The Self From Various Perspectives PDF

The Self from Various Perspectives Fleur Aldyne S. Abuela, RPm Instructor  A. Philosophy At the end of the lesson, the students would be able to: Discuss the different representations and conceptualization of the self from various discipli...

The Self from Various Perspectives Fleur Aldyne S. Abuela, RPm Instructor  A. Philosophy At the end of the lesson, the students would be able to: Discuss the different representations and conceptualization of the self from various disciplinal perspectives Compare (relate and contrast) how the self has been represented by different philosophers “Who am I?” Philosophy the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. the use of reason in understanding such things as the nature of the real world and existence. the use and limits of knowledge, and the principles of moral judgement. Socrates The first philosopher who ever engaged in a systematic questioning about the self. According to him, the true task of a philosopher is to know oneself. Every man is composed of body and soul.  Know thyself The unexamined life is not worth living. Ultimate wisdom comes from knowing oneself. The more a person knows, the greater his or her ability to reason and make choices that will bring true happiness.  Plato Socrate’s student who basically supported the idea that man is a dual nature of body and soul. He added that there are three components of the soul: 1. the rational soul 2. the spirited soul 3. the appetitive soul Plato emphasizes that justice in the human person can only be attained if the three parts of the soul are working harmoniously with one another.  The rational soul (intellect) is the thinking portion within each of us, which discerns what is real and not, judges what is true and what is false, and makes the rational decisions. The spirited soul, is the active portion; its function is to carry out the dictates of reason. Finally, the appetitive soul (emotion or desire) is the portion of each of us that wants and feels many things, most of which must be deferred if we are to achieve self-control.  Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle. Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools speak because they have to say something. Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. Love is a serious mental disease.  St. Augustine An aspect of man dwells in the world and is imperfect and continuously yearns to be with the Divine and the other is capable of reaching immortality. The body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss in communion with God.  He introduced the concept of freewill which means that humans are morally responsible for their actions. The goal of every human person is to attain communion and bliss with the Divine by living his life on earth in virtue. He created a new concept of individual identity: the idea of the self  The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement. Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop. Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. Rene Descartes Father of Modern Philosophy “I think therefore, I am” He claims that there is so much of that we should doubt. According to him, the only thing that cannot doubt is the existence of self.  I think therefore I am (Cogito ergo sum). Dualistic distinction of the immaterial mind from the body, all that we really are, or our identity, comes from the mind. The fact that one thinks should lead one to conclude without a trace of doubt that he exists  Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power. Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has. John Locke According to him, the self depends on “consciousness”, not on substance nor on the soul. We are the same person to the extent that we are conscious of the past and future thoughts and actions in the same way as we are conscious of present thoughts and actions  Holds that personal identity is a matter of psychological continuity. He considered personal identity (self) to be founded on consciousness (memory) and not on the substance of either soul or body. Man is a bundle of collection of different perceptions.  I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. We are like chameleons, we take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us. No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.  David Hume A philosopher who had a very unique way of looking at man. According to him, the self is not an entity over and beyond the physical body. The self is nothing else but a bundle of impressions/perceptions. - The basic objects of our experience and sensation.  There is no self that remains the same, consciousness is always changing. Hume’s sceptical claim is that we have no experience of a simple, individual impression that we can call the self—where the “self” is the totality of a person’s conscious life.  Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man. Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them. Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty. Immanuel Kant There is an inner and outer self. According to Kant, there is necessarily a mind that recognizes the different impressions that one gets in relation to his own existence. An actively engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes all knowledge and experience.  There is a mind that organizes the different impressions that one gets from the external world.  We are not rich by what we possess but by what we can do without. He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. Look closely. The beautiful may be small. Dare to think!  Sigmund Freud Freud's view of the self was multilayered, divided among: 1. Conscious - governed by the “reality principle” 2. Preconscious - contains thoughts that are unconscious but can be easily recalled 3. Unconscious - characterized by the most primitive level of human motivation and human functioning.  Structures of Personality Id Ego Superego - Instincts - Balances the id - Morale - Psychic energy or and the superego - ego-ideal (rewards) libido - conscience (punishment)  The Development of the Self: 1. Oral Stage – attachment 5. Genital Stage – heterosexual 2. Anal Stage – autonomy interests 3. Phallic Stage – identity 4. Latency Stage – interests  Defense Mechanisms 1. Repression - whenever the ego is threatened by undesirable id impulses, it protects itself by repressing those impulses. 2. Reaction formation - one of the ways in which a repressed impulse may become conscious is through adopting a disguise that is directly opposite to its original form. 3. Displacement - people can redirect their unacceptable urges onto a variety of people or objects so that the original impulse is disguised or concealed. 4. Projection - defined as seeing in others unacceptable feelings or tendencies that actually reside in one’s own unconscious.  One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. Being entirely honest is a good exercise. Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways. Paul and Patricia Churchland Churchland holds to eliminative materialism. Argues that the ordinary folk psychology of the mind is wrong. It is the physical brain and not the imaginary mind that gives us our sense of self. Churchland asserts that since the mind can't be experienced by our senses, then the it doesn't really exist.  Brains are not magical, they are causal machines. I am less attracted to guesses about what cannot be done, than about making progress on a problem. Maurice Merleau-Ponty According to him, the mind and body are so intertwined that they cannot be separated from one another. Intercorporeal self. One cannot find any experience that is not an embodies experience. One’s body is his opening toward his existence to the world. Mind or consciousness cannot be defined formally in terms of self- knowledge or representation, then, but is essentially engaged in the structures and actions of the human world and encompasses all of the diverse intentional orientations of human life.  The body is our general medium for having a world. We know not through our intellect but through our experience. The world and I are within one another. References https://study.com/academy/topic/understanding-the-self.html https://study.com/academy/lesson/self-understanding-and-self- concept.html https://www.slideshare.net/shinpaiwa/understanding-the-self- lecture-1-philosophical-perspectives