2.1-PHILOSOPHICAL-PERSPECTIVE (2).pptx

Foundation Definition Branches Philosophy Philos (Love) Metaphysics – explores the fundamental nature of reality...

Foundation Definition Branches Philosophy Philos (Love) Metaphysics – explores the fundamental nature of reality Sophia (Wisdom) Ontology (the nature of man) 3 Great “Golden Age” Reflects on and seeks to Epistemology – the nature Greek Philosophers answer reality, knowledge, and process of knowledge and values (how do we know) 1. Socrates 2. Plato 3. Aristotle Often called the mother of Axiology – study of values all disciplines because all and value judgment: fields of study began as philosophical discourses Attempted to explain Ethics – understanding natural and social what is right and wrong phenomena Aesthetics – what is beautiful  Foundation Definition Branches Psychology Logos (science) Abnormal Psychology Psyche (mind or soul) Biological Psychology Cognitive Psychology Science or study of Developmental mind and behavior Psychology Social Psychology Clinical Psychology Personality Psychology Health Psychology Foundation Definition Branches Sociology The study of the social History life of individuals, groups, and societies Political Science Economics Anthropology  PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE Discussion about Philosophical perspectives on the Self (Socrates, Plato, St. Augustine, Rene Descartes, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Sigmund Freud, Gilbert Ryle, Paul Churchland, Maurice Merleau-Ponty) Learning Objectives  At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:  discuss the different philosophical perspectives about the self;  compare and contrast the various philosophical theories; and examine the self through different philosophical views. Pre-Activity  Instructions: Write "✓" if you agree with the statement and "✗" if otherwise.  _____ 1. Different philosophers hold the same views about the self.  _____ 2. Philosophers used empirical and rational lenses in explaining the self.  _____ 3. As modern philosophers describe, the philosophy of the self is more relevant than that  of ancient philosophers.  _____ 4. Philosophical views of the self are a helpful guide to having a better life.  _____ 5. Philosophy of the self should only be studied by older individuals and not by younger generations. Philosophy of the Self  The self has been defined as “a unified being, essentially connected to consciousness, awareness, and agency (or, at least, with the faculty of rational choice).”  Different philosophers introduced specific characteristics and meanings of the self, which, over time, transformed from pure abstractions to explanations that hold scientific proofs. Socrates (469-399 BC) “Know thyself”  Known as the market philosopher because of his penchant for engaging youths in philosophizing in public markets, Socrates directed philosophy’s attention from the universe to examining our existence in the universe.  He reminds us to “know thyself,” which posits that if a person knows who they are, all fundamental issues and difficulties in life will vanish, and everything will be clearer and simpler.  One could now act according to their definition of the self without doubt and contradiction. Socrates held the question of who a man is in such high esteem that he also said, “An unexamined life is not worth living”. Here, there is an urgent call to examine one’s life, for it is in the examination that we can know ourselves Socrates (469-399 BC) “Know thyself”  Socrates is a dualist. He believed that man has a soul – which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble, and ever self-consistent and invariable – and a body – which is human, mortal, multiform, unintelligible, dissoluble, and inconsistent.  He added that some mental states can be attributed to the soul while others are linked to the body.  The body is vulnerable to basic emotions and actions; the soul controls these emotions and actions through proper judgment and reason. This differential establishes the superiority of the soul over the body. Socrates (469-399 BC) “Know thyself”  Socrates is a dualist. He believed that man has a soul – which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble, and ever self-consistent and invariable – and a body – which is human, mortal, multiform, unintelligible, dissoluble, and inconsistent.  He added that some mental states can be attributed to the soul while others are linked to the body.  The body is vulnerable to basic emotions and actions; the soul controls these emotions and actions through proper judgment and reason. This differential establishes the superiority of the soul over the body. Socrates (469-399 BC) “Know thyself”  For him, there was a soul first before man’s body.  Man’s existence was first in the realm of ideas and exists as a soul or pure mind. This soul has knowledge by direct intuition, which is stored in his mind. However, once he came to the material world or the world of senses, he needed to remember most of what he knew.  This resulted in a lack of knowledge or ignorance, which caused problems for man. But, knowledge can be restored through the process of the dialectic method, also known as the Socratic method – a sort of intellectual midwifery trying to coax knowledge out of man. Socrates (469-399 BC) “Know thyself”  This process is an exchange of questions and answers that ultimately aims to make the person remember all the knowledge they have forgotten, including their former omniscient self.  