Philosophical Perspective of the Self PDF

PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF - Life is all about striving to be happy. A person What is the Philosophical Self? can have a meaningful and happy life only if...

PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF - Life is all about striving to be happy. A person What is the Philosophical Self? can have a meaningful and happy life only if he/she becomes virtuous and learns the value of Philosophy employs the inquisitive mind to him/herself through constant soul-searching. discover the ultimate causes, reasons, and - For him, the virtuous man is a happy man. principles of everything. The nature of the self is a topic of interest among philosophers. What is ★ PLATO (born 428/427 BCE, Athens, Greece—died self and the qualities that define it? Philosophers 348/347, Athens) have different views of what self is. Is it the soul, “The Soul is Immortal” the body, the mind, your actions or your - Plato, ancient Greek philosopher, student of consciousness? Socrates- teacher of Aristotle; best known as the author of philosophical works of unparalleled ★ SOCRATES (Alopece 469–399 B.C.E.) influence. “An Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living” - Plato was a student of Socrates and he believed - Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens that the self is synonymous with the soul. who is credited as one of the founders of Western The “soul” is the most divine aspect of the human philosophy, and as being the first moral being. The self/soul/mind is the aspect of human philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of beings by which ideas are known. thought. - Philosophical era: Ancient philosophy ❖ The self consists of three parts: - Works written: The Symposium, Apology, The 1. Reason (the rational) - this is the divine essence Cavalry Commander that enables us to think deeply, make wise The self is synonymous with the soul. choices, and achieve a true understanding of The soul is immortal. eternal truths. Every human possesses an immortal soul. 2. Spirit or Passion - this includes basic emotions The care for the soul is the main task of such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness, and philosophy. empathy. In life, self-knowledge or examining one’s self is 3. The Physical Appetite (the appetitive) - this essential because by knowing yourself, you can includes our basic biological needs such as make the right decisions and eventually find the hunger, thirst, and sexual desire. path to improving your life, thus, he coined the “Tripartite” phrase “The unexamined life is not worth living.” These three elements of ourselves are in a Soul searching must begin at the source of all dynamic relationship with one another, sometimes knowledge and significance - the self. The in conflict. When conflict occurs, Plato believes Socratic Method is a method of carefully that it is the responsibility of our Reason to sort examining our thoughts and emotions to gain things out and exert control, restoring a self-knowledge. harmonious relationship among the three elements - Human life does not end at one’s death. of ourselves. One continues to live in the world after death. - Plato believes that genuine happiness can only be Death is the departure of the soul for the eternal achieved by people who consistently make sure world. that their Reason is in control of their Spirits and Appetites. ❖ In Socrates’ concept of Reality, human life consists of two dichotomous realms: ★ ST. AUGUSTINE (born November 13, 354, the physical and ideal. Tagaste, Numidia [now Souk Ahras, Algeria]—died 1. The Physical Realm is changeable, transient, and August 28, 430, Hippo Regius [now Annaba, imperfect. The body belongs to the physical Algeria] realm. “I am doubting, therefore, I am.” 2. The Ideal Realm is unchanging, eternal, and - St. Augustine, also called Saint Augustine of immortal. The soul belongs to the ideal realm. Hippo, original Latin name Aurelius Augustinus; bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430, one of the Latin Fathers of the Church and perhaps the most significant Christian thinker after St. Paul. - For him, the SOUL is what governs and defines - He added that there could only be one thing we the human person or the self. It is an important could be sure of in this world and that was element of man. It is united with the body so that everything could be doubted. Therefore, by man may be entire and complete. doubting our own existence, he proved that there - For St. Augustine, the physical body is different is a thinking entity that is doing the act of from and inferior to its inhabitant - the immortal doubting. soul. Also, the body possesses senses, such as - For Descartes, the act of thinking about the self - imagination, memory, reason and mind through of being self-conscious - is in itself proof that which the soul experiences the world. there is self. - Augustine described that humankind is created in - For him, a thinking entity that doubts, the image and likeness of God. He believed that understands, analyzes, questions, and reasons is God is transcendent and everything created by the essence of the self. God is always geared towards the good. - L - The goal of every human person is to attain this ★ John Locke (born August 29, 1632, Wrington, communion and bliss with the Divine by living Somerset, England—died October 28, 1704, High Laver, Essex) his life in virtue. “The Self is Consciousness” - The self is known only through knowing God. - John Locke, English philosopher whose works lie - Self-Knowledge is a consequence of knowledge at the foundation of modern philosophical of God. empiricism and political liberalism. He was an - For Augustine, knowledge can only come by inspirer of both the European Enlightenment and seeing the truth that dwells within us. The truth of the Constitution of the United States. which Augustine spoke refers to the truth of - For Locke, the human mind, at birth, is tabula knowing God. rasa which means blank slate. He asserted that the - In Augustine’s mission to discover the truth on self, or personal identity, is constructed primarily the existence of God, he developed the from senses - what we see, hear, smell, taste, and fundamental concept of the human person and smell. These experiences shape and mold the self thus, provided the philosophical principle “I am throughout a person’s life. doubting, therefore, I am.” - Locke expanded the definition of self to include ★ RENE DESCARTES (born March 31, 1596, La the memories of the thinking thing. Since self Haye, Touraine, France—died February 11, 1650, consists of memory, the person now is the same as Stockholm, Sweden) the person he is yesterday. A person’s memory “I think, therefore, I am.” provide continuity of experience that allows - René Descartes, French mathematician, scientist, him/her to identify him/herself as the same person and philosopher. He has been called the father of over time. This theory of personal identity allows modern philosophy. Locke to justify a defense of accountability. - Rene Descartes is regarded as the first thinker to Therefore, a person who remembers is always emphasize the use of reason to describe, predict, accountable to his past behaviors. and understand natural phenomena based on - Self-Consciousness is necessary to have a observational and empirical evidence. coherent personal (self) identity or knowledge - He proposed that “doubt” was a principal tool of of the self as a person. disciplinary inquiry, methodical skepticism, - Consciousness is what makes possible our belief which is a systemic process of being skeptical that we are the same identity in different about the truth of one’s belief to determine which situations. belief could be ascertained as true. - Descartes’ famous line “cogito ergo sum” which means “I think, therefore, I am” is the keystone of his concept of self. He asserted that everything perceived by the senses could not be used as proof of existence. ★ Gilbert Ryle (born August 19, 1900, Brighton, Sussex, England—died October 6, 1976, Whitby, North Yorkshire) “The Self is the Way People Behave” - Gilbert Ryle, British philosopher, leading figure in the “Oxford philosophy,” or “ordinary language,” movement. - Ryle’s first book, The Concept of Mind (1949), is considered a modern classic. In it he challenges the traditional distinction between body and mind as delineated by Descartes. - The self is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency or the disposition for a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances. - Ryle’s concept of the human self thus provided the philosophical principle, “I act, therefore, I am.” - In short, the self is the same as bodily behavior. ★ Paul Churchland (Born October 21, 1942 Vancouver, B.C., Canada University of Pittsburgh) “The Self is the Brain” - Main interests: Neurophilosophy; Philosophy of Science; Philosophy of Mind; Artificial Intelligence Epistemology - The self is inseparable from the brain and the physiology of the body. All we have is the brain and so, if the brain is gone, there is no self. - For Churchland, the physical brain and not the an imaginary mind gives us our sense of self. The mind does not really exist. It is the brain and not the imaginary mind that gives us our sense of self. The self is the brain.