The Self: Exploring Philosophical Perspectives

• "An unexamined life is not worth living" - Socrates

Learning Objectives

• Understand different representations and conceptualizations of the self
• Understand various philosophical perspectives.
• Compare and contrast philosophical perspectives
• Analyze how they have affected one's life principle.

Student Outcomes

• Comprehend the importance of philosophical perspectives
• Understand the nature of man.
• Assess philosophical perspectives of the self through cross-referencing.
• Answer the question "Who am I?" by aligning various thoughts.

Reflective Questions

• "What is your name" vs. "Who are you"? What is your deepest question in life?
• What is your definition of self?
• How did the ‘self’ start?
• What makes you, you?

The Self

• A person's essential being distinguishes each individual from others.
• Described as separate, self-contained, independent, consistent, unitary, and private.
• Self may seem simple but is a complex matter, that touches disciplinal perspectives
• Aspects include the physical, sexual, material, political, spiritual, and virtual

Components Defined

• Separate: The self is distinct, as no two people are exactly alike.
• Self-contained: The self has its own unique thoughts, characteristics, and volition.
• Independent: The self can exist on its own.
• Consistent: The self has an enduring personality that is expected to persist.
• Unitary: The self is the center of all experiences and thoughts.
• Private: Each person sorts out information, feelings, emotions, and thought processes.

Philosophical Anthropology

• Study of the self, as referred to by Martin Buber
• Considers the self as both the subject and the object of philosophic probing.
• The question “Who am I?” remains difficult to answer.
• Philosophy seeks answers to life's difficult questions.

Etymological Definition of Philosophy

• The word Philosophy came from the Greek word "philein"
• Philein translates to "love of/for" or "friendship of/for"
• The word "sophia” means wisdom.
• Philosophy is having an active pursuit of wisdom.

Probing Questions

• To answer "Who am I?", one must be self-reflective.
• "What is your definition of the self?"
• "What is the self composed of?"
• "How did the ‘self’ start?"
• "What makes you, you?"

The Self in the Greek Philosophy

• General concept is that the self is seen as a body-soul compound.
• The rational soul is immaterial, immortal, immutable, distinct, and superior to the body.
• The formation of the self primarily consists of the nourishment of the rational soul.

Socrates (470 BC - 399 BC)

• Believed that man was formerly a soul/pure mind
• Knowledge by intuition is stored in the mind.
• The soul suffers forgetfulness when it assumed the body, resulting in ignorance.
• Ignorance can be overcome by intellectual midwifery
• The ultimate goal is the attainment of the knowledge lost
• Learning is just recollection from a previous life.
• Claimed "an unexamined life is not worth living."
• Developed the "Socratic Method of Question and Answer"
• Utilized to stimulate critical thinking and draw out ideas and presuppositions.

Sample Questions

• Who is your "self?" What differentiates your "self" from others?
• What is the relationship between your "self" to your body?
• How does your "self" relate to the other selves?
• What happens to the “self” when the body dies?
• Viewed that the self has two components: the physical body and the soul
• The soul is said to be immaterial and immortal.
• Socrates claimed that death is the final separation of the body and soul.

Plato (428/427BCE-348/347 BCE)

• Believed that a human being is composed of body and soul.
• The body is corruptible and changeable, while the soul is unchanging.
• The body is merely a replica of the true self.
• The soul is imprisoned in the body and subject to bodily sensations.
• Liberation is only achievable through contemplation.
• Contemplation refers to the communion of the mind with the universal and eternal ideas.
• The soul is eternal and survives bodily death.
• Developed the Theory of Tripartite Soul that states the soul consists of three elements
• The highest is the element of reason (head)
• The spirited elements (heart)
• Bodily appetite (stomach)

Soul Hierachy

• Rational Soul: Enables deep thinking, wise choices, understanding of eternal truths.
• Appetitive Soul: Refers to basic bodily appetite, hunger, thirst, and sex.
• Spirited Soul: Expresses emotion, pride, anger, and honor.
• Believed that each element is dominant in an individual, leading to distinct personalities.
• The chief goal of an individual is the pursuit of knowledge and truth
• People will live and strive for success and public acclaim when the spirited element is prevailing.
• When bodily appetites are domineering, the individual will work toward material satisfaction and comfort.
• Irrespective of which element is dominant, the primary goal is attaining a sense of well-being

The Self in The Medieval Philosophy

• The theocentric approach relegated the self to secondary concern.
• Neo-Platonist, St. Augustine gave his own perspective.

