Philosophical Perspective of the Self PDF

CHAPTER 1 | Philosophical Perspective of the Self Learning Outcomes At the end of the chapter, you should be able to: a. explain the role of philosophy in understanding the concept of self; b. discuss the different concepts of the self from the philosophica...

CHAPTER 1 | Philosophical Perspective of the Self Learning Outcomes At the end of the chapter, you should be able to: a. explain the role of philosophy in understanding the concept of self; b. discuss the different concepts of the self from the philosophical perspective; c.differentiate the various concepts of the self and identify their similarities; and d. develop your own philosophy of the self. Know thyself. - Socrates  Philosophy employs the inquisitive mind to discover the ultimate causes, reasons, and principles of everything. It goes beyond scientific investigation by exploring all areas of knowledge such as religion, psychology, politics, physics, and even medicine. Hence the etymological definition of philosophy “love of wisdom” could pertain to the desire for truth by formulating never-ending questions to provide answers to every inquiry about the nature of human existence. The nature of the self is a topic of interest among philosophers. The philosophical framework for understanding the self was first introduced by the ancient great Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. SOCRATES: AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING For Socrates, the self is synonymous with the soul. He believes that every human possesses an immortal soul that survives the physical body. Socrates was the first to focus on the full power of reason on the human self: who we are, who we should be, and who we will become. He suggests that reality consists of two dichotomous realms: physical and ideal realm. unchanging, eternal, perfect, and immortal. includes the intellectual essences of the universe, concepts such as truth, goodness, and beauty. the soul belongs here changeable, transient, and imperfect the physical world in which man lives, as well as the body, belongs here Socrates explains that the essence of the self – the soul – is the immortal entity. It strives for wisdom and perfection, and reason is the soul’s tool to achieve this exalted state. But then, as long as the soul is tied to the body, the quest for wisdom is inhibited by the imperfection of the physical realm, where it wanders and is confused. Socrates thus suggests that man must live an examined life and a life of purpose and value. For him, an unexamined life is not worth living. An individual can have a meaningful and happy life only if he becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can be achieved through incessant soul-searching. He must begin at the source of all knowledge and significance – the self. The Socratic method – introspection – is a method of carefully examining one’ thoughts and emotions – to gain self-knowledge.  PLATO: THE SELF IS AN IMMORTAL SOUL A student of Socrates, Plato elaborated on his teacher’s concept of the soul. He believed that the self is synonymous with the soul. His philosophy can be explained as a process of self-knowledge and purification of the soul. Specifically, Plato introduces the idea of a three-part soul/self: reason, physical appetite, and spirit/passion. Reason (or rational soul) is the divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths. Physical appetite (or appetitive soul) includes our basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire. Spirit or Passion (or spirited soul) includes basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness, and empathy. These three elements of our selves are in a dynamic relationship with one another, sometimes in conflict. When conflict occurs, Plato believes it is the responsibility of Reason to sort things out and exert control, restoring a harmonious relationship among the three elements of ourselves. Further, he believes that genuine happiness can only be achieved by people who consistently make sure that their Reason is in control of their Spirits and Appetites. This harmonious integration under the control of Reason is the essence of Plato’s concept of justice. As such, if man lives in accordance to his nature, then he is giving justice to his existence. In his Theory of Forms, Plato further elaborates his ideas about the soul and introduces the concepts of the two worlds: the world of forms (non-physical ideas) and the world of sense (reality). real and permanent temporary; only a replica of the ideal world Plato claims that the sensible world is dependent on the ideal world where the concept of the soul belongs. Since soul is regarded as something permanent, man should give more importance to it than the physical body which resides in the world of sense.  ARISTOTLE: THE SOUL IS THE ESSENCE OF THE SELF Another Greek philosopher, Aristotle, believed that the soul is merely a set of defining features and does not consider the body and soul as separate entities. He suggests that anything with life has a soul. The soul is the essence of all livings. Thus, the soul is the essence of the self. However. humans differ from other living things because of their capacity for rational thinking. His discussion about the self centers on the three kinds of soul possessed by man: vegetative, sentient, and rational. Vegetative soul includes the physical body that can grow. Sentient soul includes sensual desires, feelings, and emotions. Rational soul is what makes man human and includes the intellect that allows man to know and understand things. Thus, Aristotle suggests that the rational nature of the self is to lead a good, flourishing, and fulfilling life (self-actualization). The pursuit of happiness is a search for a good life that includes doing virtuous actions. In saying this, he posits that part of the rational soul is characterized by moral virtues such as justice and courage. ST. AUGUSTINE: THE SELF HAS AN IMMORTAL SOUL The African philosopher, Augustine, is regarded as a saint (i.e., St. Augustine of Hippo) in the Catholic Church. He integrates the ideas of Plato and teachings of Christianity. Augustine believes that the physical body is radically different from and inferior to its inhabitant, the immortal soul. As his thinking matured, he developed a more unified perspective on the body and soul. He ultimately came to view the body as “spouse” of the soul, both attached to one another by a “natural appetite.” HE believes that the body is united with the soul, so that man may be entire and complete. Nevertheless, as a religious philosopher, he contemplates on the nature of man with emphasis on the soul as an important element of man. He believes that the soul is what governs and defines a man.  