UTS

• Vironika Tugaleva: 'Self understanding is a lifetime endeavour. It is not a weekend seminar. It does not come in capsule form.'
• Self / Identity


  Understanding the self is crucial and it takes time and effort. Many people are trying to understand themselves in a context of isolation and vagueness.
• Self


  • A knowledge structure
  • An interpersonal being
  • An agent with executive function
• Scholars from various disciplines have attempted to explain and completely expound on a variety of questions and conflicts concerning the nature, existence, and dimensionality of the self
• Most common self-related concerns

  • Nature vs. Nurture
  • Identity vs. Self
  • Dimensions of the self
• Nature


  The natural basis of the self is anchored on biology and explains human traits are passed from one generation to another
• Nurture


  Argues that the self should be principally viewed as an outcome of various nurturing factors in the context on one's life
• Heredity Factors


  • Genes
  • Physical appearance
  • Personality characters
• Environmental Variables


  • Childhood experiences
  • How we raised
  • Social relationship surrounding culture
• Identity


  An individual's sense of self is defined by a set of physical, psychological, and interpersonal characteristics that are not wholly shared with any other person, and a range of affiliations (e.g., ethnicity) and social roles
• Self


  The totality of the individual consists of all characteristic attributes, conscious and unconscious, mental and physical
• Factors Affecting the Self

  • Heredity Factors
  • Environmental Factor
  • Social Factor
  • Cultural Heritage
  • Ethnic Group
• Psychological Environment


  Composed of attitudes expressed by people around you. Includes: feelings and beliefs of your family members, teacher, classmates, and friends. These people influence the attitudes you have.
• Physical Environment


  Where you live (farm, city, small town)
• Social Factor


  The impact of important person in one's life. Largely comprises the family, which shapes the majority of an individual's basic attitudes and behaviors.
• Cultural Heritage


  Consists of acquired behaviors, beliefs, and languages passed down from generation to generation.
• Ethnic Group


  Made up of individuals who shared racial and/or cultural features such as racial background, language, religion, and customs
• Philosophy


  Finding answers to serious questions about ourselves and about the world we live in
• What will you get in Philosophy?

  • Critical thinking
  • Argument skills
  • Communication
  • Reasoning
  • Analysis
  • Problem solving
• Phytagoras


  The first to use the term philosophy. Philosophy: from Greek words philo (love) and sophia (wisdom) which means that philosophy is the love of wisdom
• Socrates


  Know Thyself. Philosophers agree that self-knowledge is a prerequisite to a happy and meaningful life. An unexamined life is not worth living. Every man is dualistic - composed of body and soul.
• Socrates' two dichotomous realms

  • Physical Realm (changeable, transient, and imperfect)
  • Ideal Realm (Unchanging, eternal, and immortal)
• Plato


  The soul is immortal. Philosophy of the self can be explained as a process of self-knowledge and purification of the soul. The soul has 3 parts: Rational Soul, Spirited Soul, Appetitive Soul.
• Aristotle


  The soul is the essence of self. The body and soul are not two separate elements but are one thing. The soul is that which makes a person person. The soul is the essence of the self. Suggested that anything with life has soul - Vegetative, Sentient, Rational.
• St. Augustine


  The soul is united with the body so that man may be entire and complete. Believed Humankind is created in the image and likeness of God (kawangis). The self is known only through knowing God.
• Rene Descartes


  I think, therefore, I am (cogito ergo sum). The act of thinking about self - of being self-conscious - is in itself proof that there is self. Descartes' two distinct entities: Cogito (the thing that thinks, mind) and Extenza (the extension, body).
• John Locke


  The self is consciousness. The human mind at birth is tabula rasa or blank slate. Felt that the self is constructed primarily from sense experiences.
• David Hume


  There is no self. Self is simply a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidly and are in a perpetual flux and movement.
• Immanuel Kant


  We construct the self. Self is not just what gives one his personality but also the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons.
• Gilbert Ryle


  The self is the way people behave. Self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people make.
• Paul Churchland


  The self is the brain. 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.
• Maurice Merleau-Ponty

  The self is embodied subjectivity. The mind-body bifurcation that has been going on for a long time is a futile endeavor and an invalid problem. All knowledge of our selves and our world is based on subjective experience.