Philosophical Journey To Discover The Self PDF

A PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNEY TO DISCOVER THE SELF Chapter 1 1 UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING ONESELF. 1. Recognize the different perspectives regarding the nature of Man. 2. Assess the philosophical perspective of the self by critiquing the argument given. 3. Dev...

A PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNEY TO DISCOVER THE SELF Chapter 1 1 UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING ONESELF. 1. Recognize the different perspectives regarding the nature of Man. 2. Assess the philosophical perspective of the self by critiquing the argument given. 3. Develop their own answer to the question, who am I? Philosophy has always sought to answer life's difficult questions and has relentlessly pursued answers to these no matter how seemingly futile the quest may be. This question may be one of the most difficult to answer and has garnered from the start of Man's reflection. But no matter how difficult it is, we cannot just question and leave it unanswered. What we do and our reactions to the world have a lot to do with how we see ourselves. In an age where the pursuit of one's happiness and celebrating one's identity seem to be at the forefront, that question still has no answer. What do we mean by the "SELF"? Are we souls, organic bodies or are we just minds or a combination of body and mind. The Philosophical quest is aimed at unraveling who man is and his nature by looking, not just on the everyday goals of man, but to determine what ultimately is man, his goals and his essence. "AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING." There is an urgent call to examine ones life. For him, there was soul before man’s body. This soul has direct knowledge by direct intuition and stored in the mind. Once he came into the material world (world of senses) which resulted in lack of knowledge or ignorance that causes problems to man. He introduced the dialectic method which is a sort of intellectual inquiry. This is also called as “Socratic Method.” PLATO Deeply inspired on the Philosophy of Plato, he believed that our real world is found where there is permanence and infinity, that is the world where God is. Thus out of love, God created man. Man has immortal soul whose main pursuit is to have an everlasting life with God. He also goes on to say that moral law exists and is imposed on the mind or reason. Reason makes us recognized these laws. There is also Eternal Law which should be followed because this is coming from God.  “I THINK, THEREFORE, I AM” IS ONE OF THE FAMOUS QUOTES OF RENE DESCARTES. FOR HIM, MAN ESSENCE LAY PURELY AS A THINKING BEING. BECAUSE EVEN IF A PERSON IS IN DOUBT, ONE THING HE CANNOT DOUBT IS THAT HE IS A THINKING BEING. THIS ALSO LED TO HIS DUALISM, MAN IS COMPOSED OF MIND AND BODY. THESE TWO ARE SEPARATE AND DISTINCT. FOR HIM, MIND IS CONJOINED WITH THE BODY IN SUCH AWAY THAT THEY CAN ACT WITH EACH OTHER. THE ESSENCE OF THE SELF IS IN ITS BEING A THINKING BEING – THE SELF "I think, therefore, I exist." BEING THE MIND MORE THAN THE BODY. WHEN THE BODY IS GONE, THE MIND MAY CONTINUE TO EXIST. HE WAS INFLUENCED ON RENE DESCARTES’ WORK. HE SUBSCRIBED ON THE MEMORY THEORY. THIS THEORY HOLDS THAT WE ARE THE SAME PERSON AS WE WERE IN THE PAST FOR AS LONG AS WE CAN REMEMBER SOMETHING FROM THE PAST. THE MEMORY RENDERS US SELF-CONSCIOUS. PERSONAL IDENTITY IS EXPLAINED IN TERMS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN LIFE STAGES IN THE MEMORY. THUS, AS LONG I REMEMBER, I AM AROUND. His idea of the self follows a philosophical pattern. He argues that when he looks into his mind, he finds a stream of impressions and ideas. The self keep on changing like on how one looks. He concludes that the self is nothing over and above the stream of perceptions we enjoy. There is no permanent and unchanging self. A person is a bundle of perception. In conclusion, there is no self. IMMANUEL KANT  HIS WORKS CENTER ON THE MIND AND DEVELOPMENT. HE DEVISED A STRUCTURE THAT DEFINES MAN ACCORDING TO HIS BIOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AND THE INFLUENCE OF HIS SOCIO-CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. THIS IS CALLED THE TRIPARTITE DIVISION OF MAN’S MIND – THE ID, THE EGO AND THE SUPER EGO. THE ID REPRESENTS MAN’S BIOLOGICAL NATURE, THE IMPULSES AND BIOLOGICAL DESIRES. THE SUPER EGO REPRESENTS THE ETHICAL COMPONENT OF THE PERSONALITY AND PROVIDES THE MORAL STANDARDS BY WHICH THE The id, the ego and the super ego EGO OPERATES. THE WINNER BETWEEN THIS INNER BATTLE (ID VS SUPER EGO) IS THE EGO. "Minds are things, but different sorts of things from the bodies." the mind is not like a specific, separate identity but certainly part of our body. The only way by which we can know how the mind is working is through the behavior of the person, hence we can only know a person through how a person behaves, their tendencies and reactions in certain circumstances. He believed that the “self” is brain. Our moods, emotions, actions consciousness are deeply affected by the state of our brain. That by manipulating certain parts of our brain, our feelings and actions, and physical state are successfully altered. HE DEFINED THE PERSON 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. THE SELF IS GROUNDED WITH THE EXPERIENCES FROM THE PAST, THE POSSIBILITIES FOR THE FUTURE AND THE PRESENT COGNITION. HE APPROACHED THE IDEA OF THE SELF AS A CONTINUOUS FLOW OF MOVEMENT AND EXPRESSION FROM INFANCY TO ADULTHOOD. SOCRATES PLATO AUGUSTINE RENE DESCARTES JOHN lOCKE DAVID HUME IMMANUEL KANT GILBERT RYLE PAUL CHURCHLAND MERLEAU-PONTY SIGMUND FREUD