Understanding the Self

• The self is not something that one finds; it is something that one creates.
• One should understand himself truly for a realistic, satisfactory and truly optimistic life.
• Our self should be developed in a right direction from early years of age so as to develop our personality.
• Various aspects of reality, such as existence, knowledge, ethics, and the nature of reality itself, are interpreted and understood by people or philosophers from different perspectives.
• Philosophy teaches you to think and love of wisdom is a key aspect of philosophy.
• Socrates suggests "to know thyself" and "An unexamined life is not worth living".
• Socrates believed that every human possessed an immortal soul.
• Socrates explained that the departure of the soul for the eternal world occurs at death.
• Plato, one of the world’s best known and most widely read and studied philosophers, was the student of Socrates and the mentor of Aristotle.
• In ethics and moral psychology, Plato developed the view that the good life requires not just a certain kind of knowledge but also habituation to healthy emotional responses and therefore harmony between the three parts of the soul.
• Plato argues that if we truly understand human nature, we can find “individual happiness and social stability”.
• Plato is a dualist; there is both immaterial mind (soul) and material body, and it is the soul that knows the forms.
• The soul (mind) is divided into three parts: Reason, Appetite, and Will.
• Rene Descartes is known for his argument "Cogito ergo sum" or "I think therefore I am".
• Descartes' idea of a "thinking thing" is a key concept in his philosophy.
• Descartes' concept of a "substance" is defined as something that is capable of existing independently of all things besides the sustaining power of God.
• A "mind" can be viewed as a substance and its essence is thought that can be described in different terms like judging, doubting, affirming etc.
• John Locke's philosophy includes the concept of personal identity as a matter of psychological continuity.
• Locke argues against Augustinian theory of man and also Cartesian position, stating that man only knows basic logical judgement.
• Locke's concept of "Tabula rasa" or an "empty mind" is being shaped and used to have experience, sensations and reflections as being the source of us making ideas.
• Locke's theory also reveals his debt to theology and to the judgment of all men and the salvation of the faithful ones that excuses any failings in human justice.
• The problem of personal identity is at the center of discussions about life after death and immortality.
• According to Hume, there is no MIND or SELF, only a bundle of constantly changing perceptions passing through the theatre of our minds.
• Hume argues that the perceptions that one has are only active when one is conscious.
• Hume appears to be reducing personality and cognition to a machine that may be turned on and off.
• Death brings with it the annihilation of the perceptions one has.
• According to Kant, both of these theories are incomplete when it comes to the self.
• Kant proposes that we all have an inner and an outer self which together form our consciousness.
• The inner self is comprised of our psychological state and our rational intellect.
• The outer self includes our sense and the physical world.
• St Augustine, also called Saint Augustine of Hippo, states the idea that knowledge of our true self entails knowledge of our divine origin and will enable us to return to it.
• Conscious Mind, Preconscious Mind, Unconscious Mind are the three levels of mind according to Sigmund Freud.
• Id, Ego, Super Ego are the three provinces of mind according to Sigmund Freud.
• Gilbert Ryle argues that the mind does not exist and therefore can't be the seat of self.
• Paul Churchland believes that self comes from behavior.
• Maurice Merleau-Ponty believes that the self is embodied subjectivity and all knowledge of ourselves and our world is based on subjective experiences.
• Sociology is the study of human social relationships and institutions.
• The self is the individual person, from his or her own perspective.
• Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to reconcile oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals.
• Generalized other is the general notion that a person has regarding the common expectations of others within his or her social group.