Philosophers on the self

Question 1

Democritus (460 B.C.)

-Relation of the self to the body -

Answer 1

• We are all made of atoms (and nothing
  but atoms)
• The soul is physical (and made of atoms)

soul & self (2 physical things)

A materialist, everything is physical

Contrary to Plato

Question 2

Plato (380 B.C.)

-Relation of the self to the body -

Answer 2

• “ruler of the body, distinct from the body, and therefore can live on without the body”
• First example of DUALISM
  – Democritus said mind and body were one
  – Plato says they are two separate things

Question 3

Aristotle (350 B.C.)

-Relation of the self to the body -

Answer 3

• Self/soul is an emergent quality of the physical body
  – Hydrogen and oxygen aren’t wet but H2O is
  – Violin’s sound is result of how its built
• Physical but special combo that creates an EMERGENT QUALITY

Question 4

St. Thomas Aquinas (1250)

-Temporal Aspects of the self-

Answer 4

• Tabula rasa
  – The soul enters the body through experience (over time)
  – Potential for social influence on the self

Question 5

John Locke (1690)

-Temporal Aspects of the self-

Answer 5

• The self IS the memory (equivalent)
• MORE about experience

– Lightman’s “Einstein’s Dreams”
* Is it more important to remember who we’ve been or to be who we are in the moment?

– Calvino’s “The adventure of a photographer”

• We seek memories at the expense of experience* (like at a concert, you choose to record instead of living in the moment)

Question 6

John Butler (1736)

Answer 6

Current and future selves
- the self is not a permanent, but a transient thing

“that’s a tomorrow me problem”

-Being inconsiderate to future self
(think of future self like a stranger)

• Admitting you’re wrong to S/O
  (Past me wouldve done that, but not me rn I changed)

-Does the self have a duration?

• Neural & behavioral data on past/future selves

Question 7

Dualism

Answer 7

Cartesian dualism - the doctrine that thinking beings possess immaterial souls entirely distinct from their physical bodies

-minds are not located in physical space (minds are non-physical entities

Question 8

Rene Descartes (1641)

• Does the self exist-

Answer 8

“cogito ergo sum”
- I think therefore I am

• as long as I can think, I can know I exist
• Cant doubt my existence b/c Im thinking rn

Question 9

St.Augustine (354 A.D.)

-Does the self exist-

Answer 9

. “Whether I am asleep or awake, it is I who is one of these and therefore I exist”

similar to descarte

Question 10

David Hume

-Does the self exist -

Answer 10

There is no self, it doesn’t exist (like budhism)

belief is what guides behavior

you can’t see the self BUT you can see evidence of it

Question 11

Kant: Can a flashlight see itself

Answer 11

• You can shine the line into a mirror onto itself
• other people serve as mirrors for us
• we might be able to find one selves, but we dont doubt theres a core

Question 12

Johann Fichte (1790)

Answer 12

Knowing the self is linked to the capacity to know others

• Theory of self
• You are conscious that others have their own self and can think for themselves

Question 13

Arthur Schopenhaur (1844)

-The Self at War-

Answer 13

-Self as “Will & Idea”

Will: Motive & Desires (pre-reflective)
- each person has a motivation to live and get everything it can for itself to survive

Idea: Thinking (reflective) conscious reflective thought
- we are able to rise above desire and have some thought

-The will degrades us and the idea saves us
similar to Freud & Id -Superego

Question 13

Friedrich Nietzsche (1872)

-The Self at War-

Answer 13

Dionysian: intoxicated fusion with others and the unspecifiable (darkness) underbelly of life
- the motivation to be reconnected to a world without any filters or restraints
- distinction between self and others blurs feel connected to others (like at a concert) but you lose yourself to the darkness
- accept both horror and beauty of the real world
- become one with existence

-Apollonian: light, restraint, language, individuation, categories
tries to build order and structure
- distinction between self and others made clear (the light makes it easy to see the distinction)
- create a controllable and safe environment
- control nature through thought

Question 13

Jean-Paul Sartre (1936)

-The Self at War-

Answer 13

-The “I” is only present when we REFLECT

-There is a self of us that is “observable”, that I can’t know
- it flows from us to others without us seeing it happen

• We judge others as “objects”, so others must judge us as objects as well, but we’ll never know
• Anxiety ; fundamental to the self, others can see it and judge it

-We try to create a self to present to others that they will approve of
^apollonian

Question 14

William James (1890)

-The Self at War-

Answer 14

-“me” - self as known- is knowledge you have of yourself (list of enduring attributes)

• “I” - self as knower- an ACTIVE AGENT, the one self reflecting on their experiences, preferences and emotions

“me” extracts from “I” when “I” reflects on its past actions

I have as many selfs as there are people who recognize me
-The self is regulated by social environment, me at work is not the me on a Friday night

Question 14

Baumeister (1986)

-The Self at War-

Answer 14

• historical view of self
• we are defined by the HARD choices we make (like the baby crying situation, utilitarian or non-utilitarian)
• Thinks that ppl back then didnt have a self bc they had no hard choices to make (home, education, career, marriage, religion)
• we have evidence of our past selves in diaries, autobiographies, novels ect.)