The Self from Philosophical Perspective
Soul
The most divine aspect of the human being. According to Plato.
Socratic Ideas
-The soul is immortal • The care of the soul is the task of philosophy • Virtue is necessary to obtain happiness • "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Forms according to St. Augustine
- "forms" were concepts existing within the perfect and eternal God where the soul belonged. - The soul held the Truth and was capable of scientific thinking.
Self-knowledge
- (the examination of one's self) and question about how one ought to live one's life are very important concerns because only by knowing yourself can you hope to improve your life
Hyperbolical/ metaphysical doubt or methodological skepticism
- A systematic process of being skeptical about the truth of one's beliefs in order to determine which beliefs could be ascertained as true
Rene Descartes
- Father of modern philosophy, "I think, therefore I am"
Socrates
-(470-399 BCE) An Athenian philosopher who thought that human beings could lead honest lives and that honor was far more important than wealth, fame, or other superficial attributes. - known for his method of inquiry in testing ideas called Socratic Method
John Locke
-17th century English philosopher who opposed the Divine Right of Kings and who asserted that people have a natural right to life, liberty, and property. -one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers -Expanded Descartes' definition of the self to include the memories of thinking thing. -A person's memories provide a continuity of experience that allows him/her to identify himself/herself as the same person over time.
Gilbert Ryle
-20th Century British philosopher, and professor who produced a critique on Descartes' idea that the mind is distinct from the body. -Rejected the notion that mental states are separable from physical states.
Collection and Division
-A method done by collecting all generic ideas that seemed to have common characteristics and then divided them into different kinds until the subdivision of ideas became specific
Sigmund Freud
-A neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis -Developed psychoanalysis which answered questions about the human psyche
Psychoanalytic Theory
-A personality theory based on the notion that an individual get motivated by unseen forces, controlled by the conscious and the rational thought.
3 aspects of the self/soul according to St. Augustine
-Able to be aware of itself -Recognizes itself as a holistic one -Aware of its unity.
Self according to Merleau-Ponty
-An "embodied subjectivity", To give a body (to an immaterial substance)
Self according to St. Augustine
-An inner, immaterial "I" that had self-knowledge and self awareness. -The human being is both the soul and body( possesses senses such as imagination, memory, reason and mind through which the soul experiences the world).
Three parts of the soul (Plato)
-Appetitive (sensual) -the element that enjoys sensual experiences • -Rational (reasoning) -the element that forbids the person to enjoy sensual experiences • -Spirited (feeling) -the element that is inclined toward reason but understand the demand of passion
Theory of Forms
-Asserted that the physical world is not really the "real" world because the ultimate reality exists beyond it
3 levels of consciousness
-Conscious • Awareness of present perceptions, feelings, thoughts, memories and fantasies at any particular moment -Pre-conscious/ subconscious • Data that can readily be brought to consciousness. -Unconscious • Data retained but not easily available to the individual's conscious awareness or scrutiny
2 Kinds of consciousness of self
-Consciousness of oneself and one's psychological states; -Consciousness of oneself and one's states by performing acts of apperception
Immanuel Kant
-Considered the most influential thinker of the Enlightenment era and one of the greatest Western philosophers of all times. -His works are especially those on epistemology, aesthetics and ethics.
Self according to Rene Descartes
-Constant; it is not prone to change, and it is not affected by time. -Only the immaterial soul remains the same throughout time -The immaterial soul is the source of our identity.
Cartesian Dualism
-Descartes's view that all of reality could ultimately be reduced to mind and matter. -The immaterial substance(soul) possesses a body and is so intimately bound by the self and forms a union with the body but still distinct from each other.
Category-mistake
-Distinction between mind and matter -Distinct self is not real. -One's sense of self is obtained through his/her behaviors and actions.
• 3 parts of the psyche/mind
-Id • Operates on the pleasure principle • Pleasure • Achievement of demands • Unpleasant feeling/feeling of tension • Denial of the desires/demands -Ego • Operates according to the reality principle • Defense mechanisms • Use to ward off unpleasant feelings of anxiety due to the failure to use reality principle. -Superego • Operates according to the moral principle • 2 systems: • Conscience • Guilt feeling • Ideal self • The imaginary picture of how you ought to be
Self according to Locke
-Identified with consciousness and consists of sameness of consciousness.
2 divisions of mind's perceptions:
-Impressions • Perceptions that are the most strong -Ideas • Perceptions that are less forcible and lively
2 components of the self (Kant)
-Inner self • The self by which you are aware of the alterations in your own state. -Outer self • Includes your senses and the physical world.
Self according to Hume
-Nothing but a series of incoherent impressions received by the senses. -Does not exist because man's perception are only active for as long as he/she is conscious. -A passive observer; whereby the total annihilation of the self comes at "death."
Philosophy stands on a materialistic view
-Nothing but matter exists. -Viewed the immaterial, unchanging soul/self not existing because it cannot be experienced by the senses.
St. Augustine of Hippo
-One of the Latin Fathers of the Church, one of the Doctors of the Church and one of the most significant Christian thinkers. -Deeply influenced by Plato's ideas and adopted Plato's concept of self as an immaterial (but rational) soul. - All knowledge leads to God.
Eliminative materialism
-People's common-sense understanding of the mind is false and certain classes of mental states do not exist
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
-Phenomenological philosopher and author -The body is not a mere "house" where the mind resides, rather, it is through the lived experienced of the body that you perceive, are informed, and interact with the world. -The body acts what the mind perceives as a unified one
Paul Churchland
-Philosopher known for his studies in neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. -The "sense of self" originated from the brain itself and that self is a product of electrochemical signals produced by the brain.
David Hume
-Scottish philosopher whose skeptical philosophy restricted human knowledge to that which can be perceived by the senses (1711-1776) -known for his philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism -Reason, rather than experience, is the foundation of all knowledge
Defense of accountability
-Self is the same self in the passing of time, thus held accountable for past behaviors he/she can only remember.
Plato
-Student of Socrates - Philosophical method is Collection and Division -Wrote "Theory of Forms"
Apperception
-The mental process by which a person makes sense of an idea by assimilating it to the body of ideas he or she already possesses.
Empericism
-The origin of all knowledge is sense experience
Self according to Kant
-Transcendental - Related to spiritual or nonphysical realm
Kinds of existence according to Socrates
-Visible • Changes; the body -Invisible • Remains constant; the kind that is invisible to humans yet sensed and understood by the mind (soul)
Bundle Theory
-the self or person as a bundle or a collection of different perceptions that are moving in a very fast and successive manner ---"self as a perpetual flux" -The self is merely made up of successive impressions.
