Philosophical Perspective Philosophy- It is often called the mother of all disciplines, simply because of all fields of study began as a philosophical discourse. Ancient philosophers have striven to explain natural and social phenomena, coming up with their own definitions of how the world works and what factors contribute to such phenomena. Philosophy is from the Greek words Philo- (loving) and Sophia(knowledge, wisdom). At simplest, philosophy is means “loving knowledge” or “loving wisdom”. THE SELF - The totality of the individual, consisting of all characteristic attributes, conscious and unconscious, mental and physical. Socrates Socrates was a Greek philosopher. Though, unlike other philosophers during his time, he never wrote anything. All the information’s about him today is through second-hand information from his student Plato and historian Xenophon (The Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017). Socrates is concerned with the problem of the self. He is the one to first focus on the full power of reason on the human self: who we are, who we should be, and who we will become. ▪ Socrates “Every person is dualistic” * Body + Soul = MAN He suggested that SELF can be viewed into two distinct being: 1. Physical dimension - All individuals have an imperfect and impermanent body. 2. Ideal dimension - All individuals have a perfect and permanent soul. Socrates “Every person is dualistic” • For Socrates the self is synonymous with the soul. • He believes that every human possesses an immortal soul that survives the physical body. • Socrates believed that the real self is not the physical body, but rather the psyche (or soul). ❖ For him, an individual can have a meaningful and happy life only if he becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can be achieved through incessant soul-searching. Socrates “The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to live but die inside.” Socrates “The true task of the philosopher is to know oneself.” • Plato is another Greek Philosopher who elaborates Socrates’ concept of the soul. He was the student of Socrates. • He is best known for his Theory of Forms ▪ Plato Introduces the idea of a 3 part of soul /self: 1. Reason is the divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise choices, achieve true understanding of eternal truths. PLATO THE SELF IS AN IMMORTAL SOUL 2. PHYSICAL APPETITE - Biological needs 3. SPIRIT / PASSION - Basic emotions MYTH OF THE CAVE MYTH OF THE CAVE The Cave •Imagine a cave, in which there are three prisoners. The prisoners are tied to some rocks, their arms and legs are bound and their head is tied so that they cannot look at anything but the stonewall in front of them. •These prisoners have been here since birth and have never seen outside of the cave. •Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between them is a raised walkway. •People outside the cave walk along this walkway carrying things on their head including; animals, plants, wood and stone. MYTH OF THE CAVE The Shadows • So, imagine that you are one of the prisoners. You cannot look at anything behind or to the side of you – you must look at the wall in front of you. • When people walk along the walkway, you can see shadows of the objects they are carrying cast on to the wall. • If you had never seen the real objects ever before, you would believe that the shadows of objects were ‘real. MYTH OF THE CAVE The Game • Plato suggests that the prisoners would begin a ‘game’ of guessing which shadow would appear next. • If one of the prisoners were to correctly guess, the others would praise him as clever and say that he were a master of nature. MYTH OF THE CAVE The Escape • • • • • One of the prisoners then escapes from their bindings and leaves the cave. He is shocked at the world he discovers outside the cave and does not believe it can be real. As he becomes used to his new surroundings, he realizes that his former view of reality was wrong. He begins to understand his new world, and sees that the Sun is the source of life and goes on an intellectual journey where he discovers beauty and meaning He sees that his former life, and the guessing game they played is useless. MYTH OF THE CAVE The Return • The prisoner returns to the cave, to inform the other prisoners of his findings. • They do not believe him and threaten to kill him if he tries to set them free. St. Agustine The African philosopher, Augustine, is regarded as a saint (St. Augustine of Hippo) in the Catholic Church. He is one of the Latin Fathers of the church, one of the Doctors of the church, and one of the most significant Christian thinkers St. Agustine • He integrates the ideas of Plato and teachings of Christianity. St. Agustine ➢ The SELF HAS AN IMMORTAL SOUL ➢ -The physical body is different from and inferior to its immortal soul. ➢ -He believes that the soul is what governs and defines man. Rene Descartes • René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and a scientist and considered as the “father of modern philosophy.” Rene Descartes For him, the act of thinking about the self – of being self-conscious – It’s a proof that there is a self. Rene Descartes He asserted that everything perceived by the senses could not be used as proof of existence because human senses could be fooled. 