Pdev

• 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, 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, asked questions about our existence and what does it mean when we say the word self, believed the true task of the philosopher is to know oneself
• Socrates' view of the self

  Dualistic - composed of body (imperfect, impermanent, vulnerable to emotions and actions) and soul (perfect, permanent, controls the body and prevents it from falling into fallacy and inadequate behavior)
• Socrates: '"The unexamined life is not worth living"'
• Socrates' quote "The unexamined life is not worth living"


  We should question ideas and reflect on the meaning of life and death, as this enriches our personhood and makes our life worth living
• The Examined Life: 7 Questions

  • How is my life going?
  • When I look over the past 6 months, year, what have I learned from my mistakes?
  • What is my one conflict?
  • Does my life reflect my values?
  • Do I have integrity?
  • Has my vision of the future changed?
  • What do you need to change in the next 6 months, next year, to make your life better, be who you want to be, have the future you envision?
• Socrates: '"I know that I do not know"'
• Socrates' quote "I know that I do not know"


  The only true wisdom that man possesses is knowing that he knows nothing, only in recognizing your ignorance can a person truly know oneself
• Socrates: '"Knowing what is right is doing what is right"'
• Socrates' view of the true self


  Not identified with what one owns, social status, reputation or body, but the state of the soul, the person's inner being which determines the quality of one's life
• Socrates never wrote a book, most of what we know about him came from his student Plato
• Plato


  • Believed human beings are composed of body (material world, not the real self) and soul (the true, permanent self), the soul has three elements - appetitive, spirited, and rational
• Plato's view of the soul

  The appetitive soul involves pleasurable desires, the spirited soul involves basic emotions like love and anger, the rational soul is forged by reason and intellect and has to govern the affairs of the human person
• Plato's concept of the Nous


  The conscious awareness of the self that controls the affairs of the self and must be developed with understanding of the limits of the self and correct ethical standards
• St. Augustine


  • Differentiated the real world (where God is) and the temporary material world, believed the soul is capable of reaching immortality and communion with God, the body is bound to die on earth
• St. Augustine's view of the self


  The soul bears the image of God and must strive for happiness through contemplation of divine truth and wisdom, the body is imperfect and bound to die
• St. Thomas Aquinas


  • Viewed the human person as composed of matter (body) and form (soul), the soul is the essence that makes a human person human and not an animal
• Descartes' quote "I think therefore I am"


  The only thing that cannot be doubted is the existence of the self, as even doubting one's own existence proves the existence of a doubting self
• 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, ergo Sum


  The discovery that the mere fact that I can doubt is the evidence that I exist
• Self


  A combination of two distinct entities: Cogito (the thing that thinks, the mind) and Extenza (the extension of the mind, the body)
• John Locke


  Introduced the concept of tabula rasa, the belief that the mind is a 'blank slate' at birth where everyday experiences contribute to the pile of knowledge
• Personal identity is a matter of psychological continuity, not in the brain but in the consciousness
• David Hume believed that if we carefully examine our sense experience through the process of introspection, we discover that there is no self
• Impressions


  The basic sensations of our experience, the elemental data of our minds
• Ideas


  Copies of impressions, thoughts and images built up from our primary impressions
• Hume concluded that the self is simply a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement
• Immanuel Kant


  Believed that the mind organizes the impressions that we get from the external world, and that the self is an actively engaged intelligence that synthesizes all knowledge and experience
• Sigmund Freud


  Proposed that the psyche is structured into three parts: the id, ego, and superego, all developing at different stages in our lives
• Id


  The source of our bodily needs, wants, desires and impulses, operating on the pleasure principle
• Ego


  The rational part of our mind, operating according to the reality principle
• Superego


  The incorporation of the values and morals of society, which controls the id's impulses
• Gilbert Ryle


  Believed that the mind is not distinct from the body, and that the self is the way we behave