Philosophical Perspective of the Self PDF

CONDINO BSGE 3B UTS PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF John Locke: Tabula Rasa Jo...

CONDINO BSGE 3B UTS PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF John Locke: Tabula Rasa John Locke – English philosopher Socrates: The Unexamined Life The human mind at birth is tabula rasa or a blank slate Socratic Method – questioning to test idea and guide Blank Slate – mind at birth is a tabula rasa, filled by experience. understanding Memory Identity – self consists of continuous consciousness - Introspection to gain self-knowledge (“know and memories. thyself”) Self is identified with consciousness and this self Self-knowledge – examine oneself to improve one’s consists of memory that the person existing now is the life same person yesterday because he/she remembers Virtue – moral excellence as the path to happiness the thoughts, experiences or actions of the earlier self. Its your soul that you should take care of. Self-consciousness is necessary to have a coherent The most important thing in life is the state of an personal (self) identity or knowledge of the self as individual soul. person The essence of the self – the soul – is the immortal Empiricism – the origin of all knowledge is sense of entity. The soul strives for wisdom and perfection, and experience. These experiences shape and mold the reason is the soul’s tool self throughout a person’s life. Reality consists of two dichotomous realms Two Dichotomous Realms David Hume: Bundle Theory 1. Physical realm (body) – changing, imperfect The self is not an entity over and beyond the physical 2. Ideal realm – unchanging, eternal, immortal body. Self was nothing but a series of incoherent Two Kinds of Existence impressions received by the senses. Did not believe 1. Visible - changes in the existence of self; perceptions are only active as 2. Invisible – remains constant long as one is conscious. What people experience is just a bundle or collection “An unexamined life is not worth living.” The of different perceptions (Bundle Theory) individual person can have a meaningful and happy life Contents of experience – there are only two distinct if he becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself. entities: In order to be happy, you have to be virtuous a. Impressions – basic sensations of people’s (right knowledge) experience Self is known by the soul b. Ideas – thoughts and images from impressions It’s what within that matters, not the physical aspects of the self. 1. Empiricism – all knowledge derived from sensory experience Plato: Forms and the Soul 2. Bund of Perception – self as collection of successive Plato was the student of Socrates. impressions Self-composition of body and soul 3. No Permanent Self – denied existence of constant Self is synonymous with soul. Soul is indeed the most unified self divine aspect of the human being which has three parts namely appetitive, rational, and spirited. Immanuel Kant: Transcendental Self Tripartite Soul Human mind creates the structure of human Appetitive (sensual – basic biological needs) experience. rational (reasoning – enables us to think The self is an organizing principle that makes a deeply, make wise choices) unified and intelligible experience possible. The self spirited (feeling – basic emotions) constructs its own reality, actively creating a world Theory of Forms – asserted that physical world is not that is familiar, predictable, and most significantly, really the “real” world because the ultimate reality mine. exists beyond the physical world. Since the soul is Transcendental Self - It exists independently of regarded as something permanent, man should give experience. The self is the product of reason, a more importance to it than the physical body. regulative principle because the self “regulates” Influence experience by making unified experience possible. Dichotomy – body and soul are separate Knowledge bridge entity Two Components of Self 1. Inner Self – includes rational, intellect, and Rene Descartes: Cogito Ergo Sum psychological state such as moods, feelings, and Rene Descartes – French philosopher, the father of sensations, pleasures and pain. modern philosophy 2. Outer Self – it includes your sense and the He wants to penetrate the nature of reasoning physical world process and understand its relationship to the human self. Sigmund Freud: The Unconscious Mind “Cogito ergo sum” – I think, therefore, I am. Level of Consciousness The act of thinking about the self – of being self- 1. Conscious – awareness of present perceptions, conscious – is in itself proof that there is a self. feelings, thoughts, memories and fantasies at any Theory of Rationalism – no rational person will doubt particular moment his or her own existence as a conscious thinking 2. Pre-conscious/subconscious – related to data that entity while we are aware of thinking about ourselves. can readily be brought to consciousness 1. Methodical Doubt – skepticism as a tool to determine 3. Unconscious – refers to date retained but not easily truth available to the individual’s conscious awareness or 2. Thinking Self – ‘I think therefore I am’ as proof of scrutiny; contains the basic instinctual drives including existence sexuality, aggressiveness, and self-destruction, 3. Mind-Body Dualism – immaterial soul distinct from unfulfilled wishes and childhood fantasies. immaterial body. CONDINO BSGE 3B UTS Freud’s Structural Model of the Psyche 1. Conscious Level: Ego – executive mediating between id impulses and superego inhibitions; testing reality; rational. Operates mainly at conscious level but also at preconscious level. 2. Preconscious Level: Superego – ideals and morals; striving for perfection; incorporated from parents; becoming a person’s conscience. Operates mostly at preconscious level. 3. Unconscious level: Id – basic impulses (sex and aggression); seeking immediate gratification; irrational and impulsive. Operates at unconscious level. Gilbert Ryle: The Ghost in the Machine Individual’s actions define his/her own concept of self The self is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency or disposition of a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances The self is not an entity one can locate and analyze, but simply the convenient name that people us to refer to all the behaviors that people make. Category Mistake – happens when we think of the self as existing apart from certain observable behaviors, a purely mental entity existing in time but not space. No Separate Mental World Behavior Desire Self What truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his day-to-day life. “I act, therefore, I am.” Paul Churchland: Eliminative Materialism Materialistic View (Theory of Materialism) – the belief that nothing but matter exists Folk Psychology Rejection Folk psychology is a name traditionally used to denote our everyday way of understanding, or rationalizing, intentional actions in mentalistic terms. Churchland claims that the idea of fold psychology is insufficient, he argues that we should instead adopt eliminative materialism: This is the idea that we should eliminate folk psychological terms like belief, attitude, and desire from our theory of mind and talk only about physical brain states. Brain-Based Self The physical brain and not the imaginary mind gives people the sense of self The mind does not really exist because it cannot be experienced by the senses. Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Embodied Subjectively Body-Mind Utility Self as an embodied subjectivity. The mind and body are intrinsically connected. Body is part of the mind and the mind is part of the body. Consciousness, the world, and the human body are intricately intertwined in perceiving the world. All knowledge about the self is based on the “phenomena” of experience Perception is not merely a consequence of sensory experience; rather, it is a conscious experience.