the senses.
• Sensual inputs are raw, subjective experiences.
• External inputs are processed in the mind but aren't universally accepted as reality.
• Accepts the abstract reality of the world, which presents universality and perennial truth.
• The self is transcendental, creating a unified perception of Truth through a continuous epistemological process.

Post-Modern: Existentialism

• Studies the reason for man's existence in the world.
• Explores whether man has an ultimate purpose or needs to create his essence.
• Man must encounter it to find meaning in one's life.
• Existentialism is within the realms of man's reality.
• Existentialism understands happenings based on reason.
• Emphasizes the humanistic and authentic search for meaning.

Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973)

• Presented Christian Existentialism.
• Primary reflection examines the object of abstraction of actions and results.
• Secondary reflection heals the action and unifies the action, finding a more profound meaning
• Refrain from dwelling on primary reflections.
• The epistemic moment grounded the ethical view of the self, or "ethical self".
• A person can go beyond the limits of primary reflections.
• Secondary reflection is a critical reflection of a man's thoughts.
• Secondary reflection motivates man to act appropriately in the world.
• Provides a rational, objective, and recovering personal experience.

Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995)

• Presented the ego as the intrinsic identity of the self.
• The ego is naturally self-centered and acts to its advantage to preserve existence.
• The ego is the part of the human person struggling to protect life.
• The ego or "I" is a person's independent and primal identity, which continuously develops.
• The ego provides signs of growth as it changes and improves upon encountering others.
• The Other is discovered as more significant and higher, developing an interest in the other.
• To defeat the crisis, everyone must encounter the other "Face to Face" and realize its irreducibility.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty

• Argued that all knowledge is a phenomenon.
• The self learns through direct experiences.
• Direct experience carries objectivity, but its realization and acceptance are subjective.
• Awareness will always be contained through an objective factor.
• Understanding the factor is always subjective.
• The body experiences and embodies the objective world but has a different perspective and understanding.
• Embodiment of subjective experience is based on objective reality.