Understanding the Self: Philosophical Perspectives PDF

Understanding the Self - Introduction By Ms. Haizel May U. Eguia, LPT Philosophical Sociological Anthropological Psychological Eastern and Western Perspectives Physical Self Sexual Self Material/Economic Self Spiritual Self Political Self Digital Self Learning to be a Better Student T...

Understanding the Self - Introduction By Ms. Haizel May U. Eguia, LPT Philosophical Sociological Anthropological Psychological Eastern and Western Perspectives Physical Self Sexual Self Material/Economic Self Spiritual Self Political Self Digital Self Learning to be a Better Student Taking charge of one’s health Bonus Lesson: How to plan your finances “know thyself” The self is your main companion in living in this world. Who you are, who you want to be, who society wants you to be, and who you can be are some of the ideas we will explore. The self is freaking complex. At the end of the topic, you are expected to: Explain the role of philosophy in understanding the self. Discuss the different concepts of the self from the philosophical perspective. Differentiate the various concepts of the self and identify their similarities. Develop your own philosophy of the self Philia - love; Sophia - wisdom Philosophy employs the inquisitive mind to discover the ultimate causes, reasons, and principles of everything The nature of the self is a topic of interest among philosophers. The philosophical framework for understanding the self was heavily explored by ancient Greek Philosophers Socrates and Plato.  SELF Understanding the Philosophical Perspectives Arnel G. Perez, MS Philosophical Views of Self: The philosophy of self seeks to describe essential qualities that constitute a person's uniqueness or essential being.  Socrates (469-399 BC), ancient Athenian philosopher/ Plato’s teacher/ Socratic method/ Dualistic Apology (Plato)/ Angkop sa Tao (Ferriols, 1992) he would rather be himself than anyone else = wiser Nosce te ipsum (Know thyself) Socrates’ Ethos – “The goal of life is to know thyself and to improve our souls through virtuous living” Unexamined life is not worth living (“Ang buhay na hindi sinusuri ay hindi buhay tao”)  What is SELF? Socrates as the first thinker in Western history underscored the full power of reason on the human self: who we are?; who we should be?; and who we will become?  What is SELF? Changeable, transient, Physical Body and imperfect Physical R l SELF Dualistic Two dichotomous realms Ideal Realm Soul (Mind) Unchanging, eternal, and immortal What is SELF? Soul (Mind) Physical Body  Plato (c.429-c.347 BC), Greek philosopher/ disciple of Socrates/ teacher of Aristotle/ Academy in Athens The first and best victory is to conquer self. Philosophical The essence of knowledge is Self-knowledge writings: Self-knowledge (from Charmides) is a practical Apology task in life which consists of self-examination Crito about what one is really doing in life/ Phaedo acknowledging the limit Republic Self-knowledge (from Phaedo) is a process of Sophist self-recognition/ the real self is the soul (self- Symposium reflection and purification) Self-control is knowing oneself Apology defends the integrity of Socrates' teachings. Crito discusses respect for the law. Phaedo considers death and the immortality of the soul. Sophist one who did not believe in traditional gods and who corrupted the young Symposium reflects on the ultimate manifestation of the love that controls the world, and The Republic ponders society and the philosopher's role within it.  What is SELF? Divine essence that allows us to think Reason deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths SELF Physical Appetite Basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire Basic emotion such as love, anger, Spirit (Passion) ambition, aggressiveness, and empathy  St. Augustine (354-430), doctor of church; known as St. Augustine of Hippo; Bishop of Hippo in North Africa in 396; writings (Confession and City of God) “You have made us for You, for our heart is restless, for they rest in You, late that I have love You”. Self – “Man is rational, immortal and earthly soul using a body” Self – “ I am doubting, therefore I am” Self (The Confession) – individual identity (idea of the self); self-presentation to self-realization Self (happiness and completeness) – omnipotent (having ultimate power and influence) and omniscient (knowing everything)  What is SELF? Soul Body (The body is united with the soul) SELF Intellect Desire (Natural Appetite) Faith Over questioning, reason, uncertainty  Rene Descartes (1596-1650), French philosopher, mathematician and man of science. In mathematics, he developed the use of coordinates to locate a point in two or three dimensions. Skepticism – the theory that certain knowledge is impossible Dualism (body and mind or soul) – a theory or system of thought that regards a domain of reality in terms of two independent principles, especially mind and matter (Cartesian dualism) He concluded that everything was open to doubt except conscious experience and existence as necessary condition: “Cogito ergo sum” (I think therefore I Am) Self is thinking not sensing. John Locke (1632-1704), English philosopher; founder of empiricism and political liberalism. Empiricism – the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience (phenomenalism – human knowledge is founded on the realities) Tabula rasa (empty/ blank