UTS-I-Lesson-1-Philosophy PDF

appearance, but to the state of our soul, LESSON 1: PHILOSOPHY OF THE which shapes our quality of life. SELF SOCRATIC METHOD PHILOSOPHY ➔ It involves a conversation in which...

appearance, but to the state of our soul, LESSON 1: PHILOSOPHY OF THE which shapes our quality of life. SELF SOCRATIC METHOD PHILOSOPHY ➔ It involves a conversation in which a student is asked to question their assumptions. Philosophy is the study of acquiring knowledge ➔ It is a forum for open-ended inquiry, one in through rational thinking. It involves answering which both student and teacher can use questions regarding the nature and existence of probing questions to develop a deeper man and the world. understanding of the topic. ➔ Imagine: You are with your circle of friends deciding whether to volunteer at a local SELF shelter. Instead of just agreeing or disagreeing, one of your friends asked The self is a unified being connected to questions like, “Why do we want to consciousness, awareness, and agency. volunteer?” and “What do we hope to gain from this experience?”. As the group discusses, you all might uncover deeper ANCIENT GREECE reasons, such as wanting to help others, (470-399 & 428-348, Before Christ Era) learn new skills, or connect as friends. This process helps everyone think critically about SOCRATES their choices and encourages them to make a decision that aligns with their values, ➔ “True wisdom comes to each one of us fostering a sense of purpose and when we realize how little we understanding of their goals. understand about life, ourselves, and ➔ Socratic Method on a personal note… the world around us.” Socratic conversation might be a way to ➔ “The unexamined life is not worth help us dive deeper into self-reflection and living.” understand who we are. ➔ Start by asking yourself questions like, WHO IS SOCRATES? “What truly matters to me?” or “Why do I ➔ Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher react the way I do in certain situations?”. from Athens who once lived in the 5th Then challenge your assumptions with century BCE. questions like, “What proof do I have for ➔ He is considered one of the three greatest this belief?”. figures in Western philosophy. ➔ This process can allow us to explore our ➔ He was known through the writings of his emotions and uncover our strengths and students like Plato and Xenophon. weaknesses. ➔ Admired for his integrity, self-control, ➔ Socratic Self-Reflection: You might also philosophical insight, and debate skills he is ask, “What do I want to change about regarded as the first martyr for education, myself?” or “How can I align my actions knowledge, and philosophy. with my values?” ➔ He was dubbed as the “Father of Western ➔ By engaging in this kind of reflective Philosophy”. questioning, we can gain valuable insights into ourselves, leading to personal growth HIS PHILOSOPHIES and better choices in our lives. ➔ Socrates emphasized the importance of “knowing oneself” by recognizing our SUMMARY abilities and wisdom through self-reflection, ➔ Socrates believed that men’s main goal in which helps us understand our strengths, life is to achieve happiness. This desire for weaknesses, likes, and dislikes. happiness guides our actions, helping us ➔ The self is dualistic, and he viewed “the choose what to pursue and what to avoid. soul” as our “true self,” responsible for By truly knowing ourselves, we can make making right and wrong choices. better choices that lead to happiness. ➔ With this, we must achieve the Good Life, we must gain knowledge, wisdom, and virtue, which come from examining our own lives. He argued that our true identity isn’t tied to possessions, social status, or  the spirited part enforcing the rational PLATO part’s convictions, and the appetitive part obeying. ➔ “Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.” According to Plato, the soul, conceived of as self, has three parts, namely: WHO IS PLATO? ➔ Plato (428-347 B.C.E) was an ancient Greek ➔ Appetitive Soul (Epithumetikon) - is located philosopher who is known as the student of in the abdomen. This is the part of the Socrates, the teacher of Aristotle, and is person that is driven by desire and need to known as the Father of the Academy (a satisfy oneself. The experience involves place where learning and sharing of physical pain, hunger, thirst, and other knowledge happens), as he is the founder of