Philosophical Perspective - The Self in Various Perspectives PDF

The self in various perspectives PHILOSOPHY PSYCH 1100  Have you ever wondered... What exactly are we? What do we even mean by the “SELF”? Are we souls, organic bodies or merely a figment of another’s imagination? Are we just minds or a comb...

The self in various perspectives PHILOSOPHY PSYCH 1100  Have you ever wondered... What exactly are we? What do we even mean by the “SELF”? Are we souls, organic bodies or merely a figment of another’s imagination? Are we just minds or a combination of body and mind? Will I survive bodily death because I am more than a body or when my body is dead, that’s really the end? Or maybe… I am actually a robot controlled by some entity? WHO AM I? WHAT DOES KNOWING YOURSELF MEAN?  HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOURSELF NOW? WHY IS GETTING TO KNOW YOURSELF SO IMPORTANT?  THE TAO TE CHING SAYS... “KNOWING OTHERS IS INTELLIGENCE; KNOWING YOURSELF IS TRUE WISDOM. MASTERING OTHERS IS STRENGTH; MASTERING YOURSELF IS TRUE POWER. IF YOU REALIZE THAT YOU HAVE ENOUGH, YOU ARE TRULY RICH” WHAT IS A PHILOSOPHER? Traditionally, he is thought of a lover of wisdom. An intellectual who has devoted time to study the meaning of life. Has contributed in the field of philosophy in areas like logic, ethics, metaphysics, epistemology (theory of knowledge), etc.  PHILOSOPHERS AND THEIR IDEAS 1. Socrates 7. David Hume 2. Plato 8. Immanuel Kant 3. Augustine of Hippo 9. Sigmund Freud 4. Thomas Aquinas 10. Gilbert Ryle 5. Rene Descartes 11. Paul Churchland 6. John Locke 12. Maurice Merleau Ponty  Socrates “KNOW THYSELF” The true task of a philosopher is to know oneself. For Socrates, every man is composed of body and soul. There was 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 and all these are restored in his mind. However, once he came to the material world or the world of senses, he forgot most of what he knew. This resulted in lack of knowledge or ignorance w/c causes problems to man. The self is an immortal soul He was the first philosopher who ever engaged in a that exists over time. systematic questioning about the self.  Plato Plato supported the idea that man is a dual nature of body and soul. Dichotomy of the Ideal world or the world of Forms and the Material world. *World of Forms- the permanent, unchanging reality. *World of Materials- keeps on changing. It is what we see around us, and for him, this-where we live, is just a replica of the real world found in the world of Forms. Human beings are composed of a body and a soul. It is the soul which is the true self-the permanent, unchanging Self. The changing body, however, or what we see in the material world on the other hand, is not the real self but only a replica of our true Self. The soul exists before birth and leaves room for the possibility that it might survive bodily death.  Augustine of Hippo Augustine agreed that man is of a bifurcated nature; 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. 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. Our world (world of materials) is not our final home but just a temporary home where we are just passing through. Our real world is found in the world where there is permanence and infinity- that’s the world where God is.  Augustine of Hippo God is fully real-as the unchanging, permanent being and he sees God as the ultimate expression of love. Man has an immortal soul whose main pursuit is to have an everlasting life with God. Moral laws exist and is imposed on the mind. Reason makes us recognize these laws and thus, we can discern the distinction between right and wrong. There is an Eternal law which should be universally followed because this is coming from the Eternal reason or God Himself.  Thomas Aquinas Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two parts: matter and form. Matter or hyle in Greek refers to “common stuff that makes up everything in the universe.” Man’s body is part of this matter. Form or morphine in Greek, on the other refers to “essence of a substance or thing.” To Aquinas, the soul is what animates the body; it is what makes us humans.  Rene Descartes “I THINK, THEREFORE; I AM” Father of the modern Philosophy Cogito ergo sum- emphasizes the consciousness of his mind which leads to an evidence of his existence- despite the fact that he is doubting the existence of everything physical, including his own body. Conceived of the human person as having a body and a mind. The body is nothing else but a machine that attached to the mind. The mind and the body are separated and very distinct from one another but he also believes that the mind is The self is a thinking thing, conjoined with the body in such an intimate way that distinct from the body. they casually act upon each other.  