UTS - Philosophical Perspective of the Self PDF

The Self from Various Philosophical Perspective Understanding the Self Learning Outcomes At the end of the session, the students are expected to: 1. Examine and discuss the various philosophical perspective of the self 2. Discuss the different representations and conc...

The Self from Various Philosophical Perspective Understanding the Self Learning Outcomes At the end of the session, the students are expected to: 1. Examine and discuss the various philosophical perspective of the self 2. Discuss the different representations and conceptualizations of the self from various disciplinal perspectives 3. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented across disciplines and perspectives 4. Examine the different influences, factors and forces that shape the self What is the Self? Self is an individual person as the object of one’s own reflective consciousness. This reference is necessarily subjective; thus, self is a reference by a subject to the same subject. Aristotle quotes “knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”. Basically, that getting to know yourself than others is the best thing that you can do for yourself since our self is the real wisdom other than GOD. Have you ever asked YOURSELF? How do we define our identity? Personal Characteristics – physical traits, personal and genetic factors that make us unique Values and Beliefs – core values, moral attitudes, and religious beliefs Social Roles – the roles we play in the society, i.e. a friend, parent, or professional Experience and Relationships – past experiences and the relationships we from Cultural and Societal Influences – nationality, ethnicity, and social community What is Philosophy? Philosophy is derived from the Greek words “Philos” and “Sophia” which literally means “Love for Wisdom”. It is the study of acquiring knowledge through rational thinking and inquiries that involves in answering questions regarding the nature and existence of man and the world we live in. As such, it is imperative to investigate the various explanations from different philosophers their notion of what the “Self” its nature and how it is formed. This is to have a better picture on how people develop their behaviors, attitude and actions and to be able to identify and understand who we are and how we came to be. Much of philosophy concerns with the fundamental nature of self. The Greeks were the ones who seriously questions myths and moved away from them to understand reality and respond perennial questions of curiosity, including the question of the self. The following are discussions of different perspectives and understandings of the self according to its prime movers. From philosophers of the ancient times to the contemporary period. 01 HISTORICAL Philosophical Perspectives of the SELF Pre-Socratic Socrates Plato  Pre-Socratics Philosophers The Pre-Socratics {Thales, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Empedocles, etc.,} were concerned with answering questions such as What is the world really made up for? Why is the world the way it is? What explains the changes that happen around us?  Pre-Socratics Philosophers Arché– origin or source/ the “soul”/ the primal matter The soul’s movement is the ultimate arché of all other movement Arché has no origin outside itself and cannot be destroyed Explains the multiplicity of things in the world Do you agree that there is a difference between the body and the soul? Do you think you have both? What’s the difference between the two? SOCRATES “Without this work on yourself, life is worthless”- Socrates The philosophy of Socrates underlies in the importance of the notion “knowing oneself”, for him, men’s goal in life is to obtain happiness and such goal motivates us to act towards or avoid things that could have negative repercussions in our lives. As such, by fully knowing oneself a person will be able to achieve happiness. Socrates also posited that possession of knowledge is a virtue and that ignorance is a depravity, that a person’s acceptance of ignorance is the beginning of acquisition of knowledge. So, one must first have the humility to acknowledge one’s ignorance to be able to know what he is lacking and what he needs to know. SOCRATES “Without this work on yourself, life is worthless”- Socrates Socrates believe that the answer to our pursuit in knowing ourselves lies in us own abilities and wisdom, and that the only way for us to understand ourselves is through internal questioning or introspection. This method of questioning oneself, where the person assumes the role of both the teacher and the student is known to the world as the Socratic Method or Socratic Conversation. By continuously asking and evaluating who we are we as a person will also be able to understand our strengths and weaknesses, the things that we like and dislike, how we want people to treat us and how we want ourselves to be treated, so by knowing these things we can act in accordance with what we know we are and live our lives following our knowledge of ourselves SOCRATES “Without this work on yourself, life is worthless”- Socrates He believed that if a man die his body is the only one whose dying but then us soul will still live eternally in the world because he say that a soul is composed of perfection and its permanent to the world. Example a man is like a candle with a fire where the fire is our body, and our spirit is the smoke came from the candle where the smoke (our spirit) live freely in the air (world) and our body will stay as it is till our body became ashes. The worst thing that can Man = body + soul happen to anyone is to live but Individual = imperfect/temporary {body} + perfect die inside. and permanent {soul} PLATO “The Essence of knowledge is self-knowledge” Plato generally followed his teacher and the idea of knowing thyself although from his works such with the notable ones’ such as the allegory of the cave, the