physical wants. it. Plato’s notable literature works include ➔ Spirited Soul (Thumoeides) - is located in those that tackle politics, and human nature, the chest. It is the courageous, competitive, and he established the idea of virtue and and very active part of a person. This soul intelligence. enables a human to feel emotional feelings. This is also where competitiveness drives PHILOSOPHIES PLATO’S NOTABLE one to expect positive results and winning. CONTRIBUTIONS ➔ Rational Soul (Logistikon) - is located in the A) Dialogues head. It enables the human to use their ➔ Apology cognitive functions. It’s what drives our ➔ Charmides lives. It decides what to do when to do it, B) Platonic Dialogues and the possible results one could have ➔ Symposium depending on their actions. ➔ Republic C) Later Platonic Dialogues PLATO’S IDEA OF SELF ➔ Sophist ➔ Now, how does all of this information relate ➔ Laws to Understanding the Self? In Plato's Concept of Self, he has the idea that when a PLATO: THE REPUBLIC human person dies, the soul departs from ➔ The Republic has been Plato’s most famous the body, in which the latter is left to and widely read dialogue. It is Playto’s decompose. The soul is immaterial and best-known work, and one of the world’s indestructible. Thus, the soul is eternal. So, most influential works of philosophy and the soul, which he identified to have 3 parts, political theory, both intellectually and believed that those 3 souls should perform historically. In the Republic, Plato their functions without interfering with the undertakes to show what justice is and why others, so long as the human person still it is in each person’s best interest to be just. lives. This is how Plato understood the idea The Republic also contains Plato’s theory of self. about the Tripartite Soul. HOW DOES PLATO CONCEIVES THE SELF AS? ROMAN AFRICA ➔ Plato conceives the self as a knower. Hence, (4th Century) for him, the concepts of self and knowledge are linked to each other. This is where the ST. AUGUSTINE basis of his idea that the human is composed of body and soul started. He ➔ “Late have I loved you. O beauty so believed in the division of a person’s body ancient and so new, late have I love and soul which a person’s body formed as a you.” whole aside from the material things that could be observed and associated with a BACKGROUND person. For him, the soul has three parts. ➔ Born: November 13, 354 AD, Thagaste This is where Plato’s theory of the Tripartite ➔ Died: August 28, 430 AD, Hippo Regius Soul comes in. ➔ Bishop of Hippo and considered as one of the greatest theologians of Western THE THEORY OF THE TRIPARTITE SOUL Christianity. ➔ Plato’s tripartite soul is a theory that ➔ Canonized by the Catholic Church in 1303. analyzes three parts of the soul. Plato ➔ A difficult child; adhered to Manichaeism for believed that the three parts of the soul nine years and once considered Christianity should be in a harmonious relationship with as intellectually lacking. one another, with the rational part ruling,  ➔ His conversion to Christianity was greatly proof of one’s mind, and therefore one’s influenced by the application of existence. Neo-platonic ideas to Christian Scriptures ➔ Method of Doubt - Descartes introduced a and a certain ‘command’ from God. method of systematic doubt, questioning everything that could be doubted to arrive NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS at certain, undeniable truths. He doubted ➔ The Confessions the reliability of sensory perceptions and ➔ The City of God other previously held beliefs to establish a ➔ On Christian Doctrine firm foundation for knowledge. ➔ On the Trinity ➔ Cartesian Dualism - He is known for his ➔ His teachings became the foundation of theory of dualism, which asserts that reality Augustianism consists of two fundamental substances: mind (non-material, thinking substance) and HUMAN PERSON body (material, extended substance). He ➔ Bifurcate Universe (Intelligible and Sensible argued that the mind and body are distinct Realm) but can interact with each other. This idea is ➔ Dualism (Body and Soul) and Three crucial in understanding the mind-body Dimensions of the Human Person (vita problem in Philosophy. seminalis, vita sensualis, vita intellectualis) MAJOR WORKS AND INFLUENCE UNDERSTANDING THE SELF ➔ Meditations on First Philosophy (1641): His ➔ Interiority as opposed to exteriority most famous philosophical