Understanding The Self UTS-REVIEWER PDF

**Understanding the Self** SELF can be described as... - who a person normally is - the character that makes a person different from others - a part of one's personality that is shown in a particular or different situations - combination of emotions, thoughts, feelings, etc. **[Par...

**Understanding the Self** SELF can be described as... - who a person normally is - the character that makes a person different from others - a part of one's personality that is shown in a particular or different situations - combination of emotions, thoughts, feelings, etc. **[Part I: The Self from Various Perspectives]** **[Philosophical Perspective]** PHILOSOPHY - Love of wisdom - The desire for truth - Inquiry in the nature of - human existence **1. [SOCRATES] - \"An unexamined life is not worth living.\"** - The self is synonymous with the soul. - He suggested that reality consists of the physical and ideal realms. - The body belongs to the physical realm (is changeable and imperfect) while the soul belongs to the ideal realm (unchanging and eternal). - The true self, according to Socrates, is not just the body but the soul and the touching of the soul may help the person get in touch with the true self. - He suggests that man must live an examined life and a life with purpose and value. - The Socratic method is a method of carefully examining a person's thoughts and emotions to gain knowledge about the self. - The aim of the method is to make people think, seek and ask. **2. [PLATO] - \"The self is an immortal soul.\"** He introduces the idea of the three parts of the soul (three elements of the self) Appetite -- includes one's desires, pleasures, comforts, etc. Spirited -- includes emotions (love, anger, aggressiveness, ambition, and empathy; the drive towards action Rational (Reason) - enables the person to think deeply, make decisions; motivation for goodness and truth - According to Plato, these elements of the self are in a dynamic relationship with one another. - He believes that happiness can be achieved if people makes sure that Reason is in control of Spirit and Appetites. - Since the soul is regarded as something that is permanent, therefore, man should give importance to it than the physical body. **3. [ST. AUGUSTINE] \"This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.\"** **He believes that the physical body is different from the immortal soul.** **The soul is what governs and defines man.** **He described that the humankind is created in the image and likeness of God, therefore the man is always geared towards good.** **4. [RENE DESCARTES] - Father of Modern Philosophy \"I think therefore I am.\"** - Cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am) - The act of thinking about oneself is in itself a proof that there is a self. - For Descartes, the essence of the human self is one that thinks, doubts, understands, analyze, and reason. **5. [JOHN LOCKE] - \"The self is consciousness.\"** - The mind is tabula rasa or comparable to an empty space (blank slate), where everyday experiences contribute to the pile of knowledge that is placed on the empty space. - These experiences shape the self throughout a person's life. - For him, awareness and previous experiences are keys to understanding the self. - He also believed that the essence of the self is in its conscious awareness of itself as the thinking, reasoning, and reflecting identity. **6. [DAVID HUME -] \"There is no self.\"** - According to Hume, what people experience is just a collection of different perceptions. - According to Hume, when people examine their experiences, what they will find are impressions and ideas. - Impressions are immediate sensations of external reality; are those we perceive through our senses; basic sensations of people's experience. - Ideas are recollections of these impressions; things that we create in our minds - even though we are no longer or not experiencing them; thought and images from impressions. - Hume argued that when he looks into the mind, he finds a stream of impressions and ideas, but no impression corresponding to a self that endures through time. - There is no permanent and unchanging self. It keeps on changing, like how a person looks, feels and thinks. **7. [IMMANUEL KANT -] \"We construct the self.\"** - Kant argued that the mind is not just a passive receiver of the sense experience but it actively participates in the objects that it experiences. - It is the self that is actively organizing all our thoughts and perceptions. - The self transcends experience, as it can grasp reality which are not limited to one's senses. - He explained that transcendental is used as people do not experience the self directly but a unity of the impressions which are organized by the mind through perceptions. **8. [SIGMUND FREUD] - \"The self is multi layered.\"** Levels of the mind (Togo graphical Model) - Conscious -- reality principle; contains all of one's thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which we are aware at any given moment. Example: hunger, sleep - Preconscious - contains thoughts and feelings that a person is not currently aware of, but which can easily be brought to consciousness. Example: address, phone number - Unconscious -- the unconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior; feelings, motives and decisions are influenced by our past experiences, and stored in the unconscious; stores all the memories and experiences that are not being thought about Structures of the mind - ID -- pleasure principle - -primitive/instinctive component - EGO -- reality principle - -has direct influence of the external world - SUPERGO -- moral principle -synthesizes values and systems in society in order to control outpost of instinctive desires of the id **[9. GILBERT RYLE] - \"Self is the way people behave.\"** - The self is the same as bodily behaviors. - He proposed that physical actions or behaviors are dispositions of the self. We will only be able to understand the self based on behaviors, expressions, language, and desires. - The self is best understood as a pattern of behavior or disposition to behave in a certain way. The self is defined by the observable behaviors that the person projects to the world around us. **10. [PAUL CHURCHLAND] - \"The self is the brain.\"** The physical brain gives the people the sense of self. believes that our mood, emotions, actions are affected by the brain states. **11. [MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY] - \"Self is embodied subjectivity.\"** - The consciousness, the world, and the human body are all interconnected as they mutually perceive the world. - The world is a field of perception and human consciousness assigns meaning to the world. - Consciousness is a process that includes being able to sense as well as reasoning and interpreting.