Chapter 1

• Socrates


  To live an examined life, a life of purpose and value, we must begin at the source of all knowledge and significance – our self
• Socrates: The Soul is Immortal


  Our bodies belong to the physical realm, they change, their imperfect and they die. Our souls however belong to the ideal realm, they are unchanging and immortal, surviving the death of the body
• Modern conception of the self

  The thinking, reasoning self and the physical body are radically distinct entities that have a complicated and problematic relationship with one another
• Soul's quest for wisdom


  Reason is the soul's tool to achieve this exalted state. But as long as the soul is tied to the body, this quest for wisdom is inhibited by the imperfection of the physical realm
• Plato's concept of the soul/self


  • Reason— our divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths
  • Physical Appetite— our basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire
  • Spirit or Passion— our basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness, empathy
• Plato's metaphor of the soul/self


  The soul is likened to a winged chariot drawn by two powerful horses: a white horse, representing Spirit, and a black horse, embodying Appetite. The charioteer is Reason, whose task is to guide the chariot to the eternal realm by controlling the two independent-minded horses
• Rene Descartes


  Widely considered the "founder of modern philosophy". Brought an entirely new—and thoroughly modern—perspective to philosophy in general and the self in particular
• Descartes' view on reasoning


  To develop the most informed and well-grounded beliefs about human existence, we need to be clear about the thinking instrument we are employing. If our thinking instrument is flawed, then it is likely that our conclusions will be flawed as well
• Descartes' method of doubting

  Committing yourself to a wholesale and systematic doubting of all things you have been taught to simply accept without question is the only way to achieve clear and well-reasoned conclusions
• Descartes' essence of the self


  You are a "thinking thing," a dynamic identity that engages in all of those mental operations we associate with being a human self
• John Locke: The Self is Consciousness


  A person is a thinking, intelligent being who has the abilities to reason and to reflect. Consciousness— being aware that we are thinking—always accompanies thinking and is an essential part of the thinking process
• Locke's view on the self


  The essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself as a thinking, reasoning, reflecting identity. But this in no way means that this self is necessarily imbedded in a single substance or soul—it might very well take up residence in any number of substances or souls
• David Hume: There is No Self


  If we carefully examine the contents of our experience, we find that there are only two distinct entities, "impressions" and "ideas". Nowhere among them is the sensation of a "constant and invariable" self that exists as a unified identity over the course of our lives
• Hume's view of the self


  A "bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement"
• Variety of relationships


  Derivative copies of impressions, once removed from reality
• David Hume: 'There is No Self'
• Self (according to Hume)


  A "bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement"
• Mind (according to Hume)


  "a kind of theatre, where several perceptions successively make their appearance; pass, repass, glide away, and mingle in an infinite variety of postures and situations"
• Hume's views led to skepticism about achieving genuine knowledge in any area of experience
• Kant was alarmed by Hume's skepticism and sought to address it
• Kant's view of experience


  Organized world of objects, relationships, and ideas, existing within a stable framework of space and time
• Role of the self (according to Kant)


  Synthesizes sensations into a meaningful whole, making experience intelligible
• Freud's view of the self


  Multitiered, divided among the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious
• Unconscious (in Freud's view)


  Contains basic instinctual drives, traumatic memories, unfulfilled wishes and childhood fantasies, thoughts and feelings that would be considered socially taboo
• Conscious self (in Freud's view)


  Governed by the "reality principle", organizes behavior and experience in rational, practical, and socially appropriate ways
• Freud's Topographical model of the mind


  Divided into conscious, preconscious, and unconscious systems
• Freud's Structural model of the mind


  Divided into the id, the ego, and the superego
• The self is a wonder, a miracle, an extraordinary creation
• Studying perspectives on the self can lead to both insight and confusion as understanding deepens and questions become more sophisticated