Lesson 1 Module.docx

**Chapter 1: Who am I? A Philosophical Journey to Discovering the Self** **What is Philosophy?** - - **Ancient Greek Philosophers** **SOCRATES (Know Thyself)** - "An unexamined life is not worth living." - Everyman is **dualistic.** - composed of **body and soul** - **Body** is...

**Chapter 1: Who am I? A Philosophical Journey to Discovering the Self** **What is Philosophy?** - - **Ancient Greek Philosophers** **SOCRATES (Know Thyself)** - "An unexamined life is not worth living." - Everyman is **dualistic.** - composed of **body and soul** - **Body** is imperfect and impermanent - **Soul** is perfect and permanent. - **Two: Dichotomous Realm** - Changeable, transient and imperfect - The body belongs to this realm - Unchanging, eternal and immortal - The soul belongs to this realm - Socrates was the first thinker to focus on the full power of reason on human self: who we are, who we should be and who we will become. - The soul strives for wisdom and perfection, and the reason is the soul's tool to achieve an exalted state of life. - A person can have a meaningful and happy life only if he becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can be achieved through constant soul-searching. **PLATO (The Soul is Immortal)** - a student of Socrates - Philosophy of the self can be explained as a process of self-knowledge and purification of the soul. - He believed in the existence of the mind and soul. - Mind and soul are given in perfection with God. - Plato believes that genuine happiness can only be achieved by people who consistently make sure that their Rational is in control of their Spirits and Appetites **ARISTOTLE (The soul is the essence of the self)** - a student of Plato - The body and soul are not two separate elements but are one thing - The soul is simply the Form of the body, and is not capable of existing without the body. - **Kinds of Soul** **OTHER PHILOSOPHERS** **ST. AUGUSTINE** - integrated the ideas of Plato and Christianity - Augustine's view of the human person reflects the entire spirit of the medieval world. - The soul is united with the body so that man may be entire and complete. - Believed humankind is created in the image and likeness of God. - Therefore, the human person being a creation of God is always geared towards the good. - The self is known only through knowing God - Self-knowledge is a consequence of knowledge of God. **RENE DESCARTES** - **" I think, therefore, I am."** - The act of thinking about self-of being self-conscious- is in itself proof that there is self. - 2 Distinct Entities - the thing that thinks - mind **2. Extenza** - the extension - body **JOHN LOCKE** - "The self is consciousness" - The human mind at birth is tabula rasa or blank slate. - He felt that the self is constructed primarily from sense experiences. - Locke theorized that when they are born, all babies know absolutely nothing. - He argued that the inside of a baby's brain was empty-ready to learn everything through experiences. - **Consciousness** - Necessary to have a coherent personal identity or knowledge of the self as a person. - What makes possible our belief, is that we are the same identity in different situations. **DAVID HUME** - "There is no self" - Self is simply a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidly and are in perpetual flex and movement. - The idea of personal identity is a result of imagination. **IMMANUEL KANT** - "We construct the self." - Self is not just what gives one his personality but also the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons. - The self-constructs its own reality creating a world that is familiar and predictable. - Through our rationality, the self transcends sense experience **GILBERT RYLE** - "The self is the way people behave." - Self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people make - The self is the way people behave. **PAUL CHURCHLAND** - "The self is the brain." - The self is inseparable from the brain and the physiology of the body. - All we have is the brain and so, if the brains gone, there is no self. - The physical brain and not the imaginary mind, gives us our sense of self. - The mind does not really exist. - It is the brain and not the imaginary mind that gives us our sense of self. **MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY** - - - -