Understanding The Self - Module 1 PDF

Republic of the Philippines **EULOGIO "AMANG" RODRIGUEZ** **INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY** **C a v i t e C a m p u s** General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite **GEUNDETS: UNDERSTANDING THE SELF** **MODULE 1: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE** **Introduction:** *The history of p...

Republic of the Philippines **EULOGIO "AMANG" RODRIGUEZ** **INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY** **C a v i t e C a m p u s** General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite **GEUNDETS: UNDERSTANDING THE SELF** **MODULE 1: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE** **Introduction:** *The history of philosophy is replete with men and women who inquired into the fundamental nature of the self. Along with the question of the primary substratum that defines the multiplicity of things in the world, the inquiry on the self has preoccupied the earliest thinkers in the history of philosophy: The Greeks. The Greeks were the ones who seriously questioned myths and moved away from them in attempting to understand reality and respond to perennial question of curiosity, including the question of self. The different perspective and views on the self can be best seen and understood by revisiting its prime moves and identity the most important conjectures made by philosophers by the ancient times to the contemporary period.* **Objectives:** At the end of this lesson, you should be able to: 1. Explain why it is essential to understand the self 2. Describe and discuss the different notions of the self from the points-of-view of the various philosophers across time and place 3. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented in different philosophical school 4. Examine one's self against the different views of self that were discuss in this topic. **What is Philosophy?** - Greek: (φιλοσοφία, philosophia, \'love of wisdom\') - The original meaning of the word **philosophy** comes from the Greek words ***philo***- meaning *\"love\"* and -***sophos,*** or *\"wisdom\".* - *Academic discipline concerned with investigating the nature of significance and scientific belief* - *Investigates the legitimacy of concept by rational arguments concerning their implication, relationships as well as reality, knowledge and moral judgment* **SOCRATES** Prior to Socrates, the Greek thinkers (Pre-Socratics) pre occupied themselves with the question of the primary substratum (Arché) **Arché** - origin or source; the "soul" the primal matter - The soul movement is the ultimate arché of all other movement - explains the multiplicity of things in the world - Socrates was more concerned with another subject, The problem of the self - He is first philosopher who were engaged in a systematic questioning about self - To Socrates, this has become his lifelong mission. **[The true task of the philosopher is to know oneself]** - During his trial for allegedly corrupting the minds of the youth, Socrates declared without regret that his being indicted was brought about by his going around to Athens engaging men, women, young and old to question their presupposition about themselves and about the world particular about who they are - Most men in reckoning were really not fully aware of who they were and the virtues that they were supposed to attain in order to preserve their soul after life - Socrates thought that this is the worst that could happen to anyone: **[to live but to die inside ]** - For Socrates, every man is composed of **body** and **soul** - This means that every human person is **dualistic** - For Socrates, there are two aspects of personhood which means that individuals have an *imperfect* and *impermanent* aspect which is the **[body]** while maintaining that there is also a **[soul]** that is *perfect* and *permanent.* **PLATO** - Plato, Socrates' student (arguably Socrates' most famous disciple) basically took off from his master and supported the idea of Socrates that man is a dual nature of body and soul. - He believed that the soul is distinct to man and it is God-given. - Plato also states in his idea of self, that the soul is composed of three parts, our desires, the conscious awareness of reason and spirited part which gets angry at injustice - Plato added that there are parts of three components of soul: a. **the rational soul** b. **the spirited soul** c. **the appetitive soul** **Rational soul** forged by reason and intellect has to govern the affairs of the human body. --------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **Spirited soul** in charged by emotions **Appetitive soul** in charge of base desires, like eating, drinking, sleeping and having sexual intercourse. - In his Magnus Opos, The Republic (Plato 2000) 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. - When these are attained, the human person's soul becomes just and virtues **ST. AUGUSTINE** - View of the human person reflects the entire spirit of the medieval world when it comes to man. - Following the ancient view of Plato and infusing it with the new doctrine of Christianity. - Augustine agreed that man is of a bifurcated nature. - There is an aspect of man, which dwells in the world, that is imperfect and continuously yearns to be with the divine while the other is capable of reaching immortality. - The body is bound to die on Earth and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in realm of spiritual bliss in communion with God. - This is because the body can only thrive the imperfect, physical reality that is the world, whereas the soul can also stay after death in the eternal realm with 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. **THOMAS AQUINAS** - Adopted some ideas from Aristotle - According to Him, Man is composed of two part: **MATTER** and **FORM** +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **MATTER** (body) | - ***hyle*** in Greek | | | | | | - *r*efers to the common stuff | | | that makes up the universe. | | | | | | - Man's body is part of this | | | form | +===================================+===================================+ | **FORM** (soul) | - ***morphe*** in Greek | | | | | | - refers to the essence of a | | | substance or thing. | | | | | | - it is what it makes us human. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ - Aquinas stated that the body of a human is similar to animal or objects, but what makes a human is his essence. "The soul is what makes us human" - According to Him, the body of the human person is something that he shares even with animals. The cell in man's body is more or less akin to the cells of any living, organic being in the world. - To Aquinas, just as for Aristotle, the soul is what animates the body. It is what makes us human **RENE DESCARTES** - Rene Descartes is the Father of modern Philosophy - He conceived that the human person as having a body and a mind - Rene De Carte in his most famous treatise, *The Meditation of first Philosophy,* he claims that there is so much that we should doubt. In fact, he says that since much of what we think and believe are not infallible, they turn out to be false. One should only believe that since which can pass the test of doubt. If something is so clear as not to be even doubted, that's the only time when one should actually buy a proposition. - In the end Descartes thought the only thing that once cannot doubt is the existence of self, for even one doubt oneself, that only proves that there is a doubting self, a thing that thinks and therefore cannot be doubted - He thought that the only thing that one cannot doubt is the existence of the self - ***Cogito ergo sum*** or I think therefor, I am - The fact that one thinks should lead one to conclude without a trace a doubt that he exists - The self then for Descartes is a: Combination of two distinct entities ***Cogito*** the one thing that thinks, which is the mind ***Extenza** or* the extension of the body, which is the body - In Descartes view, body is nothing else but machine that is attached to the mind. The human person has it but it's not make a man a man. If at all, that is the mind. *"But what then am I? A thinking thing? It is a thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses; that imagines also, and perceives." -Descartes* **DAVID HUME** - David Hume is a Scottish philosopher, has a very unique way of looking at man - Disagrees with all theory aforementioned philosophers - As Empiricist who believes that one can know only what comes from the **senses** and **experiences** - Empiricism is the school of thought that espouses the idea that knowledge can only be possible if its sensed and experienced. Men can only attained knowledge by experiencing - According to him, *"the self is not an entity over and beyond the physical body."* - *You know that the other people are humans not because you have seen their soul, but because you see them, hear them and feel them.* - Impression are the basic object of our experience or sensation - To David Hume, the self is nothing else but a **bundle of impressions**. **What are impressions?** If one tries to examine his experiences, he finds that they can be all categorized in to two: Impressions and ideas - **Impression** --are the basic object of our experience or sensation. They therefore form the core of our thoughts. Impressions are the product of our direct experience with the world - **Ideas**- are copies of impression **What is the self?** - According to Hume, it is "A bundle of collection of different perception, which succeed each other with inconceivable rapidity and are in perpetual flux and movement. " - Men simply want to believe that there is unified, coherent self, a soul or mind just like what previous philosophers thought, in reality, what one thinks is a unified self is simply a combination of all experiences with a particular person. - Men simply want to believe that there is a unified, coherent self or mind just like what the previous philosophers thought. In reality, what one thinks as unified self is simply a combination of all experiences with a particular person. **IMMANUEL KANT** - Stated that the mind is not blank, but rather, the mind is capable of acquiring knowledge through sensory experiences. - Kant recognizes the veracity in Hume's account that everything starts with perception and sensation and perception of impressions. - However, Kant thinks that the things that men perceive around them are not just randomly infused into the human person without an organizing principle that regulates the relationship of this impressions. - For Kant, there is necessarily a mind that organizes the impressions that men get from the external world. Kant calls these the **apparatus of the mind.** - Along with the different apparatus of the mind goes the self, one cannot organize the different impressions that one gets in relation to his own existence. - Kant therefore suggests that the "self" is an actively engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes all knowledge and experience. - We need active **[intelligence]** to synthesize all knowledge and experience - Thus, the self is not just what gives one his personality. It is also the **seat of knowledge** acquisition for all human persons. **GILBERT RYLE** - Gilbert Ryle solves the mind-body dichotomy that has been running for the history of thought by denying blatantly the concept of an internal, non-physical self. - For him, what truly matter is the behaviors that person manifests in day-to-day life. - He 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 the behaviors that people make. **MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY** - Is a phenomenologist who asserts that the mind-body bifurcation that has been going for a long time is futile endeavor and an invalid problem. - Unlike Ryle who simply denies the self, Merleau -- Ponty instead says that the mind and body are so intertwined that they **cannot be separated** from one another. - One cannot find any experience that is not 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. - He dismisses the idea of Cartesian Dualism, for him Cartesian problem is nothing else but plain misunderstanding. The Living body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one. REFERENCE: *Alata, Eden Joy P., et al, (2018). Understanding the Self. Manila. Rex Bookstore*