work, where he ➔ Inner space of the self / Inner Self discusses the existence of God, the nature of (memory, reason, virtue, faith, and will) the mind, and the foundations of knowledge. ➔ Externality of God ➔ Discourse on the Method (1637): Introduced his method of reasoning and the famous “Cogito, ergo sum” argument. FRANCE ➔ Principles of Philosophy (1644): A (17th Century) comprehensive work that aimed to provide a scientific explanation of the world. RENE DESCARTES ➔ Descartes’ work laid the foundation for modern Western philosophy, particularly in ➔ “Cogito, ergo sum” or, “I think, therefore I am.” epistemology (theory of knowledge) and metaphysics. BACKGROUND ➔ He also influenced future thinkers like ➔ Born: March 31, 1956, La Haye en Touraine, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, France (now Descartes, France) and later, the development of continental ➔ Died: February 11, 1650, Stockholm, Sweden rationalism. ➔ Nationality: French ➔ Main Interests: Philosophy, Mathematics, GREAT BRITAIN Science (17th-18th Century) PHILOSOPHICAL CONTRIBUTIONS JOHN LOCKE ➔ Father of Modern Philosophy - Descartes is often referred to as the “Father of Modern ➔ “No man’s knowledge here can go Philosophy” because of his break from beyond his experience.” traditional Scholastic-Aristotelian philosophy his development of a new BACKGROUND approach and his development of a new ➔ Born: August 29, 1632 approach to knowledge based on reason. ➔ Died: October 28, 1704 ➔ Rationalism - Descartes is a key figure in ➔ An English philosopher and physician rationalism, a philosophical movement that ➔ Father of Classical Liberation emphasizes the role of reason in acquiring ➔ He is often regarded as the founder of a knowledge. He believed that knowledge can school of thought known as British be gained independently of sensory Empiricism. experience through deductive reasoning. ➔ “Cogito, ergo sum” - This is Descartes’ NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS most famous statement, which he ➔ An Essay Concerning Human Understanding introduced in his work Meditations on First ➔ The Two Treatises of Government Philosophy. It represents his argument that ➔ His works paved the way for several the very act of doubting one’s existence is revolutions to fight the absolute powers of  monarchs and rulers of his time which led to rather than reason had a lasting impact on the development of governance, politics, philosophy. and economic systems that we now know. BUNDLE THEORY PERSPECTIVE ABOUT THE SELF ➔ David Hume presented his interpretation of ➔ Locke stated that a person is born knowing the self in his work, "A Treatise of Human nothing and is susceptible to stimulation Nature" (1739-1740). and accumulation of learning from ➔ His key idea of the "self" is that there is no experiences, failures, references, and continuous self that exists independently of observations. our perceptions and that the self is simply a ➔ The book An Essay Concerning Human collection of these ever-changing mental Understanding argues that we have no events. innate knowledge. Locke holds that the ➔ He divided perception into impressions human mind is a blank slate on which (vivid, immediate sensory experiences) and experience writes. ideas (fainter copies of these impressions in Two Sources of Knowledge: thought and memory). Sensation and Reflection ➔ He argues that the sense of continuity we Imple and Complex Ideas feel is only a mental construction created by Limits of Human Knowledge memory and habit and that this is just the Primary and Secondary Qualities mind connecting separate instances of ➔ Locke holds that personal identity is a perception. matter of psychological continuity. He ➔ He rejected René Descartes' Cartesian considered personal identity (or the self) to notion of the self and asserted that we do be founded on consciousness or the not have any evidence of such a substance memory, and not on the substance of either and since we never directly perceive this the soul or body. self, it cannot be said to exist. ➔ He recognized the importance of memory in giving us a sense of personal identity but DAVID HUME stated that it is not enough evidence to ➔ “While we are reasoning concerning life, establish the existence of a permanent self. life is gone.” GERMANY BACKGROUND (Late 18th Century) ➔ David Hume (1711-1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist