MODULE 2.1 Flashcards
An Unexamined Life is not Worth Living
- Father of Western Philosophy
- Gadfly of Athens
- Focused on the full power of reason: who we are, who we should be, and who we will become.
- Reality is Dualistic
- The soul strives for wisdom and perfection, and reason is the soul’s tool to achieve an exalted state of life.
- Our preoccupation with bodily needs such as food, drink, sex, pleasure, material possessions, and wealth keep us from attaining wisdom
- Self is synonymous with the soul. He believes that every human possesses an immortal soul that survives the physical body.
- He explains that the essence of the self–the soul–is the immortal entity. The soul strives for wisdom and perfection, and reason is the soul’s tool to achieve this exalted state. However, as long as the soul is tied to the body, the quest for wisdom is inhibited by the imperfection of the physical realm, where it wanders and is confused
SOCRATES
Mortal, Imperfect, the body
○ changeable, transient, and imperfect
Physical Realm
Immortal, Perfect, mind/soul
○ unchanging, eternal, and immortal
○ includes the intellectual essence of the universe and concepts such as truth, goodness, and beauty.
Ideal Realm
The Soul is Immortal
- Self = Soul
- The philosophy of the self can be explained as a process of self-knowledge and purification of the soul.
PLATO
The self consists of three-parts:
Reason
spirit or passion
physical appetite
○ Is the divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths.
Reason
○ includes basic emotions, such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness, and empathy.
spirit or passion
○ includes our basic biological needs, such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire
physical appetite
The Soul is the Essence of the Self
- Anything with Life has a soul
- Soul + body = Self
- the soul is merely a set of defining features and does not consider the body and Soul as separate entities.
- humans differ from other living things because of their capacity for rational thinking
ARISTOTLE
3 kinds of soul
Vegetative Soul
Sentient Soul
Rational Soul
Vegetative Soul
Physical Body
Sentient Soul
Sensual Desires & Emotions
Rational Soul
what makes us human; power of reason
○ includes the intellect that allows man to
know and understand things
The Soul is Superior to the Body
- A follower of Plato
- Physical Body < Soul
- physical body is radically different from and inferior to its inhabitant, the immortal soul
- Body - “Spouse of Soul”
- Body + Soul = Complete
- Everything created by God who is all good is good
- Self is known through knowing God
- God is transcendent, and the self seeks to be united with God through faith and reason
- “I am doubting, therefore I am.’
ST. AUGUSTINE
I think therefore I am
- Essential self = Self as thinking entity
- Father of Modern Philosophy
- Cogito Ergo Sum
- the act of thinking about the self — of being selfconscious — is in itself proof that there is a self.
- Human Self - Doubts, Understand, Analyzes, Questions, and reasons
- The physical body is a material, mortal,
non-thinking entity, fully governed by the physical
laws of nature
- Body and Soul is independent from each other
RENE DESCARTES
The Self is Consciousness
- Tabula Rasa = Blank Slate
- Self, or personal identity, is constructed primarily from sense experiences more specifically, what people see, hear, smell, taste, and feel
- Conscious awareness and memory of previous experience
- The essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself as a thinking, reasoning, and reflecting identity
- More conscious, more coherent
- Reason and Knowledge is important in accuracy
- Knowledge is based on careful observation of experiences
JOHN LOCKE
There is no Self
- Self is made up of bundle or collection of different
perceptions
- Personal Identity = An Imagination
- People have no experience of a simple and individual impression that they can call the self, it is the totality of a person’s conscious life
DAVID HUME
Sensations (Emotions) (Vivid)
○ hate, love, joy, grief, pain, cold, and heat
Impressions
thoughts/Images (less vivid)
Ideas
We Construct the Self
- The Self Transcends Experience
- Self as the organizer and synthesizer of thoughts and perceptions
- The self, in the form of consciousness, utilizes conceptual categories, which he calls transcendental deduction of categories, to construct an orderly and objective world that is stable and can be investigated scientifically
- Transcendental deduction of categories - term of categorizing our experiences
- Self is the product of reason
- Self transcends experience because it can grasp things beyond senses (Time and Space)
IMMANUEL KANT
The self is multilayered
SIGMUND FREUD
○ realistic demands of a situation, the consequences of various actions, and the overriding need to preserve the equilibrium (balance) of the entire psychodynamic system of the self
○ Thoughts
○ Perceptions
Conscious
○ basic instinctual drives, including sexuality, aggressiveness, and self-destruction; traumatic memories; unfulfilled wishes and childhood fantasies; thoughts and feelings that would be considered socially taboo
○ most primitive level of human motivation and human functioning that is governed by the “pleasure principle.”
○ much of the self is determined by this layer
○ Fears
○ Selfish Needs
Unconscious
○ contains material that is not threatening and is easily brought to mind
○ located between the conscious and the unconscious parts of the self
○ Memories
○ Stored Knowledge
Preconscious
