Philosophical Perspectives on Self - Notes PDF

Philosophical Perspectives on Self 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 q...

Philosophical Perspectives on Self 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 look into the various explanations from different philosophers their notion of what the “Self” its nature and how it is formed in order 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. Socrates Socrates’ work was never published, we were only able to know who Socrates is and his works because of his illustrious students spoke generously and in detail about his knowledge, wit, wisdom and intellect. His student Plato for example included Socrates in some of his work as a pivotal character. He could be considered as the first martyr of education, knowledge and philosophy. For lighting up the minds of his students, he was literally charged with corruption of minors. He was made to choose between exile and death via the intake of hemlock. Socrates chose the latter, thus dying as a martyr that fights against ignorance and narrow-mindedness. The philosophy of Socrates underlies in the importance of the notion “knowing oneself”. For him, man’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 so as to be able to know what he is lacking and what he needs to know. Socrates believes that the answer to our pursuit in knowing ourselves lies in our 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 to what we know we are and live our lives following our knowledge of ourselves. Plato One of the most prominent thinkers of his time, Plato included in his work the learnings and ideas shared to him by his teacher Socrates. He wrote several literatures that tackle politics, human nature, and established the idea of virtue and intelligence. Plato is historically known to be the father of the academy, a place where learning and sharing of knowledge happens, that later became one of the pillars and basis of what schools and education are now in the present. 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’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. If the person finds 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 is 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 plans. “The conscious mind” that decides what to do, when to do it, and the possible results one could have depending on their actions. St. 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 affect 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 believes that our notion of ourselves and our idea of existence come from a higher form of sense in which bodily senses may not perceive or understand, and the more one doubts and question his life means that, that person is actually living. St. Augustine, while integrating the teaching of the church in his philosophy, and establishing our sense of self with God, which we cannot achieve with our bodies since our ability in truly understanding our existence and role in the world is limited. So, people are in need to establish their relationship with God through being virtuous, at the same time, to be able to stand by on what we think is true, who we think we are that are from our own understanding and solely defined by us alone although people may say differently, by continuously questioning and finding the truth will we be able to find the best answer to who we are and what our role is in the world. Rene Descartes 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 set him apart is on his belief in modern dualism or the existence of body and mind and its 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.  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 actually exists. John Locke John Locke is an English Philosopher, Physician, He is considered to be 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. 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. David Hume The Scottish Philosopher David Hume focused his work in the field of Empiricism, Skepticism, and naturalism. Being an Empiricist which believes in concrete evidence 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 from 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 ones idea of who he is and what he can do. 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. Immanuel Kant 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 are 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. 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 from 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. Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud, an Austrian Psychologist and Physician, he is also known as the father of psychoanalysis and is known for his work on human nature and the unconscious. Freud believed that man has different constructs of personality that interacts with each other and along with his concept of the different levels of consciousness provides an idea how a person develops a sense of self. Aspects of Personality ID Also known as the child aspect of a person, The ID’s attention is on satisfaction of one’s needs and self-gratification. It is driven by the pleasure principle. SUPEREGO The conscience of the one’s personality, Superego has the inclination to uphold justice and do what is morally right and socially acceptable actions. The superego is involved in the notion of right or wrong that is imparted to us by our parents or people that tool care for us during childhood. EGO Sometimes known as the Police or the mediator between id and superego. It operates within the boundaries of reality; primary function is to maintain the impulses of the ID to an acceptable degree. Freud also introduced the idea that the accumulation of the experiences of a person helps build his personality although such information is not stored in a single area where we can access them at any time. He introduced the levels of consciousness, The Conscious where minority of our memories are being stored and the memories that are in the conscious is easier to be tapped or accessed. The other one is the Pre-conscious, the middle part of the entirety of our consciousness, the memories stored in this area can still be accessed but with a little difficulty. And the last one is the Unconscious, this area is where majority of our memories since childhood are deeply stored. It is very difficult to tap the memories in the unconscious, it would need a trained professional and several special techniques in order to make some memories resurface. Freud believed that we are a by-product of our experiences in the past. And that are actions are driven by the idea of resisting or avoiding pain and are molded from our need for pleasure or being happy. 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.  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 or 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 notions 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. 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 in the statement “The Brain as the Self”. 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) divisions, 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. 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 important 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.