most known for his philosophical IMMANUEL KANT empiricism and skepticism. His writing style was unique in its time due its clarity and ➔ “I have no knowledge of myself as I am straightforwardness which gave access to but only as I appear to myself. The the general audience. His work, "The History consciousness of oneself is therefore of England was widely read and influential very far from being a knowledge of oneself.” because of his philosophic depth of analyzing the cause of events and their BACKGROUND implications for politics and society, which ➔ Born: April 22, 1724 became the foundation for modern ➔ Died: February 12, 1804 historiography. He is also known for his ➔ A German philosopher influential essays about commerce, and ➔ He is popular during the Enlightenment Era monetary policy. His ideas on economics were built upon in "Classical Economics" in NOTABLE WORKS the 18th Century. ➔ Critique of Judgement ➔ As a philosopher, David Hume challenged ➔ Critique of Practical Reason the idea that knowledge comes from reason ➔ Critique of Pure Reason alone, and instead argues that all ➔ Influence on comprehensive and systematic knowledge stems from sensory experience. work in epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics. He is famous for questioning causality and ➔ Contributed significantly to Francis Bacon's introducing the problem of induction, which empiricism and René Descartes' rationalism. highlights the uncertainty of predicting the ➔ According to him, human reason produces future based on past experience. His moral law, which forms the basis of our critique of religion, particularly miracles, belief in God, freedom, and immorality, and and his moral theory based on sentiment human knowledge is the source of the  general laws of nature that underlie all of SUPEREGO - The moral our experiences. component of the psyche, representing internalized societal BELIEF ON SELF norms, values, and parental ➔ He acknowledges Hume's work, which states guidance. It operates on the that everything begins with perception and morality principle, striving for the sense of impressions. Kant argues that perfection and judging actions the mind organizes the impressions based on societal and parental surrounding a human being. standards. ➔ Kant presents that an individual applies EGO - The ego develops from the sensory experience to examine impressions id as the child begins to interact around them, which the mind organizes and with the external world and learn develops into knowledge. There are things the limitations imposed by reality. that do not exist in the world but are It operates on the reality principle, perceived by the mind. Although time and balancing the desires of the id with space do not exist physically, we believe the constraints of the external they do. Kant refers to these as the world. apparatuses of the mind. ➔ Topographical Model of the Psyche: Levels ➔ The "self" is a part of apparatuses of the of Consciousness mind that organizes the impressions we CONSCIOUS - Includes all the have about ourselves. Kant began to things we are aware of or can understand the self by identifying "I" as the easily bring into awareness. transcendental unity of perception. This PRECONSCIOUS - contains concept emphasizes that the self is not a information that is not currently in simple thing but rather a fundamental and awareness but can be brought into complex entity. consciousness with relative ease ➔ A concept of our consciousness that offers a (memories, knowledge). foundation for understanding and UNCONSCIOUS - includes all of constructing the concept of self through the the things outside of our use of one's experiences, intuition, and awareness – all of the wishes, imagination is called transcendental desires, hopes, urges, and apperception. The self not only provides memories that we aren't aware of personality, but it also serves as the yet continue to influence behavior. repository for all human knowledge. ➔ Psychosexual Stages of Development ➔ Oedipus/Electra Complex ➔ Defense Mechanism CZECHIA ➔ Dream Interpretation (Early 20th Century) GREAT BRITAIN SIGMUND FREUD (20th Century) ➔ “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come GILBERT RYLE forth later in uglier ways.” ➔ “Minds are not merely ghosts harnessed BACKGROUND to machines, they are themselves just ➔ Born: May 5, 1856 spectral machines.” ➔ Died: September 23, 1939 ➔ Austrian