apology, and his work on a perfect government and societal system, “the Republic” where he said that the world can only be led by a Philosopher king, a person who is virtuous as well as intelligent. According to Plato, a person who is a follower of truth and wisdom will not be tempted by vices and will always be just. Plato also believed in the division of a person’s body and soul which forms the person as a whole aside from the material things and that could be observed and associated with a person, Plato presented the idea the ones’ soul is divided into 3 different parts that has different views leading to different behaviors, these parts of the soul are known as the Appetitive, Spirited, and Rational Soul. PLATO “The Essence of knowledge is self-knowledge” Plato’s 3 parts of the soul Appetitive Soul – Plato’s idea of the appetitive soul is the part of the person that is driven by desire and need to satisfy oneself. This satisfaction both involves physical needs and pleasures and desires. As long as the person find an object or situation good or satisfying, the Appetitive soul can drive the person to lean towards those objects and situations. Spirited Soul – this part of the soul can be attributed to the courageous part of a person, one who wants to do something or to right the wrongs that they observe. Spirited soul are very competitive and is very active, his competitiveness drives one to expect positive results and winning. Rational Soul – The last part of the soul could be said is the driver of our lives, this is the part that thinks and plan for the future “the conscious mind” it decides what to do, when to do it and the possible results one could have depending on their actions. 02 CLASSICAL Philosophical Perspectives of the SELF Aristotle Augustine Aquinas What makes us people different from the animals? ARISTOTLE “Man is a rational animal.” Aristotle was undoubtedly the most brilliant student of Plato. Yet, Aristotle diverged from most of Plato’s fundamental philosophies, especially on the concept of the self. As we may already know, Plato is sure that the true self is the soul, not the body. And to be specific, the true self for Plato Is the rational soul which is separate from the body. Aristotle’s concept of the self is quite the opposite. Aristotle’s concept of the self is more complicated as he talked about co many things in this topic. However, there is one main theme in Aristotle’s narrative of the soul that guided us in understanding his concept of the self, that is, the human person is a “rational animal”. In other words, for Aristotle, the human person is simply an animal that thinks. ARISTOTLE “Man is a rational animal.” Aristotle's perspective on the self is quite distinct from that of his teacher, Plato. While Plato believed that the true self is the rational soul, separable from the body, Aristotle had a different view. For Aristotle, the self is a composite of body and soul. He argued that the soul is the "form" of the body, meaning it is the essential structure that gives life to the body. This concept is known as hylomorphism, where the soul and body are inseparable and together constitute the human person. ARISTOTLE “Man is a rational animal.” Aristotle defines the soul as the principle of life. And as the principle of life, it cause the body to live. This explains why for Aristotle all living beings have soul. Because for Aristotle all living being have soul, then it follows that the plants and animals (in addition to humans) have souls too. Thus, Aristotle distinguishes three levels of souls, namely, vegetative soul, sensitive soul, and rational soul. 1. Vegetative soul: Found in plants, responsible for growth, reproduction, and nutrition. 2. Sensitive soul: Found in animals, capable of sensation in addition to the functions of the vegetative soul. 3. Rational soul: Unique to humans, capable of rational thought and reflection, in addition to the functions of the vegetative and sensitive souls. SAINT AUGUSTINE A Saint and a Philosopher of the church, St. Augustine follows the idea that God encompasses us all, that everything will be better if we are with God. His work’s focal point is on how God and his teachings affects various aspects in life, he follows the belief that everything is better if we devote ourselves in mending our relationship with God. His idea of a man and how to understand who we are as a person is related to our understanding of who we are and how we question ourselves, though St. Augustine also relates our existence to God being modeled in his likeness though being alive means that we are still far from God and has yet to be truly with him. St. Augustine also rejected the doubtfulness of the academy in which one cannot or should not accept ideas from others. He emphasized that we may not be able to give our agreement to everything other people tell us, but we can still agree to those who we, from our own perception, think is right or wrong based on our perception. SAINT AUGUSTINE Nothing can conquer the self except truth and victory of truth is love. God does not destroy human liberty and free choice but preserves it. The human heart, as a castle of infinite desires, is insatiable. No one and nothing can ever satisfy the emptiness in our hearts but God, the highest and infinite good. Augustine define self with his relation to GOD he said that one could not achieve inner peace without finding GOD’s love. He also stated that the body dies on earth and the soul lives eternally in spiritual bliss with GOD. In specific Augustine believe that the self has a big relation to GOD base on him that we can’t achieve peacefulness in life even from death if we can’t find the love of GOD from us. When the human dies the body will remain under the soil and our spirits will go to our GOD that the catholic believe that if a man has a sin he will go to the underworld and if a man did good things in his/her life then the soul of him/her will go to