Answers will always be subjective, and there is no right or wrong answer to the questions posited by Socrates.  The quality and quantity of answers depend on the person answering these basic inquiries, and one’s subsequent actions are best understood on how one defines oneself, thus the constant reminder to “know thyself.” Socrates (469-399 BC) “Know thyself”  Self-knowledge, for Socrates, means knowing one’s degree of understanding about the world and one’s capabilities and potentials. It is only through self-knowledge that one’s self emerges.  Therefore, the self is achieved and not just discovered, something to work on and not a product of a mere realization.  For him, possession of knowledge is a virtue, and ignorance is a vice. He argued that a person’s acceptance of ignorance is a springboard for the acquisition of knowledge later on. So, one must first have the humility to acknowledge ignorance to acquire knowledge. PLATO (427-347 BCE) “Thinking – the talking of the soul with itself.”  An ancient Greek philosopher who was a student of  Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle, Plato produced a substantial body of work that became the basis for Western thought. Regarding the concept of the self, Plato was one of the first philosophers who believed in an enduring self that the soul represents.  He argued that the soul is eternal and constitutes the enduring self because the soul continues to exist even after death. PLATO (427-347 BCE) “Thinking – the talking of the soul with itself.”  An important part of his philosophy is the dichotomy of the ideal world or the world of forms – the permanent, unchanging reality – and the material world - the constantly changing An important part of his philosophy is the dichotomy of the ideal world or the world of forms – the permanent, unchanging reality – and the material world - the constantly changing representation. The material world is what we see around us.  For Plato, this is just a replica of the real world found in the world of Forms.  Plato’s insisted that the empirical reality we experience in the material world is fundamentally unreal and is only a shadow or a mere appearance. PLATO (427-347 BCE) “Thinking – the talking of the soul with itself.”  In contrast, the ultimate reality in the ideal world is real as it is eternal and constitutes abstract universal essences of things. Therefore, all things in the material world are unreal as they are all concrete objects. At the same time, the universal essences are authentic as they are immaterial blueprints of objects in the physical world. The tangible objects in this world are mere copies of these abstract universal essences.  This dichotomy is reflected in his idea of the nature of man.  He believed that human beings are composed of a body and a soul.  The soul is the true self -the permanent, unchanging self. PLATO (427-347 BCE) “Thinking – the talking of the soul with itself.”  The changing body, however, is not the real self but a replica of our true self. This is why it constantly changes- getting older, changing shape, etc.  The body is seen as some prison.  We can free ourselves from the imprisonment of our bodily senses through contemplation.  Contemplation entails communion of the mind with universal and eternal ideas. We continue to exist even in the absence of our bodies because we are Souls only. RENE DESCARTES (1956) “I think; therefore I am”  This Frenchman was considered the Father of Modern Philosophy and a brilliant mathematician (Cartesian Geometry).  “I think, therefore, I am,” also known as “Cogito ergo sum”, emphasizes the consciousness of his mind, which leads to evidence of his existence even though he doubts the existence of everything.  In other words, the existence of anything that you register from your senses can be questioned. One can always challenge the certainty of things, but the very fact that one doubts cannot be doubted. This is what “I think; therefore, I am” means. RENE DESCARTES (1956) “I think; therefore I am”  In Descartes’ methodic doubt, you can say, “I think I am strong; therefore, I am strong.” If you think you are strong, then you are strong. Whichever thought a person chooses is the one that is carried over into their “I am.”  Only humans have the hubris (excessive pride) of musing such irreverent questions on the existence and purpose of life. And only humans have satisfied themselves with their answers to their musings.  For Descartes, the mind and the body are separate and very distinct from one another, but he also believes that the mind is conjoined with the body in such an intimate way that they causally act upon each other. RENE DESCARTES (1956) “I think; therefore I am”  The self, for Descartes, is nothing else but a mind-body dichotomy. Thought (mind) always precedes action (body). Humans think first about doing something and then do it. The thought sets the direction for human actions, but humans are always free to choose.  Descartes believed the self is “a thinking thing or a substance whose whole essence or nature is merely thinking.” He also reassured that the self is different from the body. Hence, self and body exist but differ in existence and reality. The self is a feature not of the body but of the mind and, thus, a mental substance rather than a physical substance. JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704) “What worries you, masters you.”  