PDEV

• Know thyself


  An imperative rather than a requirement
• Imperative


  • Capable of doing
  • Requires self-moderation, patience, good judgement, and excellence
• Socrates


  The first philosopher concerned with the problem of the self
• Socrates asked about the existence of the word 'self'
• Socrates was the first philosopher that is expugad is systemut
• The task of philosopher


  To know oneself
• Dualistic approach


  1. Body - imperfect, impure

  2. Soul - perfect and permanent, responsible agent in knowing and acting rightly and wrongly
• Socrates: 'The unexamined life is not worth living'
• Socrates: 'I know that I do not know'
• Socrates: 'True wisdom that man possesses is knowing that he knows nothing'
• Searching or introspection


  Examining one's thoughts and emotions to gain self-knowledge
• Knowing what is right is doing what is right
• If one knows herself she may learn how to take care of herself
• Knowledge, wisdom, and virtue are interrelated
• Self


  The meaning of human life, the question "who am I?"
• Philosophers have attempted to answer the question "who am I?" and their views have influenced the way we look at our lives today
• "Know thyself"


  An ancient Greek greeting, an imperative and requirement to know the limits of the self so one knows what one is capable of doing and what one is not, for self-moderation, prudence, good judgment, and excellence of the soul
• Socrates


  • One of the first philosophers concerned with the problem of the self, who engaged in systematic questioning of the self, believed the true task of the philosopher is to know oneself
• Socrates' view of the self

  Dualistic - composed of body (imperfect, impermanent, vulnerable) and soul (perfect, permanent, controls the body)
• For Socrates, the soul refers to the intellectual and moral personality of humans, the responsible agent in knowing and acting rightly or wrongly
• Socrates: '"The unexamined life is not worth living"'
• Examined life


  Reflecting on the meaning of life and existence, using our highly developed faculty of thought, turning inward in search for self-knowledge
• 7 questions to facilitate reflection on the examined life

  • How is my life going?
  • What have I learned from my mistakes?
  • What is my one core conflict?
  • Does my life reflect my values?
  • Do I have integrity?
  • Has my vision of the future changed?
  • What do I need to change to make my life better?
• Socrates: '"I know that I do not know"'
• Socratic dictum


  "Knowing what is right is doing what is right"
• For Socrates, the true self should not be identified with external things like possessions, status, reputation, or body, but with knowledge, wisdom, and virtue
• Socrates never wrote a book, most of what we know about him came from his student Plato
• Plato's view of the self

  • Composed of body (material, changing) and soul (true, permanent self)
  • Soul has 3 elements: appetitive (desires), spirited (emotions), rational (reason)
• Plato believed justice in the human person can only be attained if the 3 parts of the soul work harmoniously
• St. Augustine's view of the self

  • Influenced by Plato, differentiates the real/spiritual world (where God is) from the temporary/material world
  • Believes the soul is immortal and capable of reaching communion with God, while the body is imperfect and bound to die
• St. Thomas Aquinas' view of the self

  • Composed of matter (body) and form (soul), the soul is what animates the body and makes us human
• Descartes' view of the self


  "I think, therefore I am" - the only thing that cannot be doubted is the existence of the self as a thinking being
• Descartes' discovery of the "cogito" (I think, therefore I am) revolutionized the way we view ourselves and the world
• Rene Descartes


  Father of Modern Philosophy, a rationalist (a person who bases her opinions and actions on reason and knowledge not beliefs)
• Meditations of First Philosophy


  Descartes' famous treatise where he claims that there is so much that we should doubt
• Methodic doubt


  Descartes' quest for self-discovery by doubting everything, including our existence and our world
• Hyperbolical doubt


  A method of reasoning that stated that though Descartes may doubt, he cannot doubt that he exists
• Descartes proved our existence with the statement "Cogito, ergo Sum" (I think, therefore I am)
• Cogito


  The thing that thinks, which is the mind
• Extenza


  The extension of the mind, which is the body