Understanding the Self - PDF

Understanding the Self Ms. Kristine Mae Daleon, LPT Who am I?  Who am I? A Philosophical Journey to Discovering the Self Chapter 1  What is Philosophy? Comes from the Greek word philo-sophia which means love of wisdom. Finding answers to questions about ours...

Understanding the Self Ms. Kristine Mae Daleon, LPT Who am I?  Who am I? A Philosophical Journey to Discovering the Self Chapter 1  What is Philosophy? Comes from the Greek word philo-sophia which means love of wisdom. Finding answers to questions about ourselves and about the world we live in.  Ancient Greek Philosophers Socrates Plato Aristotle Socrates “Know Thyself”  “An unexamined life is not worth living.”  Everyman is dualistic.  composed of body and soul  Body is imperfect and impermanent Soul is perfect and permanent.  Two Dichotomous Realms Socrates Physical Realm Ideal Realm Changeable, Unchanging, transient and eternal and imperfect immortal The body belongs The soul belongs to this realm to this realm Socrates  Socrates was the first thinker to focus on the full power of reason on human self: who we are, who we should be and who we will become.  The soul strives for wisdom and perfection, and the reason is the soul’s tool to achieve an exalted state of life. Socrates  Our preoccupation with bodily needs such as food, drink, sex, pleasure, material possessions and wealth keep us from attaining wisdom.  A person can have a meaningful and happy life only if he becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can be achieved through constant soul-searching. Plato “The soul is immortal” a student of Socrates Philosophy of the self can be explained as a process of self-knowledge and purification of the soul. He believed in the existence of the mind and soul. Mind and soul are given in perfection with God. Plato  Plato believes that genuine happiness can only be achieved by people who consistently make sure that their Rational is in control of their Spirits and Appetites Aristotle  “The soul is the essence of the self”  a student of Plato The body and soul are not two separate elements but are one thing The soul is simply the Form of the body, and is not capable of existing without the body. Aristotle  The soul makes a person a person. The soul is the essence of the self.  Aristotle suggests that the rational nature of the self is to lead a good, flourishing and fulfilling life.  Without the body, the soul cannot exist. The soul dies along with the body.  Kinds of Soul Aristotle Vegetative Includes the physical body that can grow Sentient Includes the sensual desires, feelings and emotions Rational Is what makes man human. It includes thee intellect that makes man know and understand things. St. Augustine  integrated the ideas of Plato and Christianity Augustine’s view of the human person reflects the entire spirit of the medieval world. The soul is united with the body so that man may be entire and complete. Believed humankind is created in the image and likeness of God. St. Augustine  Therefore, the human person being a creation of God is always geared towards the good.  The self is known only through knowing God  Self-knowledge is a consequence of knowledge of God. Knowledge can only come by seeing the truth that dwells within us.” – St. Augustine The truth of which Augustine spoke refers to the truth of knowing God. Rene Descartes “ I think, therefore, I am.”  The act of thinking about self-of being self- conscious- is in itself proof that there is self.  Descartes 2 Distinct Entities Cogito Extenza the thing that the extension thinks body mind John Locke  “The self is consciousness”  The human mind at birth is tabula rasa or blank slate. He felt that the self is constructed primarily from sense experiences. John Locke  Locke theorized that when they are born, all babies know absolutely nothing.  He argued that the inside of a baby’s brain was empty-ready to learn everything through experiences. The Self is Consciousness  Consciousness Necessary to have a coherent personal identity or knowledge of the self as a person. What makes possible our belief, is that we are the same identity in different situations. David Hume  “There is no self”  Self is simply a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidly and are in perpetual flex and movement. The idea of personal identity is a result of imagination. Immanuel Kant  “We construct the self.”  Self is not just what gives one his personality but also the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons. The self constructs its own reality creating a world that is familiar and predictable.  Through our rationality, the self transcends sense experience Gilbert Ryle  “The self is the way people behave.”  Self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people make The self is the way people behave. Paul Churchland  “The self is the brain.” The self is inseparable from the brain and the physiology of the body. All we have is the brain and so, if the brainis gone, there is no self. The physical brain and not the imaginary mind, gives us our sense of self. Paul Churchland  The mind does not really exist.  It is the brain and not the imaginary mind that gives us our sense of self. Maurice Merleau-Ponty  “The self is embodied subjectivity”  The mind-body bifurcation that has been going on for a long time is a futile endeavor and an invalid problem. All knowledge of ourselves and our world is based on subjective experience. Maurice-Merleau-Ponty  The self can never be truly objectified or known in a completely objective sort of way. First Task Make a Philosophical Journal by answering the following questions per day. Day 1: What will best describe your over-all emotion for the day? Day 2: What characteristic do you think you need to improve today? Day 3: What is your greatest achievement today? Day 4: What is your biggest regret for the day? Day 5: Why did you wake up today? For/because I Day 6: What's your greatest contribution to the world today? Day 7: What do you hope to achieve in life?