Unlike the first few philosophers discussed, this English philosopher thinks our identity is not only locked in the mind, soul, or body.  Locke included the concept of a person’s memory in the definition of the self.  He subscribes to the memory theory that holds that we are the same person as we were in the past for as long as we can remember something from that past.  The idea is that as long as we have overlapping memories, we are the same person. That memory makes you aware of your existence.  You are connected to that past for as long as you and another person can remember that and still be mindful of the present. Also, if we want to know if the person is the same one we knew ten years ago, we only have to ask and test their memory to verify their identity. JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704) “What worries you, masters you.”  For Locke, consciousness is the perception of what passes in a man’s mind.  He rejected that the brain has something to do with consciousness as the brain and the body may change while consciousness remains the same.  He concluded that personal identity is not in the brain but in one’s consciousness.  He supports that consciousness can be transferred from one substance (body and soul) to another. For instance, while the soul is changed, consciousness remains the same, thereby maintaining the personal identity through the change. JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704) “What worries you, masters you.”  On the other hand, consciousness may be lost involuntarily through forgetfulness while the soul stays the same. With this, he claimed that there is the same soul but a different person.  Thus, the same soul is unnecessary or insufficient in forming one’s identity over time when consciousness is lost.  The other remarkable contribution of Locke was the notion of tabula rasa – a concept that posits everyone started as a blank slate, and the content is provided by one’s experiences over time. DAVID HUME (1711-1776) “There is no self.”  For the Scottish philosopher David Hume, there is no stable thing called the self, for the self is a complex set of successive impressions or perceptions.  Hume views the soul as a product of the imagination.  No primordial substance houses the self, and any concept of the self is simply memory and imagination.  What you think and what you feel constitute what you are at this very moment. So if at this moment, you are happy, then you are happy.  If you are hungry, then you are hungry. That is what you are; that is who you are. DAVID HUME (1711-1776) “There is no self.”  For Hume, the existence of the mind and what’s inside the mind is divided into two: impressions and ideas.  Impressions are those things we perceive through our senses as we experience them, while ideas are those we create in our minds even though we are no longer experiencing them.  Whenever we think of simple ideas, they must have as a basis a simple impression. Complex ideas happen when we combine simple ideas by arranging and rearranging them. Because of this, I can make an entirely new creation. His concept of the self follows this philosophical pattern. DAVID HUME (1711-1776) “There is no self.”  Hume argues that he finds a stream of impressions and ideas when he looks into his mind, but no impression corresponding to a self that endures through time.  The self keeps changing, like how one looks, feels, and thinks – they constantly change.  He concludes that the self is nothing over and above the perceptions we enjoy.  An “enduring self” is just a fiction produced by our imagination.  “I” will constantly change because the different experiences one has for every constant change will affect and reshape that person.  Thus, we cannot observe any permanent self because we continuously change. In conclusion, there is no self. IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804) “Dare to know!”  German philosopher Immanuel Kant theorized that consciousness is formed by one's inner and outer sense.  The inner sense is comprised of one's psychological state and intellect. The outer sense consists of one's senses and the physical world.  Consciousness of oneself and of one's psychological state was referred to by Kant as empirical self-consciousness. All representational states are in the inner sense such as moods, feelings, and sensations including pleasure and pain. One must be phenomenally conscious to be aware of something in the inner sense. On the other hand, consciousness of oneself and of one's state via acts of apperception is called transcendental apperception. This comes from the outer sense, and allows  one to synthesize or make sense of a unified object. It makes experience possible and allows the self and the world to come together. IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804) “Dare to know!”  Consciousness being unified, Kant argued, is the central feature of the mind.  The mind should perform both the unity of consciousness and apperception.  It is the self that organizes sensations and thoughts into a picture that makes sense to a person.  The self is not an object located in one's consciousness with other subjects.  The self itself is a subject. It is an organizing principle that makes a coherent experience possible by using the faculties of the mind to synthesize sensations into a unified whole.  