GE1-Lesson1 (1) PDF - Defining The Self

CHAPTER I DEFINING THE SELF: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES ON SELF AND IDENTITY Lesson 1 PHILOSOPHICAL...

CHAPTER I DEFINING THE SELF: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES ON SELF AND IDENTITY Lesson 1 PHILOSOPHICAL THEORIES OF THE SELF INTRODUCTION The philosophy of self is the study of the many factors that define an individual’s identity and distinguish them as a unique subject of experience. In this module, we will explore into the different ways philosophers have thought about the self. LEARNING OBJECTIVES At the end of this lesson, you should be able to: explain why it is important to understand the self; discuss different philosophical theories of the self; compare and contrast the different philosophical theories of the self; and answer the questions on self-identity themselves using the philosophical theories given in class. LESSON INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY The term “philosophy” literally means “love of wisdom” was coined by Pythagoras who did not want himself to be called a wise man but only a friend or lover of wisdom (Gripaldo 2000, 12 citing Chroust 1964). Pythagoras’s love of wisdom became the fundamental etymology of “Philosophy.” Citing Bittle (1935) Palmiano (2015, 6) provides for the Technical Definition of Philosophy which stated as: “the science of beings in their ultimate reasons, causes and principles acquired by the aid of human reason alone.” Lesson 1 Philosophical Theories of the Self 1 HERE ARE 4 REASONS WHY SELF-UNDERSTANDING IS ESSENTIAL: 1. Self-understanding provides a sense of purpose. Ever find yourself in a situation where you have been doing everything that you have ever learnt and been told to do for a successful (however you define it) life, yet at the end of the day, you find yourself exhausted and feeling uninspired? And this cycle repeats itself day after day, week after week with no clear indication if it will ever end? Without understanding ourselves first, we are like a boat feeling left in the ocean without a paddle to navigate the vast, ever-changing waters. Some days we get lucky and find ourselves in a beautiful island with abundant resources that can provide for everyone on-board. Other days we are left looking out to the horizon wondering what we will encounter next. The truth is we all have our moments of doubt and fear regardless of where we are on our journey. We are the only one responsible for our own actions. Find a moment each day or each week. Ask “what is it that I truly want to achieve in this life?” and listen intently to that inner voice. What do you hear? 2. Self-understanding helps harness your natural strength. Have you ever felt that no matter how hard you try, you always fall short of being like that eloquent talker who is the life of the party wherever they go? Have you ever felt anxious for being put on the spot to speak among a group of people? Chances are you are an introvert who has the preference for processing your feelings and thoughts before speaking or taking action. And the person that you are comparing yourself to may just be the polar opposite of you, someone who prefers to speak first and leave the thinking and feeling for later. Reality is we will always fall short of the people whom we are comparing ourselves to because we lack self-understanding to begin with. In the same way, it is not meaningful in comparing a fish to a bird because they simply have different characteristics and needs despite them living on the same planet. Lesson 1 Philosophical Theories of the Self 2 3. Self-understanding promotes confidence. Do you have that burning desire to help and serve but do not always know how to go about doing it? As humans we all have our moments of doubt and fear, we doubt that we have what it takes, we fear failure. These feelings are indeed valid. If we want absolute security in life, just listen to those doubts and fears and not challenge one bit. This way, we guarantee ourselves to never try something that is too out of line (however you define that), never start that project that we do not have complete knowledge about, never talk to that someone that seems too different from us, never go to places that seem too different from our own. 4. Self-understanding leads to healthier relationships. Chances are you have been in relationship that is both heart-warming and heart-wrenching or anywhere in between. On a good day, it makes you feel like you can conquer the highest mountain and take on anything life throws at you; on a bad day, it makes you feel like an utter failure and you feel so weak that you do not even want to open your eyes. You let that someone dictate your physical and emotional well- being. By attaching our self-worth to anything external, we are bound to experience extreme highs and lows with little sense of control. We become angry when someone does or says something hurtful, we react negatively to passing comments. We take it out on others, always blaming everyone and everything other than ourselves. The truth is we only have ourselves to blame; for not understanding what we truly want, for not understanding where that someone else is coming from and for not realising that none of us is perfect. We can’t expect others to truly accept us as we are if we constantly wear that social mask in order to fit in. Are you able to identify a relationship that brings out the best of you and the other person involved? Lesson 1 Philosophical Theories of the Self 3  The different perspectives and views on the self can be best seen and understand by revisiting its prime movers and identify the most important conjectures made by philosophers from the ancient times to the contemporary period. SOCRATES “The unexamined life is not worth living.” He was the first philosopher who ever engaged in a systematic questioning about the self. To Socrates, the true task of the philosopher is to know oneself. Plato claimed in his dialogs that Socrates affirmed that the unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates thought that this is the worst that can happen to anyone: to live but die inside. PLATO “For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories” Plato, Socrates’s student, supported the idea that man is dual nature of body and soul. In addition to what Socrates earlier espoused, Plato added that there are three components