St. Augustine (354 - 430 BCE)

• Believed there exist two worlds - the real and temporary.
• Humans are sojourning in a temporary home filled with pain and evil.
• Humans are directed towards the eternal world where God is.
• The soul finds its ultimate fulfillment in union with the transcendent realm after death.
• Believed that God and faith in Him is primary, and the self is secondary.
• Man is created by God according to His image (Imago Dei).
• Man knows, loves, fulfills His purpose, and shares His everlasting glory.
• Contemplated the self is a tripartite being: body, soul, and spirit.
• Body is the outer part for contact with the world.
• The inner part of self is is called the soul which includes the mind, emotions, and the will.
• Through the spirit that the self communicates with God.
• God created man, body, and soul, where the soul is spiritual, perpetual, and superior to the body.
• God created the soul to administer the body and needs to be united with in order to complete itself.
• Believed a moral law exists and is imposed by the mind.
• Through reason, man discerns the difference between right and wrong.
• Eternal Law comes from God and manifests through conscience.
• This voice tells if thoughts/actions are morally good/bad.

The Self in The Modern Philosophy

• Modern philosophy affirmed man's dignity with respect to reason.
• Divergent views on the self came from Rene Descartes, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Sigmund Freud, Gilbert Ryle, Paul Churchland, and Maurice Marleau-Ponty
• Rene Descartes (1596-1650) With the statement “Cogito Ergo Sum” Descartes highlighted that consciousness is the evidence of existence.
• The essence of a human lies in his capacity to think.
• He believed that having self-identity and being self-conscious are mutually connected.
• While the physical body and soul are distinct, they are intertwined and linked.
• Views are centered on substance which refers to anything that exists in itself.

Substances

• Infinite: Innate of God
• Finite: Refers to man, and is composed of the body and mind known as Cartesian Dualism.
• The body is independent of the soul
• The mind is not the body's provider of life.
• Body is material, mortal, non-thinking and governed by mechanical laws.
• Mind is nonmaterial, immortal, conscious, and independent of physical law.
• The primary function of the mind is to think.
• The self is seen as a mental and thinking substance

John Locke (1632-1704)

• Believed authentic knowledge comes from sensory experience.
• The mind is a blank sheet of paper (Tabula Rasa) upon which life experiences are written.
• Knowledge is accumulated through interactions and experiences.
• The self is reliant on our consciousness of our experiences and knowledge
• The essence of the self is its conscious awareness as a thinking and reasoning being.
• Maintained that all aspects of our physical body are integrated into the personal self.
• The personal self remains the same, even when the physical body changes.
• Introduced the ‘Memory Theory,' a person is the same as he was in the past if he recalls what he did in the past
• A person had somewhat existed and can be aware of the present.
• Memory connects one's self because the self exists not in the present.

David Hume (MAY 7, 1711-AUG. 25, 1776)

• Knowledge is acquired through the senses by human beings.
• Contents of the mind are a product of personal experience in the world.
• These contents, are divided into impressions or the things which the senses perceive and experience in the world.
• Refer to the things that are created in the mind about the things experienced through the senses.
• Unable to detect permanent impression of the self.
• "The mind does not create ideas but derives them from impressions.”
• The self is a ‘bundle of perception' that is subject to change.

Immanuel Kant (APR 22, 1724-FEB 12, 1804)

• Grounded his philosophy on the self is free to make choices for himself.
• Man is not only free, but also rational possessing both reason and free will
• The "self" is the product of reason and regulates experience.
• This sense of freedom is tested by choices in relation to duties.
• One's duty is a product of deliberation and not dictated
• He explains that the capacity of the self can be determined and reasoned without the control of emotion

Empiricism vs Rationalization

• Rationalism is the theory that reason, rather than experience, is the foundation of all knowledge.
• Kant believed that there were two aspects of self: the inner and outer selves
• The inner self has our psychological state and rational intellect. The outer includes the sense and physical world
• Kant stated that human knowledge consists of sensory and rational component.
• He theorized that the mind creates what one will come to believe because the self comes from the mind itself
• The mind relates to a world of organization

Sigmund Freud (1856 ΤΟ 1939)

• Framework analyzes man in relation to makeup and socio- cultural environment.
• Proposes the personality structure of Id. ego, and super ego where impulses of Id are the desires of what to be given and the superego delivers the standard of what to perform
• Clash between the Id and Superego determines what dominates the other.
• Governed by the pleasure factor.

The mind

• Conscious: immediate access
• Preconscious: recall
• Unconscious: drive to immediate gratification.

Gilbert Ryle (Aug. 1900 - Oct. 1976)

• A discussion of the mind is the behavior
• Discusses the mind as a whole
• Challenges that the mind is distinct and separate
• Mind gives way to man's responsibilities that the Self creates
• Self is the result of situational behavior

Paul Churchland (1943-present)

• The Body-Mind Problem
• Body is not separate from the Brain
• Mental leads to Self-Physical Condition
• Human Conscious leads to the Brain
• Works/Awareness of the Mental and Mind
• Since The Self is not apparent, it does not exist
• Eliminative Materialism is the error on the mind

Maurice Marleau-Ponty

• Rather than seeing separation, they are connected
• The Development of the Self is subject to the Body
• A study
• A sense of having a body
• The body is not an object