The ability of the mind to regulate those experiences into one experience makes the self a product of reason. IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804) “Dare to know!”  In refuting Hume’s idea about an enduring self not existing, Kant stressed that self is something real, yet it is neither an appearance nor a thing in itself since it belongs to a different metaphysical class.  He believed in the existence of God and soul and emphasized that it is only through experience that humans can acquire knowledge.  However, there are questions that humans have no answers to in the aspect of metaphysics.  For his idea of the self, Kant believes that man is a free agent, capable of making a decision for himself.  His philosophy centers and revolves around the inherent dignity of a human being.  As a free agent, man is gifted with reason and free will.  He also said that since man is gifted with reason and free will, man can organize the data gathered by the senses. From these data, and the way we organize the data, we can now have a good idea of a man. SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) “The ego is not the master in its own house.”  This Austrian neurologist’s contribution to psychology, the Psychoanalytic Theory, led to another understanding of the philosophy of the mind. One of his famous ideas was the tripartite division of man’s mind – the id, ego, and superego.  Id has existed since birth, pertaining to instinct. It operates on the hedonistic or pleasure principle seeking immediate gratification and avoiding pain.  It serves as a storeroom of wishes and obsessions related to sexual and aggressive desires.  It ignores reality, harmony, common sense, and reason. This structure does not recognize good or evil, laws or rules, morality or beliefs. An egoistic, coarse, and barbaric brute emerges if it is dominant. SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) “The ego is not the master in its own house.”  Ego operates according to the reality principle.  This structure’s role is to maintain equilibrium between the demands of the id and superego in accordance with what is best and practical in reality.  It is developed by the individual’s experiences and adheres to the principles of reason and logic. The ego ensures the continuous existence and protection of the individual.  If the ego is successful, it produces a brilliant, creative, and emotionally- balanced individual. SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) “The ego is not the master in its own house.”  Superego is the last layer to develop.  It operates according to the morality principle.  Superego is the reservoir of moral standards.  It ensures compliance with society’s norms, values, and standards.  It is developed through socialization in various agents like home, school, church, and others.  If the superego is dominant, a law-abiding, morally upright, god-fearing, and socially acceptable individual appears. SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) “The ego is not the master in its own house.”  In a man’s stages of development, the id and the superego will find themselves clashing against each other, with the superego trying to control the Id’s impulses and the Id trying to satisfy its urges.  The winner of this inner battle will be manifested in the ego, which is the self. Things are not in control of the ego, but the ego only manifests the winner between the two.  If the ego behaves, then the superego wins. If ego misbehaves, then Id won. This battle occurs in the subconscious, and the realm of the ego is found in the conscious. GILBERT RYLE (1900-1976) “I act; therefore I am.”  Gilbert Ryle, a British philosopher, supported the basic notions of behavioristic psychology.  His theory is called logical behaviorism or analytical behaviorism – a theory of mind that states that mental concepts can be understood through observable events.  For Ryle, the properties of a person are better understood as adjectives modifying a body than as nouns (objects) parallel to it.  Kindness, for example, is not a thing that exists apart from and parallel to the body but rather a collection of properties a body has. GILBERT RYLE (1900-1976) “I act; therefore I am.”  Kindness includes properties such as being generous, humble, courteous, loyal, and honest.  Someone who never exhibited these traits would not be called kind, and anyone considered kind exhibits some of these traits.  The only proof of the mind’s operation is evident in activities like singing, running, walking, and the like.  The self is the way people behave. Knowing and believing are just dispositions but these influence people’s actions. Therefore, the tendency to learn, think, feel, and act is called the mind. GILBERT RYLE (1900-1976) “I act; therefore I am.”  For Descartes, the mind is a non-physical entity within the body, producing human behavior. This, to Ryle, is the error because a talk about the mind is simply a talk about behavior.  The mind is not distinct from the body but refers to certain aspects of our bodies.  The separation of mind/soul and body could be possible, but this is hardly the case in practice.  The only way we can know how the mind works is through the person’s behavior; hence we can only know a person through how one behaves, tendencies, and reactions in certain circumstances. PAUL & PATRICIA CHURCHLAND (1942/1943) “The self is the brain.”  