the heaven which leave the GOD. Do you believe in the concept of the soul coming to heaven after death? SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS He was an Italian philosopher and theologian of medieval period. He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology at the peak of scholasticism in Europe; he is also the founder of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology. Aquinas begins his theory of self-knowledge from the claim that all our self-knowledge is dependent on our experience of the world around us. For Aquinas, we don’t encounter ourselves as isolated minds or selves, but rather always as agents interacting with our environment. SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS He believes that a man is made of matter and form. Matter is the common stuff that makes up everything in the universe, while form is the essence of a substance or a thing. He also stated that the body of human is like animals/objects, but what makes us human is the essence, in short soul is what makes us human. Human beings have the natural capacity to know many things without special divine revelation even though such revelation occurs from time to time. Rational thinking and the study of nature, like revelation, are valid ways to understand God for God reveals Himself through nature, so for a man to study nature is to study God. 03 MODERN Philosophical Perspectives of the SELF Descartes Hume Kant Locke RENÉ DESCARTES “Cogito ergo sum.” Rene Descartes is a French Philosopher known to be the father of modern philosophy because of his radical use of systematic and early scientific method to aid his ideas and assumptions. Though his works were often compared or said to be like the concept of St. Augustine which could be traced back to the works of Plato, what his ideas sets him apart is on his belief in modern dualism or the existence of body and mind and it’s implication to one’s existence were presented with the evidences from experiments as well as philosophical reasoning, he also known to be the proponent of the “Methodical Doubt” which simply meant of a continuous process of questioning what we perceive and accepting the fact that doubting, asking questions are a part of ones’ existence. As such he has defined the roles of the mind and body to the notion of one’s existence and sense of self. RENÉ DESCARTES “Cogito ergo sum.” Descartes is known for the statement “Cogito Ergo Sum” which means in English as “I think therefore I am”. According to him a person is comprised of mind and body, the body that perceives from the different senses and the mind that thinks and question or doubt what the body has experienced. For him, the body and its perceptions cannot fully be trusted or can easily be deceived, For instance there are times that we feel that a dream is real before actually waking up or having different perception of size based on an objects distance from the viewer. Descartes explained that because we cannot always trust our senses and in turn what we perceive as who we are or the essence of our existence, we as a rational being should focus on the mind and explained that the more, we think and doubt what we perceived from our senses and the answer that came from such thinking or doubting leads to better understanding of ourselves. He also implies that being in a constant doubt regarding one’s existence is proof that a person exist. DAVID HUME “The self is a bundle, Theory of Mind” The Scottish Philosopher David Hume, focused his work on the field of Empiricism, Skepticism, and naturalism. Being an Empiricist which believes in concrete evidences and observable experiences that meld a person, his notion on the self contradicts to the ideas of the philosophers before him which said that at the notion of self, one’s identity and behavior does not exceed the physical realm and that the “Self” is only the accumulation of different impressions. According to him, there is no permanent “self”, that since our impressions of things based on our experiences and from such impressions, we can create our ideas and knowledge which leads to the argument that since our impression and ideas change, it may improve or totally be replaced means that one change occurred the same phenomenon of will happen to one's idea of who he is and what he can do. DAVID HUME “The self is a bundle, Theory of Mind” For him, self is nothing but a bundle of impression and ideas. Impression is basic objects of our experience and sensation and ideas are copy of impressions and ideas are not real meaning what you see are just what you feel not what you really see. Example, when you see your crush and an idea pop in your mind; seeing you and your crush together but that idea is nothing but a feeling. For David Hume self are all combination of what we experience DAVID HUME “The self is a bundle, Theory of Mind” That is the idea that Hume reiterated when saying that there should be no permanent concept of the self. He said when a person is asked the question “who you are? “That person tends to answer different impressions such as good, happy, optimistic, contented, sad, etc. generally, they apply to who you are now but at the same time these characteristics might change from time to time. If the neighbor you knew your entire life to be happy and have a positive outlook suddenly looked sad and discontented, can we say that the person you seeing is not your neighbor anymore? IMMANUEL KANT “Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind” Immanuel Kant, a German Philosopher that is known for his works on Empiricism and Rationalism. Kant responded to Hume’s work by trying to establish that the collection of impressions and different contents is what it only takes to define a person. Kant argued that the awareness of different emotions that we have, impressions and behavior is only a part of our self. He said that to fully understand who we are, a certain level of consciousness or sense