Lesson 1 - Philosophical Perspectives of the Self Flashcards
The love and pursuit of Wisdom
Philosophy
“love”
“Philein”
“wisdom”
“Sophia”
IS “A WAY OF LOOKING AT
THE WORLD AND GIVING IT MEANING. IT
CAN PROVIDE A HIGH QUALITY METHOD OF
EXAMINING OUR BELIEFS.”
PHILOSOPHY
“Know Thy Self”
SOCRATES
He agreed that self-knowledge is a prerequisite to a
happy and meaningful life.
SOCRATES
“An unexamined life is not worth living”: meaning we
should learn to “reflect“
SOCRATES
“One thing only I know, and that is I know
nothing.“: the more that we know, the more
questions we ask.
SOCRATES
Age comes with more questions and answers. To
answer unanswered questions, we continue to seek
for answers.
✓ concerned with the problem of the self
✓ concerned about the self and existence
✓ question about the meaning of the self
SOCRATES
How knowledge is brought
(teaching by asking questions)
SOCRATIC METHOD
Used in understanding the self: BODY and SOUL
Dualistic approach
: imperfect and impermanent
Body
perfect and permanent
Soul
Physical realm and Ideal realm
Dichotomous Realms
changeable, transient and imperfect, the body
belongs to this realm
Physical realm
unchanging, eternal, and immortal; the soul belongs
to this realm
Ideal realm
There is a soul before the body: Once the soul comes into the
material world, he forget everything: By being born in this world
we disconnect from being wise as we were before from the realm
of ideas
SOCRATES
We focus on who we are, who we should be and
who will become
Ideal Realm
The soul strives for wisdom and perfection and reason is the
souls tool to achieved exalted/happy state of life
SOCRATES
What keep us from attaining wisdom?: focuses on material
possessions
SOCRATES
“Student of Socrates”
PLATO
Founded the Academy
PLATO
considered as
prototype of today’s universities
Academy
Dichotomy between ideal and material
PLATO
(world of
forms/realm of ideas beyond our
consciousness
ideal
(the
world we exist right now is just a replica
of the real world)
material (world)
Believe in the existence of the SOUL
PLATO
the most
divine aspect of the
self
Soul
means the soul
is the most intellectual
aspects of the person
Divine
✓3 components of
SOUL
➢Rational soul
➢Spirited soul
➢Appetitive soul
reason, intellect,
enables us to think deeply, make
wise choices, thinking soul
RATIONAL soul
emotion and passion
Spirited soul
basic needs,
Appetitive soul
“Cogito ergo sum”
RENE DESCARTES
“I think, therefore I am.“
RENE DESCARTES
Father of modern philosophy.
RENE DESCARTES
” doubting the
existence of his own physical body“
HYPERBOLICAN DOUBT
The existence of the body is NOT the
proof that you exist
RENE DESCARTES
The mere fact that I can DOUBT is
enough to prove that I can exist
RENE DESCARTES
Your ability to question things is the proof
that you can exist.
RENE DESCARTES
“mind-body dualism”
RENE DESCARTES
believed that a man consisted of matter and mind
RENE DESCARTES
The physical stuff that walks, talks,
and plays the accordion.
Matter
The nonphysical substance
(sometimes equated with the soul) that
thinks, doubts, and remembers
Mind
he nature of the mind (that is, a thinking, non-extended thing) is completely different from
that of the body (that is, an extended, non-thinking thing).
Therefore, it is possible for one to exist without
the other.
RENE DESCARTES
The mind is united with the body to form a
human being.
RENE DESCARTES
“TABULA RASA”
JOHN LOCKE
The person is born like a blank slate. Clueless about
the world. With experience we write in our blank
slate/mind, and it got encoded.
JOHN LOCKE
MEMORY: Our identity is not locked in the mind,
soul or body only. If we don’t have memory, we
cannot have a CONTINOUS Identity.
JOHN LOCKE
Identity is explained in terms of psychological
connection between life stages due to memory (we
remember our experiences or what happened in the
past).
JOHN LOCKE
We learn more because of experiences and our
ability to remember these experiences allows us to
remember who we are today.
JOHN LOCKE
Example : You are so hardworking, because when
you were a child, you were rewarded for being hard
working.
JOHN LOCKE
“All knowledge is derived from human senses. “
DAVID HUME
Influenced by empiricism (they don’t believe on what can’t be
seen or observe. We make use of our senses.)
DAVID HUME
collection of impressions. The person is a
collection of impressions.
Bundle theory - David Hume
vivid, products of direct experiences
(perceptions of reality
Impressions
copies of impressions; imaginations
Ideas
What you feel when we talk to our
boyfriend is happiness
Example of impression
Do you have an idea how does it feel to touch a
hot water?
Example of Idea
“Personal identity is just a result of
imagination”. The mind is simply a container for fleeting
sensations.
THERE IS NO SELF - David Hume
There is SELF. We construct self.
IMMANUEL KANT
The self constructs its own reality, actively
creating a world that is familiar, predictable, and
most significantly, mine.
IMMANUEL KANT
The self is a product of reason. Through
RATIONALITY, people can understand certain
abstract ideas that have no corresponding
physical object or sensory experience.
IMMANUEL KANT
Self is not just what gives one his personality
but also the set of knowledge acquisition for all
human persons.
IMMANUEL KANT
The self constructs its own reality creating a
world that is familiar and predictable.
IMMANUEL KANT
What is Philosophy of Self and why it is
important?
- A philosophy is the pinnacle of one’s life
- Philosophy adds structure and balance, to implement goals and reach
one’s dreams - Improve critical thinking, argument skills, analysis skills, problem solving
skills, and communications. - Allows you to: justify your opinions , spot a bad argument, explain to
people and why they are wrong, and you are right, philosophy teaches us
to think, and it Answers our WHY.
