Unit 1: The Self From Various Perspectives PDF

UNIT 1 The Self From Various Perspectives Lesson 1: From the Perspective of Philosophy  Perspective of Philosophy Lesson Objectives: By the end of this lesson, the students will be able to: explain why it is essential to understand the self; describe and d...

UNIT 1 The Self From Various Perspectives Lesson 1: From the Perspective of Philosophy  Perspective of Philosophy Lesson Objectives: By the end of this lesson, the students will be able to: explain why it is essential to understand the self; describe and discuss the different notions of the self from the points-of-view of the various philosophers across time and place; compare and contrast how the self has been represented in different philosophical schools; and examine one's self against the different views of self that were discussed in class.  Philosophers from the Ancient Times to the Contemporary Period In man’s pursuit of knowledge and truth, thinkers for centuries have searched for explanations and reasons for everything that exists around him.   brilliant debater and was idolized by many Athenians  more concerned with the problem of the self SOCRATES  first philosopher to engaged in questioning the self  the true task of philosopher is to know thyself  questions presupposition about oneself  to live but to die inside  Proponent of Socratic Method ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’ - Socrates   Theory of Forms-Plato’s Metaphysics  The forms are ageless and therefore eternal  The forms are unchanging and PLATO therefore permanent  The forms are unmoving and invisible  the three components of the soul  the rational soul (reason and intellect)  the spirited soul (emotions, non- rational, pulled in 2 directions)  appetitive soul (irrational, desire- based, pleasure) ‘The more the person knows, the more he is and the better he is.’ “To love the highest is to become the best.’ - Plato   Christian philosophy became powerful that the church ordered Plato’s academy in Athens closed ST. AUGUSTINE  held FAITH supreme over Reason and Logic  St. Augustine initially rejected Christianity  focused on 2 realms:  God as the source of all reality and truth  The sinfulness of man   the real happiness can be found on God 1. Love of physical objects leads to the sin of greed ST. AUGUSTINE 2. Love for other people is lasting and excessive love for them is the sin of jealousy 3. Love of the self leads to the sin of pride 4. Love for God is the supreme virtue and only through loving God can man find real happiness all things are worthy of love but must be loved properly ‘If man loves God first and everything else to a lesser degree then it will fall into its rightful place.’ - St. Augustine of Hippo   father of modern philosophy  one of the rationalist philosophers in Europe  introduced the CARTESIAN METHOD RENE and invented ANALYTIC GEOMETRY DESCARTES  Descartes’ System (human mind has 2 powers: 1. Intuition (ability to apprehend direction of certain truths) 2. Deduction (power to discover what is not known by progressing in an orderly way from what is already known – step by step process)   to doubt is to think  the only thing that one cannot doubt RENE is the existence of the self DESCARTES  Cogito – the thing that thinks  Extenza – the body  soul and mind are separate substance  body is a machine that is controlled and aided by the mind ‘I think, therefore I am.’ - Rene Descartes   interested in politics and was a defender of parliamentary system  ‘Enlightenment’ – book published on the scope and limits of human mind JOHN LOCKE  contrary to what Descartes proposed  knowledge results from ideas and things that man experienced  this process involves 2 forms: 1. sensation – objects are experienced through senses 2. reflection – the mind looks at the objects that were experienced to discover relationships that may exist between them  TABULA RASA – mind at birth   3 Laws according to Locke: 1. Law of Opinion – actions that are praiseworthy are called virtues JOHN LOCKE and actions that are not are called vice (sin/evil) 2. Civil Law – right actions are enforced by people in authority 3. Divine Law – set by God on the actions of man. This is deemed to be the true law or human behavior. The divine law is eternally true and one law that man should always follow.   after reading the philosophy of Locke, he never again entertained any belief in religion DAVID HUME  credited for giving empiricism its clearest formulation  the 2 types of perceptions: 1. Impressions – are immediate sensations of external reality 2. Ideas – are recollections of these impressions   THE SELF – man does really have an DAVID HUME idea of the so-called self because ideas rely on sense impressions and people have no sense impression of a self  the self is a product of imagination   philosophy of David Hume that awakened and motivated him to be the founder of German Idealism  argued that the mind is not just IMMANUEL passive receiver of sense experience KANT but rather actively participates in knowing the objects it experiences  when the self sees an object, it tends to remember its characteristics and applies on it, the forms of time and space  Self must exist or there could be no memory or knowledge   Transcendental apperceptions – people do not experience the self IMMANUEL directly but as a unity of all impressions that are organized in the KANT mind through perceptions  everything including self are phenomenal  the kingdom of God is within man and is manifested in people’s lives  people should always see duty as a divine command   one of the pioneering figures in psychology  repressed thoughts and memories have enough psychic energy to SIGMUND impose its control on the person’s FREUD consciousness  kept hidden and unexpressed, these repressed memories resurface and are manifested as psychopathology  this manifestation is called HYSTERIA  therapy would help the person recognize these repressed thoughts to bring him back to emotional stability   topography of mind as represented by an iceberg SIGMUND FREUD   3 levels of mind: 1. Id. primarily based on the pleasure principle. It demands immediate satisfaction and is not hindered by SIGMUND societal expectations FREUD 2. Ego. based on the reality principle. This structure mediates between the impulses of the Id and the restraints of the Superego. 3. Superego. Last structure to develop and is primarily dependent on learning the difference between right and wrong. Morality of actions is largely dependent on childhood upbringing particularly on rewards and punishments.   dualism – involves category mistakes and is a philosophical nonsense 1. Mind – non-material mental substance GILBERT RYLE 2. Body – physical, material  stated that many of the philosophical problems were caused by the wrong use of language  Ghost of the Machine – human mind  freewill was invented to answer the question of whether an action deserves praise or blame  knowing-that vs knowing-how   neurology = age-old problem  philosophy = mind-body problem  Neurophilosophy  philosophy of mind, philosophy of PATRICIA & science, neuroscience and PAUL psychology CHURCHLAND  aims to explore relevance of neuroscientific experiments to the philosophy of mind  centered on brain-mind issue  Human nature is complicated.  Self is real. It can malfunction but also a work of art.  Man is a work of art, being molded by experiences of the world.   center of his philosophy – emphasis placed on the human body as the primary site of knowing the world MAURICE  developed the concept of body- MERLEAU- subject and contended that PONTY perceptions occur existentially  consciousness, world and human body are all interconnected as they mutually perceived the world  Phenomenology – provides direct description of the human experience  Perception – forms the background of the experience to guide man’s conscious actions   man cannot separate himself from the perceptions of the world  perception is not purely the result of MAURICE sensations nor is it purely MERLEAU- interpretation  rather consciousness is a process that PONTY includes sensing as well as reasoning  the meaning of an object depends on the perception of different people/mind  body seeks clarity from what is in ‘good form’  the focus is relationship between self- experience and experience of other people