UTS Philosophy PDF

Part 1 Lesson 1: Name and The Self The name is not the person itself no matter how intimately bound it is with the bearer. The self is something that a person perennially molds, shapes, and develops. We approach our being holistically. In order to be capable of understanding others, one should ini...

Part 1 Lesson 1: Name and The Self The name is not the person itself no matter how intimately bound it is with the bearer. The self is something that a person perennially molds, shapes, and develops. We approach our being holistically. In order to be capable of understanding others, one should initiate in understanding themselves. Lesson 1: Philosophers Socrates While most philosophers of his time were focused on understanding natural and scientific phenomena, Socrates turned his attention inward, asking profound questions about the human soul, the nature of knowledge, and how people should live. This questioning led to the thirst in knowing thyself. One of Socrates' most famous quotes is “The unexamined life is not worth living.” This signifies that Socrates believed that self-reflection and self-awareness are essential for a meaningful life. According to him, if people don’t question their beliefs, values, and decisions, they are not truly living but merely existing without purpose or direction. This is why, to him, it’s very important that one must know thyself before everything else. He believes that in order for someone to understand something, they should know themselves first before attempting to understand other things or people. His strong belief of knowing thyself fuels his life long mission: the true task of the philosopher is to know oneself. Socrates has been long concerned with the problem of the “Self.” This problem highlights one of his important quotes, “Know thyself.” This phrase captures Socrates' core philosophical mission, which is to understand one's inner self—beliefs, motivations, and virtues. He thought that personal knowledge was the foundation for wisdom, and that without knowing oneself, it is impossible to lead a virtuous or fulfilling life. According to him, the worst that can happen to anyone is to live but die inside. The concept of merely living without purpose, wisdom, or virtue is what he considered a neglect to examine one’s inner life; wasting the potential of the human soul. Socrates believed that every person is composed of two parts: the body and the soul. Such a concept can be simplified to a term referred to as dualistic. He saw the body as imperfect and impermanent, a temporary vessel that deteriorates over time. The soul, on the other hand, is perfect and permanent, an eternal essence that exists beyond physical death. This belief made Socrates an early advocate of dualism, the view that the mind or soul is separate from the body. Socrates developed the Socratic Method as a way to uncover truth, challenge assumptions, and promote deeper understanding through dialogue. This method is a form of teaching and learning that involves the teacher asking a series of probing questions to help students critically examine their beliefs and ideas. Through this questioning, students are encouraged to think deeply and reflect on their assumptions, ultimately leading to a clearer understanding of the truth. The Socratic Method remains a cornerstone of philosophical inquiry and critical thinking. Plato Plato, a student of Socrates, built upon his teacher's ideas, particularly focusing on the nature of the soul and the importance of self-examination. He, too, believes that the unexamined life is not worth living. Like Socrates, Plato embraced dualism, the idea that the human being is composed of two distinct parts: the body and the soul. The body is material, temporary, and imperfect, while the soul is immaterial, eternal, and perfect. Plato viewed the soul as more important than the body, believing that true knowledge comes from the soul’s understanding rather than sensory experience. In his works, he gave more definition and divided the soul into three components. In his magnum opus or his most famous work, “The Republic,” Plato introduced a detailed model of the soul, which he divided into three distinct parts: Rational Soul: This is the highest part of the soul and is responsible for reasoning, intellect, and logical thinking. Plato believed that the rational soul should govern the other parts to maintain order and harmony. Spirited Soul: This part of the soul is associated with emotions, particularly courage, honor, and the pursuit of justice. It drives us to protect ourselves, seek victory, and act according to moral principles.  Appetitive Soul: This is the lowest part of the soul, driven by desires and physical needs, such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire. Plato saw this part as necessary but dangerous if not controlled by the rational soul. Plato’s theory suggests that a well-balanced individual is one where the rational soul leads, the spirited soul supports, and the appetitive soul is kept in check. Saint Agustine Saint Augustine, a significant figure in early Christian theology and philosophy, synthesized Platonism with Christian doctrine, offering a profound understanding of human nature, the soul, and the purpose of life. Augustine, echoing Plato’s dualism, viewed humans as composed of a mortal body and an immortal soul. The body is bound to die on earth, but the soul's ultimate goal is to live eternally in spiritual communion with God. This belief emphasizes the bifurcated nature of man. Augustine believed that the soul, being divine and eternal, yearns for God and transcends the physical limitations of the body. For Augustine, the goal of human existence is to attain eternal communion with God in the afterlife. This requires living a life of virtue on earth, aligning one's actions with the teachings of Christ. Earthly life is seen as a journey toward spiritual redemption, where the soul seeks to purify itself and transcend its earthly existence to be reunited with the Divine. Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, one of the most influential medieval philosophers and theologians, merged Aristotelian philosophy with Christian doctrine, particularly on the nature of man, the soul, and the relationship between faith and reason. Aquinas followed Aristotle's hylomorphic theory of matter and form, asserting that every physical thing is composed of these two fundamental elements: Matter (hyle): This is the physical substance, the "stuff" that makes up the material world, including the human body. It is the potential part, the material that needs to be shaped into a particular form. Form (morphe): This is the essence or nature of a thing that shapes the matter. In humans, the form is the soul, which gives life and identity to the body. The soul is not  just an abstract idea but the animating principle that makes a body alive and, in humans, it makes them rational beings. Aquinas stressed that humans are a unity of body and soul, not two separate substances. The body (matter) is important, and the soul gives it its purpose and intellect. Aquinas argued that the soul is the form of the body, meaning it is what makes the body function as a living, intelligent being; it’s what makes it human. For Aquinas, the ultimate goal of human life is happiness, which can only be fully realized in union with God. While humans can experience some happiness through the use of reason and the pursuit of virtue in earthly life, true and complete happiness is found in the beatific vision—the direct experience of God in the afterlife. He believed that through virtuous living and faith in God, people could reach this state of ultimate fulfillment. Rene Descartes René Descartes, known as the Father of Modern Philosophy, made significant contributions to the understanding of the self, the mind-body relationship, and the foundations of knowledge. In his famous work, Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes argues that we should doubt everything that can be doubted. He believed that skepticism was necessary to reach certainty. Descartes sought to strip away all unreliable knowledge, eventually arriving at a single undeniable truth: the existence of the self. This gives clarity to his belief that the only thing one cannot doubt is the existence of the self. His famous saying, “Cogito ergo sum” or “I think therefore I am,” captures his conclusion that thinking proves existence. If someone is thinking, even if they are doubting their own existence, the very act of thought confirms that they exist as a thinking entity. This became the foundation of Descartes' philosophy, emphasizing that the mind, or the thinking self, is the essence of human existence. Descartes introduced the concept of dualism, which separates the human person into two distinct entities: Cogito (the mind): The mind is the essence of the self. It is where thought, reason, doubt, and consciousness reside. For Descartes, the mind is the true identity of a person.  Extenza (the body): The body, in Descartes’ view, is merely a machine, an extension of the mind. While it interacts with the world, it is not what makes a person human. The mind controls the body, but the body is secondary to the thinking self. Mind Over Body Descartes believed that the mind is superior to the body. The body is physical and subject to the laws of nature, much like a machine, while the mind is immaterial and capable of thought, will, and reasoning. He viewed the human body as just a tool for the mind, and the mind was the true essence of what it means to be human. The body functions through mechanical laws, but the mind's reasoning transcends this physicality. Descartes viewed the body as a mechanical entity, much like a machine that operates based on natural laws. He believed that the body could function without the direct influence of the mind, such as in reflexes or automatic bodily functions, but the mind's role was to guide more deliberate, conscious actions. He famously likened the body to a clock or automaton—a well-constructed machine that could operate on its own but was directed by the mind. David Hume David Hume was a Scottish philosopher and a leading figure in Empiricism, a school of thought that asserts that knowledge comes from sensory experiences and observations. Hume is particularly known for his contributions to the understanding of the self and how it is formed through experiences. He rejected the idea that we could have innate knowledge or understand things outside of our experiences. For Hume, the only things we can know are those that we sense and experience directly. For Hume, experience is central to understanding the self. The self is simply the sum of a person's experiences, and nothing more. Unlike philosophers before him who viewed the self as a permanent or fixed entity, Hume argued that the self is nothing more than a bundle of impressions and perceptions. There is no permanent "self" that persists over time, but rather a series of fleeting experiences and sensations. What we call "self" is really just a succession of changing perceptions, a stream of consciousness. In this sense, the self is not something fixed or permanent, but rather a product of our experiences. He claimed that what we think of as the self is simply a collection of these different experiences and perceptions, constantly changing and in a state of flux. Hume categorized human experience into two types:  Impressions: These are the basic objects of our experiences or sensations. They are vivid and immediate—what we experience directly through our senses. For example, imagine you bite into a lemon. The intense sour taste you experience, along with the sharp sensation on your tongue, is an impression. It's a vivid, direct experience that comes from your senses. Ideas: These are the copies of impressions. They are faint images or memories of past impressions. Ideas are less vivid and come after the direct experience. For instance, later, when you're thinking about that lemon, you remember how sour it tasted. The memory of that sour taste is an idea. It’s less intense, a "faint image" of the original experience. Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who introduced a significant shift in how we understand the relationship between the mind and the world. He believed that the mind actively organizes and structures our experiences, rather than passively receiving them, as earlier empiricists like David Hume suggested. Kant argued that the mind plays an active role in shaping our experiences. We don't just receive raw impressions from the world. Instead, the mind has built-in structures that organize these impressions into coherent experiences. For example, time and space are not things we learn from experience; they are fundamental ways our minds structure all experiences. This means that everything we perceive is shaped by the mind's organizing principles. According to Kant, when we perceive something, we aren’t just receiving random, disconnected sensations. The mind synthesizes and connects them into a meaningful whole. This organizing process allows us to understand our experiences in relation to each other and to ourselves. Without this mental organization, we wouldn’t be able to make sense of the world. For example, when you walk down a street, your mind automatically organizes the experience into a sequence of events that happen over time and in space. Kant believed that the self is more than just a sense of personal identity; it is also central to how we acquire knowledge. The self actively processes and organizes sensory impressions, making sense of the world around us. This means that without the self, there would be no way to relate different impressions to one another, and thus no knowledge could be formed. For Kant, experience involves more than just sensing the world. It involves the mind actively organizing and interpreting sensory data. He believed that the self is responsible for synthesizing all of our knowledge and experiences, making them intelligible. This view bridges the gap between rationalism (which emphasizes reason) and empiricism (which emphasizes sensory experience), as Kant believed that both the mind and experience are necessary for knowledge. Gilbert Ryle Gilbert Ryle was a British philosopher known for his critique of the traditional views on the mind-body problem, particularly the dualism proposed by René Descartes. Gilbert Ryle challenged the traditional mind-body dichotomy by arguing that the concept of a non-physical self is a misunderstanding. He emphasized the importance of behavior in defining the self, suggesting that what we call the self is simply a convenient term for the collection of behaviors exhibited by an individual. Ryle rejected the idea that the mind and body are separate entities, a concept famously encapsulated in Descartes' dualism. He argued against the notion of an internal, non-physical self that exists independently of our physical bodies and behaviors. According to Ryle, the mind cannot be thought of as a "ghost in the machine," a separate thing that controls the physical body. Ryle emphasized that what truly matters in understanding a person is their behavior. He believed that mental states and processes are better understood through the actions a person performs rather than through introspection or speculation about an internal self. For example, instead of trying to find a "thinking self" inside someone, we should look at how they behave in different situations. Ryle proposed that the concept of the "self" is not a tangible entity but rather a convenient label for the collection of behaviors and actions exhibited by an individual. When people refer to someone's self, they are simply describing the consistent patterns of behavior that define that person. For instance, saying someone is generous or thoughtful is based on their observable actions, not on an invisible inner essence. Merleau-Ponty Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a French philosopher known for his contributions to phenomenology and existentialism, particularly his exploration of the relationship between perception, the body, and the self. Merleau-Ponty challenged the traditional Cartesian dualism proposed by René Descartes, which posits a clear distinction between the mind (or soul) and the body. He argued that this separation creates an artificial and limiting understanding of human experience. Instead, he believed that the mind and body are deeply intertwined and should be viewed as a unified whole. For Merleau-Ponty, consciousness is not just a mental phenomenon; it is fundamentally embodied. This means that our thoughts, perceptions, and emotions are shaped by our physical existence and experiences in the world. He asserted that our bodily sensations and movements play a crucial role in how we perceive and understand our environment. He emphasized the importance of perception in shaping our understanding of reality. According to Merleau-Ponty, perception is not merely a passive reception of sensory information; it is an active engagement with the world. Our bodies actively interact with our surroundings, and this embodied engagement informs our thoughts and feelings. The lived body is not just a physical object; it is the medium through which we experience the world, shaping our perceptions and interactions. SUMMARY Socrates Plato Agustine Thomas Rene Descartes Aquinas Every man is Added 3 Body is bound to Man is Cogito ergo sum composed of components to die on earth and composed of “I think body and soul the soul: the soul is to two parts: therefore I am” rational, anticipate living Matter (hyle) Two distinct spirited, eternally in a and Form entities: Cogito appetitive spiritual realm in (morphe) (mind) and communion with Extenza (body) God David Hume Immanuel Kant Gilbert Ryle Merleau - Ponty Experience can There is a mind Denied the self Dismissed the be categorized that organizes all Cartesian into two: the impressions Dualism Impressions and the men get in Ideas the external world