of the soul: 1. Rational Soul - forged by reason and intellect; govern the human affairs of the human person 2. Spirited Soul - in-charge of emotions 3. Appetitive Soul - in-charge of base desires like eating, drinking, sleeping, and having sex. ARISTOTLE “At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.” The man is in the scheme of nature as “thinking animal.” The spirit which distinguishes man as a rational being is “incapable of being destroyed.” It is a special part of the psyche (soul), which in turn is the force that animates the body. The soul has a purpose, and carries with it the means to achieve this end. As an animal, man is also a “political animal”. In this, Aristotle means that man becomes man among others, living in a society governed by laws and customs. The man develops his potential and realizes his natural end in a social context. Lesson 1 Philosophical Theories of the Self 4 For Aristotle, the ultimate happiness is found when man becomes virtuous. Virtue for the Greeks is excellence. A virtuous person is someone who performs the distinctive activity of being human well. A virtuous person exhibits all of the virtues: they do not properly exist as distinct qualities but rather as different aspects of a virtuous life. The Four Cardinal Virtues for Aristotle are the following: Prudence, Temperance, Courage and Justice. ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO “This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own perfection.” For Augustine, an aspect of man (body) dwells in the world and is imperfect 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. This is because the body can only thrive in the imperfect, physical reality that is the world, whereas the soul can also stay after death in an eternal realm with the all-transcendent God. The goal of every human person is to attain this communion and bliss with the Divine by living his life on earth in virtue. RENE DESCARTES “Cogito Ergo Sum!” “I Think Therefore I am!” Rene Descartes, Father of Modern Philosophy, conceived of the human person as having a body and a mind. Descartes thought that the only thing that one cannot doubt is the existence of the self, for even if one doubts oneself, that only proves that there is doubting self, a thing that thinks and therefore, that cannot be doubted. Thus, his famous Cogito Ergo Sum – I Think Therefore I am! The fact that one thinks should lead one to conclude without a trace of doubt that he exists. The SELF then for Descartes is also a combination of two distinct entities, the Cogito – the thing that thinks, which is the mind and the extenza or extension of the mind, which is the body. THOMAS AQUINAS He is the most eminent thirteenth century scholar and stalwart of the medieval philosophy appended something to this Christian view. Adapting some ideas from Aristotle, Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two parts: matter and form. The Physical Body is the matter while the Spiritual Soul is the form. For Thomas Aquinas, what makes man a human person and not a dog, or a tiger is his soul, his essence. To Aquinas, the soul is what animates the body; it is what makes us humans. Lesson 1 Philosophical Theories of the Self 5 DAVID HUME To David Hume, the self is nothing else but a bundle of impressions. What are impressions? For David Hume, if one tries to examine his experiences, he finds that they can all be categorized into two: impressions and ideas. Impressions - basic objects of our experience or sensation Ideas - copy of impressions Self, according to Hume, simply a bundle of collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity and are in a perpetual flux and movement.” In reality, what one thinks is a unified self is simply a combination of all experiences with a particular person. IMMANUEL KANT “To be is to do.” In the “Self”, there is necessarily a mind that organizes all the thoughts or ideas received through experiences. Without the self, one cannot organize the different impressions that one gets in relation to his own existence. Kant therefore suggests that it is an actively engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes all knowledge and experience. Thus, the self is not just what gives one his personality. In addition, it is also the seat of knowledge [Public Domain], via WikiMedia Commons acquisition for all human persons. GILBERT RYLE Gilbert Ryle solves the mind-body dichotomy that has been running for a long time in the history of thought by denying the concept of an internal, non-physical aspect self. For Ryle, what truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his day-to-day life. For Ryle, looking for and trying to understand a self as it really exists is like visiting your friend’s university and looking for the “university.” One can roam around the Whistler, R. [Public Domain], via WikiMedia Commons campus, visit the library and the football field, and meet the administrators and faculty and still end up not finding the “university.” This is because, the campus, the people, the systems, and the territory all form the university. Lesson 1 Philosophical Theories of the Self 6  Ryle suggests that the “self” is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient name that people use to refer to all behaviors that people make. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY, a phenomenologist who asserts that the mind-body bifurcation that has been going on for a long time is a futile endeavor and an invalid problem. Unlike Ryle who simply denies the “self,” Merleau- Ponty instead says that the mind and the body are so intertwined that they cannot be separated from one another. One cannot find any experience that is not an embodied experience. All experience is embodied. One’s body is his opening toward his existence to the world. Because of these bodies, men are in the world. [Public Domain], via WikiMedia Commons LEARNING ACTIVITY Do you truly know yourself? Answer the following questions about yourself as fully and precisely as you can. 1. How would you characterize your self? 2. What makes you stand out from the rest? What makes your self special? Lesson 1 Philosophical Theories of the Self 7 3. How has yourself transformed itself? 4. Why is it essential to understand the self? 5. How is your self related to other selves? 6. What will happen to your self after you die? Lesson 1 Philosophical Theories of the Self 8