In his work, Confessions, Augustine describes that humankind is created in the image and likeness of God. Everything created by God who is all good is good. Therefore, the human person, being a creation of God is always geared towards the good. Augustine is convinced that the self is known only through knowing God. Accordingly, self-knowledge is a consequence of knowledge of God. Augustine espouses the significance of reflection, as well as the importance of prayers and confessions to arrive at a justification for the existence of God. For him, “knowledge can only come by seeing the truth that dwells within us.” The truth of which Augustine speaks refers to the truth of knowing God. God is transcendent and the self seeks to be united with God through faith and reason. In his mission to discover the truth on the existence of God, Augustine develops the fundamental concept of the human person, and thus provides the philosophical principle, “I am doubting, therefore I am.” THOMAS AQUINAS: THE SOUL IS WHAT ANIMATES THE BODY Aquinas, the most eminent 13th century scholar and stalwart of the medieval philosophy appended something to St. Augustine’ Christian view. Adopting ideas from Aristotle, Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two parts: matter and form. Matter, or hyle in Greek, refers to the “common stuff that makes up everything in the universe.” Man’s body is part of this matter. Form, or morphe in Greek, on the other hand, refers to the “essence of a substance or thing.” It is what makes it what it is. In the case of the human person, the body something that he shares even with animals. The cells in man’s body are more or less the same to the cells of any other living, organic being in the world. However, what makes a human person a human and not a dog or a tiger is his soul, his essence. To Aquinas, just as for Aristotle, the soul is what animates the body; it is what makes us humans. RENÉ DESCARTES: I THINK THEREFORE I AM French philosopher René Descartes is the Father of Modern Philosophy. He has brought an entirely new perspective to philosophy and the self. He wanted to penetrate the nature of reasoning process and understand its relationship to the human self. The Latin phrase Cogito ergo sum – “I think therefore I am” is the keystone of Descartes’ concept of the self.  For him, the act of thinking about the self – of being self-conscious – is in itself proof that there is a self. He is confident that no rational person will doubt his or her own existence as a conscious, thinking entity – while we are aware of thinking about ourselves. For Descartes, this is the essence of the human self – a thinking entity that doubts, understands, analyzes, questions, and reasons. He contends further that if man reflects thoughtfully, he will realize that there are two dimensions of the human self: the self as a thinking entity and the self as a physical body. In particular, he introduces the idea of the thinking self (or soul) as non-material, immortal, conscious being, and independent of the physical laws of the universe. In contrast, the physical body is a material, mortal, non-thinking entity, fully governed by the physical laws of nature. In other words, the soul and the body are independent of on another, and each can exist and function without the other. The essential self – the self as a thinking entity – is distinct from the self as a physical body. Simply put, the thinking self can exist independently of the physical body. JOHN LOCKE: THE SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS For English philosopher John Locke, the human mind at birth is tabula rasa or a blank slate. He feels that the self, or personal identity, is constructed primarily from sense experiences - or more specifically, what people see, hear, smell, taste and feel. These experiences shape and mold the self throughout a person’s life. Conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys to understanding the self. Locke believes that the essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself as a thinking, reasoning, and reflecting identity. Consciousness accompanies thinking and makes possible the concept that people have of a self. Self-consciousness is necessary to have a coherent personal (self) identity or knowledge of the self as a person. Consciousness of what makes identity of a person similar on different situations. Locke proposes that people could use the power of reason to gain knowledge and consequently use this knowledge to understand experiences. Knowledge is based on careful observations of experiences. Reason plays an important role in helping to figure out the significance of sense experience and to reach intelligent conclusions. Thus, using the power of reason and introspection enables one to understand and achieve accurate conclusions about the self (or personal identity).  DAVID HUME: THERE IS NO SELF Scottish philosopher David Hume suggests that if people carefully examine their sense experience through the process of introspection, they will discover that there is no self. Accordingly, what people experience is just a bundle or collection of different perceptions. Hume maintains that if people carefully examine the content of their experience, they will find that there are only distinct entities: impressions and ideas. Impressions are the basic sensations of people’s experience such as hate, love, joy ,grief, pain, cold, and heat. Impressions are vivid perceptions and are strong and lively. Ideas, however, are thoughts and images from impressions so they are less lively and vivid. Different sensations are in a constant continuum that is invariable and not constant. Hume argues that it cannot be from any of these impressions that the idea of self is derived and consequently, there is no self. Hume’s skeptical claim on this issue is that people have no experience of a simple and individual impression that they can call the self where the self is the totality of a person’s conscious life. Subsequently, the idea of personal identity is a result of imagination. IMMANUEL KANT: WE CONSTRUCT THE SELF For German philosopher Immanuel Kant, it is the self that makes experiencing an intelligible world possible because it is the self that is actively organizing and synthesizing all of our thoughts and perceptions. The self, in the form of consciousness, utilizes conceptual categories which he calls transcendental deduction of categories, to construct an orderly and objective world that is stable and can be investigated scientifically. Kant believes that the self is an organizing principle that makes a unified and intelligible experience possible. It is metaphorically