Philosophy Past Papers PDF

1.Socrates: Know Yourself a scholar, philosopher anda teacher born in ancient Greece when he turned 18,began to perform the typical politicalduties required of Athenian males never Wrote anything down but was...

1.Socrates: Know Yourself a scholar, philosopher anda teacher born in ancient Greece when he turned 18,began to perform the typical politicalduties required of Athenian males never Wrote anything down but was committed to living simply and to interrogating the everyday views and popular apinions of those in his home city of Athens at the age of 70, he was put to death at the hands of his fellow citizens on charges of impiety and Corruption of the youth "Father ofWestern Philosophy"  he focused on the full power of reason systematic questioning of the self every human person is dualistic, thus,self exists in two parts: a. physical body- tangible aspect; it is mortal (it dies), constantly changing, imperfect, transforming, disappearing b. soul- immortal, is eternal, unchanging, perfect, or ideal.. there was a soul first before a man's body knowledge can be restored through the process of dialectic method or Socratic method each man must bring his inner self to light core of Socratic ethics: virtue and knowledge An unexamined life is not worth living -Socrates 2.Plato: The ideal self, the perfect self student ofSocrates, mathematician, philosopher came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active familes in Athens actual given name was apparently Aristocles, after his grandfather foundeda school, known as the Academy he was disgusted with politics, returned to his beloved Academy, where he lived out the last thirteen years of his life he founded; his grave, he was buried at the school by however, has not yet been discovered archeological investigations.  he supportedtheidea of Socrates that man is in hebeleved thatthesoul exists before dual nature birth and ater death there are three Components of the soul a. Reason- the divine essence that enablesyou to think deeply, make wise choices and achieve an understanding of etemaltruths; b. Physical Appetite -your basicbiological needs such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire and; G. Spirit or Passion -your basic emotionssuch as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness, and empathy. As stated in his work--The Republic, justice in the human person can only be attained if the three parts of the soul are working harmoniously with one another When confictoccurs,he believes it is the responsibility of our reason to sort things out and exert control, re-establishinga harmoniousrelationshíp between the three elements ofourselves  The soul is immortal. -Plato 3.St.Augustine: Christianity was the Catholic bishop of Hippo in northern Africa as a skilled Roman-trained rhetorician, a prolific writer and by wide acclamation, the first Christian philosopher hewas a great explorer in his youth and young adulthood his explorations led to his conversion to Christianity wherein he spent the remainder of his day serving the bishop of Hippo and writing books and letters including his idea of the self  he regarded the body asthe "spouse of the soul both attached to one another his first principle was,"l doubt,therefore I am." agreed that man is of abifurcated nature: the body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss in communion with God believes thatman is created in the image and likeness of God his senseof self is his relation to God, both in his recognition of Gods love, and his response to it Itis done through self-presentation then self-realization believed one could not achieve inner peace without finding God's love and united with God. through faith and reason,our self seeks to be by God, who is all good,is good God is transcendent,and everything created  Accepting God is the path toknow thyself. -St. Augusti 4. Thomas Aquinas hejoined a religious order known asthe Orders of Preachers which placed on emphasison preaching and teaching however, it seems that his family didn't ike his decision to join such, thus, they planned to divert his attention to other things but he is firmed on what he wanted in life he stillinsisted to continue his priesthood but remained dedicated on his family he was a teacher back then in Italy and Paris theology and other he made a huge impact in the field of studies he added something to the Christian view he believed that man composed of two parts: a. matter- hyle in Greek,refers to "common stuff that makes up everything in the universe"; man's body is part of this matter b.form-morphe in Greek refers to the "essence of a substance or thing" the cellin man's body are more or less akin to the cells of any other living, organic being in the world is his what makes a person unique compared to others Soul, his essence what makes us the soul is what animates the body; it is humans 5. Rene Descartes: A Modern Perspective of the Self he was a philosopher, scientist and a mathematician became a volunteer for the amy he sought for a new method of scientfic inquiry Some of his worked stemmed to various misunderstandings about his method and supposed of his theses to Aristotle and the Christian opposition faith there were a lot of invitationsto him due to his very and be ableto have a dialogue to well good writings known people and he caught a pneumonia when he was in Sweden, 11, 1650 died on February Father of Modern Philosophy  there isso much that we we should doubt think and since much of believe is not what false infallible,they may turnout tobe the only thing that one cannot