that uses our intuition which synthesizes all the experiences, impressions and perceptions of ourselves will pave the way to define and know who we really are. IMMANUEL KANT “Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind” Kant argued that the sense called “Transcendental Apperception” is an essence of our consciousness that provides basis for understanding and establishing the notion of “self” by synthesizing one’s accumulation of experiences, intuition and imagination goes. Which means that this idea goes beyond what we experience but still able to become aware of. For example, the idea of time and space, we may not be able to observe the movement of time and the vastness of space, but we are still capable of understanding their concept based on what we can observe as their representation. With that in mind and following the idea of Kant about Self, we can say that we are not only an object that perceives and reacts to whatever it is that we are experiencing, we also have the capabilities to understand beyond those experiences and be able to think and have a clear identification who we are and establish a sense of self that is unique and distinct from others. JOHN LOCKE “Personal identity depends on consciousness not on substance.” John Locke is an English Philosopher, Physician, He is the father of Classical liberalism some of his works on this subject matter paved the way to several revolutions to fight the absolute powers of monarchs and rulers of his time that led to the development of governance, politics and economic system that we now know. His work on the self is most represented by the concept “Tabula Rasa” which means a Blank Slate. He believed that the experiences and perceptions of a person is important in the establishment of who that person can become. Unlike what the other Philosophers view on human experiences and senses, John Locke does not disregard the experiences of the person in the identification and establishment of who we are as a person. He stated that a person is born with knowing nothing and that is susceptible to stimulation and accumulation of learning from the experiences, failures, references, and observations of the person. JOHN LOCKE “Personal identity depends on consciousness not on substance.” Considering this, the process of the mind to absorb information and accumulate knowledge may imply that as a person to be able to be whom we want to be, with the right stimulations, enough experiences, as well as awareness that by primarily knowing nothing will enable one to be open to any kind of learning and does not limit any possibilities for growth implies that the opportunity for one person to develop to anything he wants to be is limited only to the environment, experiences, and the choices of the person. He considered personal identity or the self) to be founded on consciousness (viz. memory), and not on the substance of either the soul or the body (World Heritage Encyclopedia, n.d.). According to him, personal identity (the self) “depends on consciousness, not on substance” nor on the soul. Identify involves ‘sameness at a time 'or ‘sameness over time’. 04 CONTEMPORARY Philosophical Perspectives of the SELF Sartre Ryle Churchland Ponty JEAN PAUL SARTRE “Existence precedes essence.” In order to ground itself, the self needs projects, which can be viewed as aspects of an individual’s fundamental project and motivated by a desire for “being” lying within the individual’s consciousness. The source of this project is a spontaneous original choice that depends on the individual’s freedom. However, self’s choice may lead to a project of self-deception such as bad faith, where one’s own real nature as for-itself is discarded to adopt that of the in-itself. Our only way to escape self-deception is authenticity, that is, choosing in a way which reveals the existence of the for-itself as both factual and transcendent. For Sartre, the proper exercise of freedom creates values that any other human being placed in my situation could experience, therefore each authentic project expresses a universal dimension in the singularity of a human life. JEAN PAUL SARTRE “Existence precedes essence.” 1. Being-for-itself (Pour-soi): - This refers to human consciousness, which is always aware of itself and its own existence. Sartre argues that consciousness is defined by its ability to negate, meaning it can imagine possibilities beyond the present reality. 2. Being-in-itself (En-soi): - This represents objects and things that exist independently of consciousness. These entities are complete and unchanging, unlike human consciousness, which is always in a state of becoming. 3. Freedom and Responsibility: - Sartre emphasizes radical freedom, suggesting that individuals are free to make their own choices and are responsible for the consequences. This freedom can lead to anguish because it highlights the weight of our responsibility in shaping our own lives. 4. Bad Faith (Mauvaise foi): - This concept describes the act of self-deception, where individuals deny their own freedom and responsibility by conforming to societal roles or expectations. Sartre argues that living in bad faith is inauthentic. 