above or behind sense experience, and it uses the categories of our mind to filter, order, relate, organize, and synthesize GE1– Understanding the Self | The Self from Various Perspectives: CHAPTER 1 - sensations into a unified whole. In other words, the self constructs its own reality, actively creating a world that is familiar, predictable, and most significantly, mine. The self is the product of reasons, a regulative principle, because the self regulates experience by making unified experiences possible. The self transcends experience because the mind can grasp aspects of reality which are not limited to the senses. Through rationality, people are able to understand certain abstract ideas that have no corresponding physical object or sensory experience. SIGMUND FREUD: THE SELF IS MULTILAYERED Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud is not a philosopher, but his views on the nature of the self have a far-reaching impact on philosophical thinking, as well as other disciplines such as psychology and sociology. Freud holds that the self consists of three layers: conscious, unconscious, and preconscious. The conscious self is governed by the “reality principle.” It is organized in ways that are rational, practical, and appropriate to the environment. It usually takes into account the realistic demands if the situation, the consequences of various actions, and the overriding need to preserve the equilibrium (balance) of the entire psychodynamic system of the self. The unconscious part of the self contains the basic instinctual drives including sexuality, aggressiveness, and self-destruction; traumatic memories; unfulfilled wishes and childhood fantasies; and thoughts and feelings that would be considered socially taboo. It is characterized by the most primitive level of human motivation and human functioning which is governed by the “pleasure principle.” Freud argues that much of the self is determined by the unconscious. The preconscious self contains material that is not threatening and is easily brought to mind. According to Freud, the preconscious part is located between the conscious and the unconscious parts of the self. GILBERT RYLE: THE SELF IS THE WAY PEOPLE BEHAVE British philosopher Gilbert Ryle believes that the self is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency or disposition of a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances. Ryle’s concept of the human self thus provides the philosophical principle, “I act therefore I am.” GE1– Understanding the Self | The Self from Various Perspectives: CHAPTER 1 -  Ryle considers the mind and body to be intrinsically linked in complex and intimate ways. In short, the self is the same as bodily behavior. He concludes that the mind is the totality of human dispositions that is known through the way people behave. Nevertheless, Ryle is convinced that the mind expresses the entire system of thoughts, emotions, and actions that make up the human self. PAUL CHURCHLAND: THE SELF IS THE BRAIN Canadian philosopher Paul Churchland advocates the idea of eliminative materialism or the idea that the self is inseparable from the brain and the physiology of the body. All a person has is the brain, and so if the brain is gone, there is no self. For Churchland, the physical brain and not the imaginary mind, gives people the sense of self. The mind does not really exist because it cannot be experienced by the senses. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY: THE SELF IS EMBODIED SUBJECTIVITY French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty argues that all knowledge about the self (e.g., understanding the nature of the self) is based on the “phenomena” of experience. The “I” is a single integrated core identity, a combination of the mental, physical, and emotional structures around a core identity of the self. He further articulates that when people examine the self at the fundamental level of direct human experience, people will discover that the mind and body are unified, not separate. He notes in his book, Phenomenology of Perception, that everything that people are aware of is contained within the consciousness. Consciousness is a dynamic form responsible for actively structuring conscious ideas and physical behavior. He is convinced that consciousness, the world, and the human body are intricately intertwined in perceiving the world. For him, perception is not merely a consequence of sensory experience; rather, it is a conscious experience. Thus, the self is embodied subjectivity. GE1– Understanding the Self | The Self from Various Perspectives: CHAPTER 1 - Looking Back… 1. Socrates suggests that the self is synonymous with the soul. He believes that every human possesses an immortal soul that survives the physical body. 2. For Plato, the three elements of the soul/self are reason, physical appetite, and spirit or passion. Reason is the divine essence that enables people to think deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths. The physical appetite includes the basic biological needs while the spirit or passion includes the basic emotions. 3. Aristotle suggests that the rational nature of the self is to lead a good, flourishing, and fulfilling life. 4. Augustine believes that the body is united with the soul, so that man may be entire and complete. 5. Aquinas posits that the soul is what animates the human body, making us human beings.. 6. Descartes suggests that the act of thinking about the self or being self-conscious is proof that there is a self. There are two dimensions of the human self: the self as a thinking entity and the self as a physical body. 7. Locke believes that conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys to understanding the self. He believes that the essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself as a thinking, reasoning, and reflecting identity. 8. To Hume, the idea of personal identity is a result of imagination and that if the person carefully examines his sense experience through the process of introspection, he will discover that there is no self. 9. According to Kant, the self constructs its own reality, actively creating a word that is familiar and predictable. 10. Freud holds that the self consists of three layers: conscious, unconscious, and preconscious. 11. Ryle believes that the self is best understand as a pattern of behavior, the tendency or disposition for a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances. 12. Churchland advocates the idea of eliminative materialism or the idea that the self is inseparable from the brain and the physiology of the body. 13. According to Merleau-Ponty, all knowledge about the self is based on the “phenomena” of experience.