Socrates and Plato: Philosophy of Self

• Efforts to understand reality led the Greeks to probe legends and folklore for answers, including inquiries about the self.
• The philosophical perspective of the self will be explored.
• The study of the philosophical perspective of the self will review assumptions made by philosophers from ancient to contemporary times.

Learning Objectives

• Identify key moments in philosophers' lives that influenced their ideas.
• Differentiate between philosophers' perspectives on the self
• Create your own concept/theory of the self.

Philosophers' Perspective of the Self

• The development of your identity and self-understanding is influenced by how you choose to live.
• Your past contributes to who you are, but your perspective shapes who you will become.

Socrates (470-399 B.C.)

• Socrates explored the philosophy of immortality after his trial but before his death sentence was executed.
• An unexamined life is not worth living, according to Socrates.

Dualism

• Socrates believed in dualism, meaning each person has an immortal soul apart from the physical body.
• The body belongs to the physical realm, while the soul belongs to the ideal realm.
• The body dies, but the soul continues to exist after death.
• To live a good and purposeful life, one must live well and strive for good.

Plato (428/427-348/347 BC)

• Plato was impacted by Socrates' execution; Socrates was Plato's teacher.
• Plato believed the self is immortal and has three parts:
  • Reason: Enables deep thinking, wise choices, and understanding of eternal truths
  • Physical Appetite: Includes basic biological needs like hunger and sexual desire.
  • Spirit or Passion: Includes basic emotions like love, anger, and empathy.
• Conflict or harmony can exist between the three components; injustice results if humans do not live according to their nature.

St. Augustine (354-430)

• St. Augustine experienced youthful exploration and fathered an illegitimate child.
• His explorations led to conversion to Christianity, leading him to serve the bishop and write books and letters.
• Early on, Augustine considered the body the soul's "slave", eventually seeing them as spouses united.
• Man becomes complete through the union of body and soul; "I doubt, therefore I am." was the first principle.
• Union with God is sought through faith and reason.
• Humanity is created in likeness of God, who is good, supreme, all-knowing, and the creator of all things.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• Descartes was a scientist during a period in which the death of the body was seen as the death of the self.
• Descartes was a devout Catholic who believed in immortal souls and eternal life.
• As a scientist and a devout Catholic, Descartes reconciled the existence of the thinking self and the physical body.
• The self is a thinking thing, distinct from the body
• Nonmaterial, immortal, and conscious characteristics define the thinking self/soul; material, mortal, and non-thinking characteristics controlled by physical laws define the physical body.
• "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I Am) is the keystone to his concept of the self, in which awareness is the essence of human existence.

John Locke (1634-1704)

• Locke's philosophy was shaped by his time abroad away from the political turmoil in England.
• “Blank slate” or tabula rasa, according to Locke, describes the human mind at birth.
• A person's life shapes them by experiences that shape them.
• Personal identity relies on self-consciousness for identity.
• A person is intelligent, can reason, reflect, who can recognize itself at different times and places.
• The belief that you have the same identity at different times and places occurs because you are aware that you are the same; the essence of self is its awareness (thinking, reasoning and reflecting)

David Hume (1711-1776)

• Hume privately studied when he left the University of Edinburgh at fifteen.
• Hume's interest in philosophy developed as he privately studied, leading him to question religion.
• There is no "self," just a collection of changing perceptions passing through your mind.
• Humans use imagination to construct fictional selves because they want to believe they have a unified soul or self.
• The mind is a theatre that holds sensations, disconnected ideas, and passions.
• Personal identity results from the imagination.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

• Kant acknowledged Hume's account but argued against the idea that perception and sensation is where everything starts.
• Kant presented the idea of the self as a response to Hume's.
• The mind organizes impressions from the outside world.
• The self is a product of reason because it regulates experience by unifying it.
• We construct the self.
• The self exists independently and beyond experience.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

• Freud's theories developed during a period of heart irregularities, disturbing dreams, and depression, during which he read William Shakespeare.
• The self has three layers: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.
• The conscious contains feelings, actions, and thoughts that you are aware of; the preconscious contains memory stored which are accessed when needed and the unconscious contains activities you are not aware of.
• Hidden thoughts, feelings, and urges manifest in unexplained behavior, buried in the unconscious, but the conscious wants to hide.

Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976)

• Ryle's father had him reading in an extensive philosophy and astronomy library, despite being a general practitioner.
• Ryle graduated with honors in Philosophy, Politic, & Economics.
• "I Act, therefore I am" defines his concept of the self; the self is the patterned behavior.
• The self is basically the same as your behavior.

Paul Churchland (1942)

• He dwelled on the idea of the brain as the self, becoming chair of the department, member of the Science and Neural Faculty, and member of the Institute for Neural Computation.
• The self and brain are inseparable; the physical brain creates self; "The self is the brain.".
• Once the brain dies, the self dies.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961)

• He was recognized for a commitment to Philosophy with the school's "Award for Outstanding Achievement".
• "The self has embodied subjectivity" means knowledge is subjective experiences and awareness; conscious contains it all.
• Your body allows you to exist in and experience the world.

Explore the philosophical views of Socrates and Plato on self-examination, the soul, and the pursuit of a good life. Understand their core beliefs and how they influence our understanding of self and purpose. The questions reference Socrates' concept of dualism and Plato's theory of immortality.