Rene Descartes “I THINK, THEREFORE; I AM” You are your body and your mind. The body can be described in a precise, structured manner (like a mathematical formula) but the mind is not contained like that, and it’s allowed to pursue its own thoughts. When the body is gone, the mind may continue to exist and function. The self is a thinking thing, distinct from the body.  John Locke His starting point is the claim that all knowledge must come from experience (empiricism). There are no innate ideas. Before there is any knowledge, the mind is first considered as a tabula rasa [blank slate], who’s interactions with the world fill it with knowledge. Unlike the first few philosophers discussed, he thinks that our identity is not locked in the mind, soul, or body ONLY. He included the concept of a person’s memory in the definition of the self. He subscribes to the memory theory that holds we are Personal identity is made the same person as we were in the past for as long as possible by self- we can remember something from the past. consciousness.  David Hume The self is not an entity over and beyond the physical body. Men can only attain knowledge by experiencing. He does believe in the existence of the mind and what’s inside the mind is divided into two: 1. Impressions- those things we perceive through our senses as we experience them. 2. Ideas- are those that we create in our minds even though we are no longer experiencing them. There is no “self”, only a bundle of constantly changing perceptions passing through the theater of our minds.  David Hume The self keeps on changing, like how one looks, one feels, one thinks-they constantly change. An “enduring self” is just a fiction produced by our imagination. There is no permanent and unchanging self. A person is a bundle of perception. The “I” will be constantly changing because the different experiences one has for every constant change will affect and reshape that person. In conclusion, there is no self. There is no “self”, only a bundle of constantly changing perceptions passing through the theater of our minds.  Immanuel Kant Kant believes that man is a free agent, capable of making decisions for himself. As a free agent, man is gifted with reason and free will. A moral person is one who is driven by duty and acts towards the fulfillment of that duty. For us to know what is our duty, we have to rationally deliberate on it and not expect that a higher authority will hand it automatically to us, and certainly we cannot let the arbitrariness of emotion guide us. In refuting Hume’s idea that there is no self, he (1781) said that since man is gifted with reason and free will, man can organize the data gathered by the senses. The self is a unifying subject, an From these data, and the way we organize the data, we arguing consciousness that makes intelligible experience possible. can now have a good idea of a man.  Sigmund Freud Considered as the father of psychoanalysis. One of his famous ideas was the tripartite division of man’s mind: 1. Id- represents man’s biological nature; the impulses and the bodily desires. 2. Ego- the self; the reality principle 3. Superego- represents ethical component of the personality and provides the moral The self is multi-layered. standards by which the ego operates.  Gilbert Ryle In his book, Concepts of Mind, he (1949) criticized Descartes’ treatment of the mind. The mind is NOT distinct from the body, but rather refers to certain aspects of our bodies. Blatantly denying the concept of an internal, non-physical self; what truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his day-to-day life. “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 mind is not like a specific, separate entity but is certainly a part of our body. The self is the way people We can only know a person through how a man behaves, behave. their tendencies and reactions in certain circumstances.  Paul Churchland In partnership with his wife, Churchland believes that the self is the brain. The term “mind”, our moods emotions, actions, consciousness are deeply affected by the state of our brain. By manipulating certain parts of our brain, our feelings, actions and physical state are successfully altered. It is only a matter of time before we can fully The self is the brain. Mental comprehend how the brain works for us to states will be superseded by understand how it creates the Self. brain states. Maurice Merleau-Ponty For him, a person is defined by virtue of movement and expression. To be a self is to be more than one’s body. It includes all the things that I will do with my body, how I will act on it and how I will make it act in consonance with other human beings. 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. The self is embodied The living body, his thoughts, emotions, and subjectivity. experiences are all alone.  Good Luck on your UTS JOURNEY