The Self: Philosophical Perspectives

The Self from Various Perspectives: Philosophy

• The question "Who am I?" has perplexed humanity since the beginning of civilization, probing the nature of selfhood and fundamental identity.
• Ken Wilber suggests identifying the "self" by differentiating it from the "not-self" through establishing boundaries.
• Self-identity relies on where this boundary is drawn; the "me" encompasses everything inside the line, while the "not-me" lies outside, as in "I am human and not a tree.".
• Philosophical theories explore the true nature of the self and its connection to the material body, often referencing ancient Greek philosophy, particularly Plato's ideas.

Plato's View of Human Nature

• Plato views human existence as a conflict between reason and desire, advocating for reason to prevail.
• Reason is considered the 'higher' aspect of human nature, and desires are the 'lower', representing the primitive, irrational, and chaotic part.
• Individuals are primarily identified with their reason or rational side, considered the core of their being.
• Desires, though part of us, are seen as foreign and need to be controlled by reason through temperance and self-control.
• Allowing desires to dominate can destabilize the 'higher self', leaving individuals at the mercy of irrational appetites and passions.
• Plato's concept influenced subsequent thought, including Christianity's view of life as a struggle against desire.
• Plato believed that the true self consists of reason or intellect, forming the soul, which is separate from the body, immaterial, indestructible, and immortal.
• Plato describes the soul's structure which includes reason, desire, and spirit.
• Reason allows one to understand the truth and make sound judgements.
• Desire represents irrational cravings and appetites.
• Spirit, or thumos, is the spirited level of the soul.
• Spiritual or mental health is attained when these components are harmoniously balanced, with reason governing the others.
• Problems arise when the self becomes unbalanced and reason fails to control the appetites, leading to the appetites ruling.

Descartes, Kant, Reason vs. Desire

• Descartes and Kant perpetuated the idea of the struggle between reason and desire through rationalist perspectives.
• Both framed human life as a battle between reason and passions, identifying the soul or mind with reason.
• Descartes and Kant differed from Plato by excluding desire, feeling, and emotion from the soul, relegating these aspects to the body. -Emotions and desires, according to them, disrupt the soul.
• Reason enables making moral decisions.
• Desires, emotions, and feelings remain part of our makeup.
• Reason should control inclinations and emotions.

Hume's Critique of Reason's Dominance

• David Hume, an 18th-century empiricist, offered an alternative view, downplaying reason and highlighting the importance of desires and emotions.
• Hume rejects the notion of conflict between reason and passion, arguing that desires and emotions are the source of motivation and behavior.
• He contends that reason cannot dictate what is right or provide motives for action, stating that reason is and should obey passion.
• Reason, for Hume, assists in realizing desires, but lacks influence without an original desire.

Freud's Psychoanalytic Perspective

• Freud's psychoanalytic framework combines elements of Platonic and Humean views and significantly influenced 20th-century conceptions of human nature.
• Freud views life as a conflict between restraining and controlling desires and divides the self into the superego, ego, and id.
• The ego is concerned with reality and the id contains instinctual impulses.
• The superego is a moral phenomenon composed of internalized moral values, helping the ego manage the id.
• Freud emphasizes the conflict between the superego (moral conscience) and the desires of the id.
• Repression results from extreme conflict between impulses and moral standards achieved through repression.
• The ego deals with the external world, the superego is the moral conscience from social standards, and the id contains drives seeking immediate satisfaction.
• Instinctual drives encompass both sexual and aggressive impulses.
• The ego balances the id's desires, superego's rules, and external reality and constraints.
• Freud acknowledges harmful effects of excessive repression, deeming desire integral.
• Repressed desires persist in the unconscious, leading to frustration, unhappiness, and disorders.
• Severely suppressed desires manifest as neurotic symptoms.

Locke's Perspective on Personal Identity

• Locke explores personal identity by questioning what makes us the same person over time.
• Inquiring what remains constant despite physical and mental changes explores instances of multiple personalities, breakdowns, and amnesia.
• Descartes asserts that a continuous spiritual substance equates a person with the same mind or soul.
• Individuals remain the same, if their body changes or are without a body.
• Locke makes a distinction between 'persons' and 'human beings'.
• Locke explains human identity is that of a biological human, like an acacia seed growing into an acacia even if its size and form change.
• Personal identity, distinct from human identity, is key.
• Locke defines a person as a rational, intelligent being with reason, consciousness, and self-consciousness.
• Thinking leads to being self-conscious.
• People have a sense of themselves, continuity, and identity over time.
• Memory gauges personal identity.
• Personal identity depends on consciousness or memory over mental substance.
• Individuals remain the same person despite bodily changes if there is continuity of memory.
• Fractures or gaps in memory and consciousness occurs often.

Moral Implications and Personhood

• The idea of personhood is separate from a human being highlights the value and deserving of moral respect.
• Persons have a right to life.
• Personhood is distinct from being human, and being human does not automatically qualify one for moral respect.

Kant's Ethics and Personhood

• He shares Locke's view that persons are defined by their rationality.
• Rational agents can decide their life's trajectory.
• Kant shares Locke's view that persons are defined by their rationality.
• Rational agents can decide their life's trajectory.
• Reformulations of personhood include self-consciousness and language.
• Personhood gives individuals moral status, and that persons should not be treated as mere things
• Kant states that not all human beings are persons, for some do not have the required rationality or consciousness.
• The views of whether individuals may not to be persons may not be thought to have certain rights are controversial.
• Views include that human beings who are not persons would include human fetuses and those in irreversible comas.
• Sci-fi world persons include conscious rational beings, who are not human beings, such as intelligent aliens, androids, gods, spirits or angels,.
• Member's of the human species is not what is of moral importance.