Neurologist BACKGROUND ➔ Father of Psychoanalysis ➔ Born: August 19, 1900 ➔ Died: October 6, 1976 NOTABLE WORKS ➔ British behaviorist philosopher ➔ Psychoanalytic Theory ➔ Critique of Cartesian Dualism ➔ Structural Model of the Psyche: The Structure of Personality NOTABLE WORKS ID - The most primitive part of the ➔ The Concept of Mind (1949) psyche, present from birth. It ➔ Dilemmas (1954) operates entirely in the ➔ The Nature of Mind (1960) unconscious and is driven by the ➔ On the Nature of Mental Concepts (1974) pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification of basic ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE SELF urges and instincts. ➔ Self is the behavior of the person  ➔ Rejects Cartesian Dualism, calling it "ghost ➔ Died: May 3, 1961 in Paris, France in the machine" ➔ Well-known for his contributions to ➔ The mind is NOT a separate entity existentialism and phenomenology ➔ "Category Mistake” on why people think the NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS mind is a separate thing ➔ La structure du comportement (The ➔ Mental States are Dispositions Structure of Behavior) in 1942 ➔ We come to know ourselves through our ➔ La phénoménologie de la perception behavior and experiences, just as we come (Phenomenology of Perception) in 1945 to know others. ➔ Le visible et l'invisible (The Visible and the Invisible) in 1964 ➔ Die Prosa der Welt (The Prose of the World) CANADA in 1969/1973 (20th Century) ➔ He claimed that the physical body is the primary site of knowing the world. PAUL CHURCHLAND ➔ He challenged the idea of mind-body dualism. He believed that the mind and the ➔ “We do have an organ for understanding and recognizing moral body are not separate entities, but rather facts. It is called the brain.” intertwined. ➔ His idea of perception follows Gestalt BACKGROUND Psychology where the whole is greater than ➔ Born: October 21, 1942 the sum of its parts. ➔ Canadian Philosopher ➔ Neurophilosophy and philosophy of the PHENOMENOLOGY OF PERCEPTION mind ➔ His most notable work. ➔ Husband of Patricia Churchland ➔ The unity of the function of the mind and the body. NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS ➔ Three (3) divisions: ➔ Could A Machine Think? - Al The body Various books such as: The perceived world ➔ Matter and Consciousness - Issues in The people and the world Philosophy ➔ Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Mind PERSPECTIVE OF UNDERSTANDING THE SELF - Philosophy of Science ➔ The self is embodied subjectivity. ➔ Eliminative Materialism and the ➔ The self can never be truly objectified or Propositional Attitudes - Essay on known in a completely objective sort of way. Eliminative Materialism ➔ The self does not have a fixed essence, but undergoes the process of becoming over UNDERSTANDING THE SELF time through experiences. ➔ NOT Dualism ➔ BRAIN as SELF ➔ Eliminative Materialism - The common ITALY understanding of mind and psychology is (13th Century) false. Beliefs, desire, and subjective pain do not exist on the basis of the mind. THOMAS AQUINAS ➔ The physical brain and its movements are the reason behind one's self. ➔ “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” FRANCE (20th Century) BACKGROUND ➔ St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), a key MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY medieval Italian philosopher-theologian, synthesized Aristotelian and Christian ➔ “The body is our general medium for theology, forming the foundation of having a world.” Thomism, renowned for his contributions to moral philosophy and metaphysics. BACKGROUND ➔ A French philosopher, public intellectual, and UNDERSTANDING THE SELF author ➔ St. Thomas Aquinas argues that ➔ Born: March 14, 1908 in Rochefort-sur-Mer self-knowledge is shaped by our interactions (province of Charente-Maritime) with the external world, challenging the idea  of constant self-awareness. He sees the mind as dynamic, becoming aware through actions and desires. ➔ Hylomorphism, a modified Aristotelian view, suggests that man is composed of two parts: matter, the common substance in the universe, and form, the essence of a substance or thing, which defines its characteristics and properties. ➔ In conclusion, Thomas Aquinas' hylomorphic theory posits self-knowledge is a result of active interactions with the world, offering insights into how individuals recognize their identities.