tablet) – having no innate ideas Human Understanding (1690) – he argued that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience Self is identical with consciousness and consciousness is accessible empirically (Azeri, 2011) The identity of the self depends on the consciousness of the person Consciousness – is an element that accompanies all acts of thinking including the act of recollection. David Hume (1711-1776), Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian. He rejected the possibility of certainty in knowledge. “Skepticism” He reject the notion of identity over time and the idea that there are no persons that continue to exist over time (impression) Argument against identity: “ All ideas are ultimately derived from impression. Hence, the idea of persisting self is ultimately derived from impression but, no impression is a persisting thing. Therefore, there cannot be any persisting idea of self.”  David Hume Self is constant, persisting, and stable thing. All Knowledge is derived from impressions which are transient and non- persisting variable thing therefore, there is no self. Self is a bundle of impression or perception of others (individual impression) The bundle of impression is just a collection of variable and interrupted part. Identity – is just a union created in the imagination “ When the mind receives a series of uninterrupted impression that are similar, it assumes that the only thing that is changing is time, and not the impression themselves. The mind then infers mistakenly that this underlying series of impression is itself, a persisting individual thing such as identity”  Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), German philosopher; central figure in modern philosopher (metaphysic). He argued that the human mind creates the structure of human experience that reason is source of morality; aesthetics arises from a faculty disinterested judgment; space and time are forms of human sensibility; the world is independent of humanity’s concepts of it. Critique of pure reason (1781) – He attempted to explain the relationship between reason and human experience. He argued that our experiences are structured by necessary features of our minds In his writing, he countered Hume’s skeptical empiricism by arguing that any affirmation or denial regarding the ultimate nature of reality (noumenon) makes no sense.  Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976), British philosopher; known for his critique of Cartesian dualism (ghost in the machine) The Concept of Mind (1949) – disagree on Descartes’ dualism Logical behaviorism – focused on creating conceptual clarity, not on developing techniques to condition and manipulate human behavior Self (“ghost in the machine”) is thought to be spiritual, immaterial ghost rattling around inside the physical body, conflicts directly with our everyday experience, revealing itself to be a conceptually flawed and confused notion that needs to be revised Ryle believes that the mind is a concept that expresses the entire system of thoughts, emotions, actions, and so on that make up the human self.  Gilbert Ryle 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. Category mistake refers to a type of informal fallacy in which things that belong to one grouping are mistakenly placed in another. Ryle claims that the self is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency or disposition for a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances (human behavior).  Paul Churcland (Born on October 21, 1942), Canadian philosopher known for his study in neurophilosophy and philosophy of mind Physicalism – is the philosophical view that all aspect of the universe are composed of matter and energy and can be fully explained by physical law The self is the brain (mental state = brain state) Philosophy of mind – studies the nature of the mind Neurophilosophy Folk psychology – is a human capacity to explain and predict the behavior and mental state of other people Eliminative materialism (eliminativism) – is the radical claim that our ordinary, common-sense understanding of mind is deeply wrong and that some or all of the mental state posited by common-sense do not actually exist.  Self: Philosophical Perspectives Philosopher Philosophy Philosophy of Self Socrates Dualism/ Rationalism Know thyself (Nosce te ipsum) Plato Dualism/ Rationalism Self-knowledge Augustine Theology of self Individual identity/ Self-realization Rene Descartes Skepticism Self is cognition (Cogito ergo sum) John Locke Empiricism Self is identical to consciousness David Hume Empiricism Self is a bundle of impression Immanuel Kant Metaphysics Self is the limit of the world Gilbert Ryle The Concept of the Mind Self refers to the human mind/ pattern of behavior Paul Churchland Neurophilosophy Self refers to the mental state (Brain)  Personal The self is a The self is identity is made immortal soul thinking thing, possible by that exists over distinct from the There is no self only self- time body a bundle of consciousness constantly changing perceptions passing through the theater of our minds Rene Descartes John Locke Socrates, Plato, Augustine David Hume What is Self? Immanuel Kant The self is unlying subject, an The self is the brain. organizing The self is the Mental state will be consciousness that way people superseded by brain makes intelligible behave states experience possible Gilbert Ryle Paul Churchland