5. Authenticity: - To live authentically, one must acknowledge and embrace their freedom and responsibility, making choices that reflect their true self rather than societal pressures. JEAN PAUL SARTRE “Existence precedes essence.” Self-Deception: - Individuals in bad faith deceive themselves into thinking they do not have the freedom to make choices. This self-deception allows them to avoid the burden of responsibility. Social Roles: - Sartre uses the example of a waiter who is overly enthusiastic in his role. The waiter's exaggerated behavior is a form of bad faith because he is pretending that his identity is solely defined by his job. This reduces him to a mere object, rather than acknowledging his broader human potential. Avoiding Anxiety: - By denying their freedom, individuals in bad faith avoid the existential anxiety that comes with the realization that they are responsible for their own actions and the meaning of their lives. Authenticity vs. Inauthenticity: - Living in bad faith is considered inauthentic because it involves lying to oneself about one's true nature and potential. Authentic living, on the other hand, requires embracing one's freedom and the responsibility that comes with it. JEAN PAUL SARTRE “Existence precedes essence.” Examples of Bad Faith: The Waiter - Sartre describes a waiter who is so immersed in his role that he loses sight of his own freedom and potential beyond being a waiter. The Young Woman on a Date - Another example is a young woman who, on a date, ignores the sexual connotations of her date's compliments and pretends not to notice his advances. This allows her to avoid making a decision about how to respond. GILBERT RYLE Gilbert Ryle with his Behavioristic approach to self, said that self is the behavior presented by the person, his notion of dualism is that the behavior that we show, emotions and actions are the reflection of our mind and as such is the manifestation of who we are. Ryle does not believe that the mind and body, though some say can coexist, are two separate entities which is said to be evident in the unexplainable phenomenon or abilities of the mind where the soul is considered. To him, once we encounter others, their perceptions of what we do, how we act, and the way we behave will then result to the understanding of other people and establishing of who we are. GILBERT RYLE His explanation of self is further exemplified in his “ghost in the machine” view. This view said the man is a complex machine with different functioning parts, and the intelligence, and other characteristics or behavior of man is represented by the ghost in the said machine. He gave further explanation using an example imagining that if you are touring a visiting friend to the university that you are studying and you brought him to the athletic center, library, buildings and classrooms, but then your friends ask “but where is the university? As such is the point of Ryle, all those places, buildings and offices are the university which supports his idea that the mind and body is not necessarily separate entities. So, considering that analogy, the idea of Ryle is saying that the things that we do, how we behave and react and all other components like the way we talk, walk, and look is generally who we are as a person. PAUL CHURCHLAND Paul Churchland, a Canadian philosopher whose focus is on the idea that people should improve our association and use of words in identifying the self. He has this idea that the “self” is defined by the movements of our brain. Churchland’s work revolves around challenging of the notion and terms being used to explain behavior or to explain how a person feels, thinks, and act with regards to physiological phenomenon that is happening in the body as well as definitions brought about by emotions, this is one of the notion of the concept of Folk Psychology also known as common sense psychology. The main philosophy of Churchland built the idea of “eliminative materialism”. Basically, eliminative materialism opposes that people’s common sense understanding of the mind is false and that most of the mental states that people subscribe to, in turn, do not actually exist, this idea also applies on the understanding of behavior and emotions. PAUL CHURCHLAND This leads to his idea of Neurophilosophy, he believed that to fully understand one’s behavior, one should understand the different neurological movement of the brain that pertains to different emotions, feelings, actions and reactions and how such brain movements affect the body. With this in mind we can eliminate the ambiguity of subjective and baseless identification of the mind, behavior and self in general because by understanding the different neural pathways, how they work, and what implications are those movements are to people, will we not only have proof that there is a measurable classification on one’s behavior it can also be said that the constant movement of the brain can be the basis of who the person is this is emphasized by Churchland and his wife in the statement “The Brain as the Self” MAURICE JEAN JACQUES MERLEAU-PONTY Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty is a French philosopher that is known for his works on existentialism and phenomenology. His idea of the self, regarded that the body and mind are not separate entities, but rather those two components is one and the same. His idea that follows the gestalt ideation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts in which pushed his idea on the unity of the function of the mind and body, this idea is called the Phenomenology of Perception. The idea of Phenomenology of Perception according to Merleau-Ponty is divided into three (3) division, The Body, The Perceived World, and the People and The world. The body that both receives the experience as well as integrates such experiences in the different perception. MAURICE JEAN JACQUES MERLEAU-PONTY The Perceived world, which are the accumulation of the perception as integrated by the experiences of the body. And the People and the world that enable one to not only be able to integrate the other objects in the world but also to be able to experience the cultural aspect and relate to others. His idea of perception follows the idea of Gestalt psychology which gives importance on the whole than the sum of its part. For him, perception guides our action based on what our experiences are, the body perceives while our consciousness provides the meaning or interprets the various perception we have in the world and the self could be established by the perceptions we have in the world, whereas one’s action, behavior and language used could be said to be the reflection of our united perception of the world THANK YOU