Philosophical Perspectives PDF

Philosophical Perspectives  What is Philosophy? Philo Sophia (love) (wisdom) It is the study of acquiring knowledge through rational thinking and inquiries that involves in answering questions regarding the...

Philosophical Perspectives  What is Philosophy? Philo Sophia (love) (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. Socrates Socrates is considered to be the Martyr of Education, Knowledge, and Philosophy. He is known for his method of inquiry called Socratic Method. He was charged with corruption of the mind of the youth and was sentenced to death via the intake of hemlock. ▪ Socrates believed that understanding oneself is crucial for personal growth. Simply known as Self-knowledge or “Knowing one’s self” ▪ The state of your inner being (soul/self) determines the quality of your life. TWO KINDS OF EXISTENCE 1. Visible is the existence that changes. 2. Invisible is the existence that remains constant. ▪ The goal of life is to be happy. According to Socrates, virtuous man is a happy man and that virtue alone is the one and only supreme good that will secure his/her happiness. Plato Plato is known as the Father of the Academy. According to him, the “soul” is indeed the most divine aspect of the human being. He also conceptualized the Theory of Forms and Tripartite Theory of the Soul. TRIPARTITE THEORY OF THE SOUL APPETITIVE SOUL The element that enjoys sensual experiences, such as food, drink, and sex. RATIONAL SOUL The element that forbids the person to enjoy the sensual experiences; the part that loves truth, hence, should rule over the other parts of the soul through the use of reason. SPIRITED SOUL The element that is inclined toward reason but understands the demands of passion; the part that loves honor and victory. St. Augustine St. Augustine of Hippo provided a Christian perspective to Plato’s theory of forms. He believed that the human being was both a soul and body, and the body possessed senses through which the soul experienced the world. The self tend to a higher, divine, and heavenly matters because of his/her capacity to ascend and comprehend truths through the mind.  Rene Descartes Rene Descartes is the father of modern Western Philosophy. Descartes is often considered the pioneer of using empirical evidence and observation to explain, predict, and understand natural occurrences. Methodological skepticism or hyperbolical/metaphysical doubt is a systematic process of doubting the truth of one's beliefs in order to determine which beliefs can be considered certain. “Cogito, ergo sum”  CARTESIAN DUALISM The mind (or thinking entity) is separate from the body, though they are closely connected. While the mind can exist independently, it typically experiences the world through the body. SOUL BODY Constant Changes It is known only to itself. It can be doubted. It is holistic. It is made up of parts.  John Locke John Locke conceptualized the term “Tabula Rasa” as he believed that the experiences and perceptions of a person is important in the establishment of who that person become. He expanded the idea if a thinking thing by including memories. Memories provide continuity of experience that allows a person to identify himself/herself as the same person over time. As such, a person can be held accountable for past behaviors.  David Hume David Hume is one of the figureheads of the Empiricism movement. Empiricism emphasized the role of experience and evidence in forming concepts, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. Hume’s theory began by denying Descartes’ view of the immaterial soul and of its experiences.  BUNDLE THEORY IMPRESSIONS These are the perceptions that are the most strong. They enter the senses with most force. These are directly experienced; they result from inward and outward sentiments. IDEAS These are the less forcible and less lively counterparts of impressions. These are mechanisms that copy and reproduce sense data formulated based upon the previously perceived impressions. All knowledge is derived from human senses.  Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant proposed that the human mind creates the structure of human experience. TWO KINDS OF CONSCIOUSNESS 1. Inner sense According to Kant, the self is 2. Apperception transcendental. He also believed that the mind is separate from the TWO COMPONENTS OF THE SELF body. 1. Inner self 2. Outer self  Sigmund Freud Before Freud, philosophers thought the self was a fixed, unchanging part of a person. He revolutionized the understanding of the self by proposing that much of our mental life is unconscious and can be uncovered through psychoanalysis. PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY CONSCIOUS It deals with awareness of present perceptions, feelings, thoughts, memories, and fantasies at any particular moment. PRE-CONSCIOUS/SUBCONSCIOUS It is related to data that can readily be brought to consciousness. UNCONSCIOUS It refers to data retained but not easily available to the individual’s conscious awareness or scrutiny. ID It operates on the pleasure principle. Every wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences. EGO It operates according to the reality principle. It works out realistic ways of satisfying the id’s demands (often compromising or postponing satisfaction to avoid negative consequences of society). SUPEREGO It incorporates the values and morals of society. It persuades the ego to choose moralistic goals and to strive for perfection rather than simply realistic ones.  Gilbert Ryle Gilbert Ryle rejected the notions that mental states are separable from physical states. Mental acts are distinct from physical acts and that there is a mental world distinct from the physical world is a misconception. The sense of self is from our behaviors and actions. A person’s actions define who they are.  Paul Churchland If something can be seen, felt, heard, touched, or tasted, then it exists. There is nothing beyond the sensory experience. Thus, in Churchland’s view the immaterial, unchanging soul/self does not exist because it cannot be experienced by the senses. Eliminative materialism is a radical idea that suggests our everyday understanding of the mind is fundamentally wrong.  Maurice-Merleau-Ponty Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s idea of the self is an embodied subjectivity. A subject is something that exists, can take action, and can cause real effects. He rejected the Cartesian mind-body dualism and insisted that the mind and the body are intrinsically connected.  End of Discussion