self doubt isthe existence of the the self consists of two distinct entities: a.mind- "cogito"the thing that thinks b.body- "extenza" extension of the mind; like that is attached to the a machine mind cogito ergo sum is the keystone of his concept of self self as a thinking entity is radically different from the self as aphysical body the soul and body are independent to each other Ithink, therefore lam -ReneDescartes 6.John Locke: TheSelfis Consciousness he was known to be the founderof British Empiricism he was devoted to the study of medicine and natural philosophy in his later years, he focused on theology he had respiratory ailments caused his death he believed that the human mind at slate") birth isatabularasa ("blank we are born without thoughts,or our mind was empty and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience memory plays a key role in our definition of the self personal identity is made possible by self-consciousness a person is athinking, intelligent being who has abilties to reason and to reflect aperson is also someone who considers itself to be the same thing at diferent times and differentplaces Our conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys to understanding the self 7.David Hume: There isNo Self he believes that one can know only what comes from the senses and experiences the existence of the mind, and what's inside the mind is divided into two: a. impressions- those things we perceive through our senses as we experience them b. ideas- those things that we create in our minds even though we are no longer experiencing them there is no self only a bundle of perceptions passing through thetheatre of your minds the self keeps on changing, like how one looks,one feels, one thinks they constantly. humans are so desperately a unified and continuous change wanting to believe that they have self or soul thatthey use their imaginations to construct a fictional self yet personal identity is just a result of these imaginations  The self is a bundleor collection off different perceptions, which s succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity,and are in a perpetual flux and movement. David Hume 8. Immanuel Kant: WeConstruct theSelf he refutes Hume's theorythat possible tofind the there is no self and arguesthat essence of the self it is there is unavoidably amind that that men get from the external systematizes the impressions world man isa free agent, for he is gifted with reason and free will to enable him to organize the data gathered by thesenses suggests that it is an actively engaged intelligencein man synthesizes allknowledge that and experience the self is the seat of knowledge acquisition for all persons human the self exists independently of experience and the self goes beyond experience 9.Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalytic Theory ofthe Self Father of Psychoanalysis founded the first Viennese schoolof psychoanalysis developed theidea that many neuroses (phobias,hysterical paralysis and pains, some forms of paranoia, and so forth) had their origins in deeply traumatic experiences which had OcCurred in the patient's past but whích were now forgotten-hidden from consciousness  hebelieved that the self is a.conscious- composed of threelayers: includes thoughts, you arecurrently feelings,and actionsthat aware of b. preconscious- includes mentalactivities that are your memory, not stored in presently active but can C.unconscious- be accessed or recalled includes activities that has the dominant you are not awareof influence on our he later developed the structural personalities model of themind divided into three: a.id- man's biological nature, impulses, and bodily desires; pleasure principle b. ego-reality principle c. Superego- ethical component of the personality and providesthe moral standards by which the ego operates; moral principle  Unexpressed emotions willnever die.They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways. Sigmund Freud 10.Gilbert Ryle:The Self is how you Behave he views self as the way people behave,which is Composed of a set of patterned behavior he focused on observable behavior in defining the self he rejected the idea of an internal and non-physical self for him,what really matter is the behaviour that a person shows in his everyday living he suggest that the "self is not an object one can discover andanalyze but simply the convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviours that people make self is the same as your behavior Iact, therefore I am. -Gilbert Ryle 11.Paul Churchland: The Self is the Brain he disagrees with the concept of dualism he asserts that sincethe mind cannot be experienced by the senses, it does not exist physical brain, not theimaginary mind, that gives us oursense of self understanding the neuroscience is into the fore of self the brain and the the self is inseparable from the physical brain body because physiological of self gives the sense dead, the self is dead to0 is oncethe brain 12. Maurice Merleau-Ponty: TheSelf is Emtbodied Subjectivity he insisted that body and mind are so intertwined from one another his ideas suggest that there is unity in ur mental, physical,and emotional disposition, and they all afect how we experience our selves one's body is his openíing toward his existence tothe world Our self is a product of our conscious human experience the definition of self is all about one's perceptionof one's experienceand the interpretation of those experiences he entirely rejected the idea of mind and body dichotomy because, for him, man is allabout how he sees himself