American neuroscientists Paul Churchland and Patricia Churchland introduced eliminative materialism – a radical claim that ordinary, common sense understanding of the mind is deeply wrong and that some or all of the mental states posited by common sense do not exist.  For them, it is false to claim that folk psychology, or common sense psychology, is the capacity to explain people’s mental states.  Most people think we have a stream of consciousness that contains images and conceptions of things about which we have beliefs and attitudes.  Our thoughts and attitudes are supported by our feelings, which include mental states like joy and sorrow or anxiety and relief.  It is also a folk belief that our sense of the world and ourselves directly represents how the world is formed, thus making our bodies reflect or adapt to how the world is. PAUL & PATRICIA CHURCHLAND (1942/1943) “The self is the brain.”  With the advent of science and learning more about the nuances of the brain, it becomes clear to Churchland that the term “mind”, our moods, emotions, actions, and consciousness, are deeply affected by the state of our brain.  Our feelings, actions, and physical state are successfully altered by manipulating certain parts of our brains.  It is only a matter of time before we can fully comprehend how the brain works for us to understand how it creates the self.  He proposes that a new conceptual framework should be made which is based on neuroscience. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY (1908- 1961) “I am my body.”  A French phenomenological philosopher, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, distinguished the body into two types: the subjective body, as lived and experienced, and the objective body, as observed and scientifically investigated.  For him, these two are not different bodies. The former is the body as-it- is-lived. He regarded the self as embodied subjectivity.  It sees human beings neither as disembodied minds (existing without body) nor as complex machines but as living creatures whose subjectivity (consciousness) is actualized in the forms of their physical involvement with the world.  The body is the general medium for having a world; we know through intellect and experience.  The latter is the body as observed and scientifically investigated. It is the body that is known to others. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY (1908- 1961) “I am my body.”  For him, a person is defined by movement and expression.  To be a self is to be more than one’s body. It includes everything I will do with my body, how I will act on it, and how I will make it work with other human beings.  I am the sum of all that I make my body do. This includes the interpretation of the past and how I make decisions in the present.  The self is grounded on the experiences from the past, the possibilities for the future, and the present cognition.  He approaches the idea of self as a continuous flow of movement and expression from infancy to adulthood.  Our perception of who we are is strictly tied to our bodily development. The self is a product of our conscious human experience.  The definition of self is all about one’s perception of one’s experience and the interpretation of those experiences. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY (1908- 1961) “I am my body.”  Merleau-Ponty opposed the dualist account of subjectivity. Mind and body are essentially correlated, and it is only possible to understand subjectivity by considering this essential correlation.  He also opposed the Cartesian cogito. For him, consciousness is both perceiving and engaging. References  Corpuz, R.M., Estoque, R.S., Tabotabo C.V. (2019). Understanding the Self. C&E Publishing  Macayan, J.V., Pinugu, J.N.J., Castilo, J.C.D.C. (2018). Understanding the Self. Outcome- based Module. C&E Publishing, Inc.  Palea, E.D.V., Nazario, M.B.D., Valero, J.B.G., Descartin, I.K.L., Morales-Nuncio, E. (2018). Introspection: Understanding the Self. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.  Additional Materials:  Batman & Identity by Crashcourse  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TFCMK4i2lo&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNgK6MZucdYldNkMy bYIH KR&index=19  Personal Identity by Crashcourse  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trqDnLNRuSc&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNgK6MZucdYldNkMy bYIH KR&index=20  Arguments Against Personal Identity by Crashcourse  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17WiQ_tNld4&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNgK6MZucdYldNkMy bYIH KR&index=21 Their Perspective Is...  Instructions: The class will be divided into groups. The theories made by the philosophers included various concepts. With your groupmates, write one concept for every theory you either agree or disagree with and explain briefly why you have such mindset in the spaces provided.  1. Socrates  2. Plato  3. Descartes  4. Locke  5. Hume  6. Kant  7. Freud  8. Ryle  9. Churchland  10. Merleau-Ponty My Perspective Is...  Instructions: Out of all the perspectives discussed, which concepts do you think explain your identity the best? Explain extensively in the space below.  _________________________________________________________________________ ______