2 Dimensions of Self according to Rene Descartes 1.The self as thinking entity 2.The self as a physical body Some distinctions between the soul and body as pointed out by Descartes are: THE SOUL THE BODY • It is a conscious, thinking substance that is unaffected by time. • It is a material substance that changes through time. • It is known only to itself (only you know your own mental event and others correct your mental states). • It can be doubted; The public can correct claims about the body. • It is not made up of parts. It views the entirely of itself with no hidden or separate compartments. It is both conscious and aware of itself at the same time. • It is made up of physical, quantifiable, divisible parts. John Locke is an English philosopher and physician. For Locke, the human mind at birth is Tabula rasa or a blank slate. David Hume Scottish Philosopher David Hume suggests that if people carefully examine their sense of experience through the process of introspection, they will discover that there is no self. Hume did not believe in the existence of the “self”. He insisted that your perceptions are only active for as long as you are conscious. In line with this, Hume seemed to reduce the “self” as a light bulb that may be switched on and off. Bundle theory According to bundle theory, an object consists of its properties and nothing more; thus, there cannot be an object without properties and one cannot conceive of such an object. For example, when we think of an apple, we think of its properties: redness, roundness, being a type of fruit, etc. Hume divided the mind’s perceptions into two groups: • Impression–everything senses that originates from our • Ideas–faint images of thinking and reasoning based on impression “If there is no God, it is important for man to invent Him” Immanuel Kant • WE CONSTRUCT THE SELF Kant’s view of the “self” is transcendental, which means the “self” is related to spiritual or nonphysical realm. For Kant, the self is not in the body. The self is outside the body, and it does not have qualities of the body. He proposed that it is knowledge that bridges the “self” and the material things together (Boee, 1999; Brook, 2004). Kant’s point is that what truly exist are your ideas and your knowledge of your ideas that you perceive in the outside. ❑ Kant did NOT put forward a Moral Argument for the Existence of God. ❑ Kant rejected all attempts to argue from the world to God. ❑ Kant did not believe that either Life after Death nor God could be proved, only that they could be postulated. If the universe if fair and if the Summum Bonum can be achieved, then there must be aGod to ensure it. Sigmund Freud Structure of personality: Freud thought of personality as being based upon a structure of three parts: the id, the ego and the superego. ID – Pleasure EGO – Reality SUPEREGO – For perfection/ideal The Id: The id is the very immature component of personality. It operates only on the pleasure principal with no regard for anything else. One could say that it is completely instinctual. Freud referred to the id as the reservoir of psychic energy. It only consists of our basic biological needs. To eat, sleep, defecate, etc... The id is only a primary process thinker, so it is primitive, irrational, and illogical. Example: Jack is walking down the street and he is very hungry. He only has an id so when he sees an apple pie cooling in a window, he takes it for himself. The Superego: The superego is our morals, principals, and ethics. It considers the social standards for social behavior and guides us on what is right and wrong. The superego begins to develop between 3 and 5 years of age. It is mostly shaped by what we learn as young children from adults. Eventually we accept this training as a part of who we are. We put pressure on ourselves to live up to how we think we should behave. Example: Jack is walking down the street and he is very hungry. He only has a superego so when he sees an apple pie cooling in a window, he does nothing. His superego tells him that it is someone's pie and that it is not acceptable to trespass on someones property and take their pie. The Ego: The ego is the moderator between the ego and the superego. It operates on the reality principal. It makes the decisions that dictate behavior. The ego also considers social realities, norms, ediquette, rules, and customs when it makes a decision on how to behave. It seeks to delay gratification of the id's urges until appropriate outlets can be found. It uses secondary process thinking to avoid negative consequences from society. Example: Using the examples from above, Jack's ego would tell him that he should not take the pie from the windowsill, but instead he can buy some pie right up the street at the local grocery store. LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS • Conscious level • Preconscious level • Unconscious part Conscious level • Relates to the awareness of an individual to his environment. It functions when the individual is awake. • It is concerned with thought, feelings and sensations, memory, IQ. • Conscious as sense organ of attention. • Through attention, person becomes conscious of perceptual stimuli from the outside world within the organism. • Conscious part of mind is aware of here and now as it relates individual and his environment. Preconscious level is described as that part of mind in which ideas and reactions are stored and partially forgotten. • It also acts as a watchman because it prevents certain painful, unpleasant, unacceptable, distributing unconscious memories from reaching the conscious mind. • Slip of tongue, slip of pen. • Preconscious region of mind is not present at birth but develops in childhood. • It is accessible to both unconscious and conscious mind. • Elements of unconscious mind are accessible to conscious through preconscious. Unconscious part is the largest part of mind (9/10). • It is hidden part of iceberg that floats under water. • It contains repressed ideas and affects. • Elements of unconscious mind are in accessible to consciousness. • They become conscious only through preconscious mind. • Repressed ideas may reach to consciousness when censor is over powered or relaxed (dream state). • It is storehouse for all the memories, feelings and responses experienced by the individual during his entire life. Gilbert Ryle Denies the internal, nonphysical self “what truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his day-to-day life.” Gilbert Ryle “The self is the way people behave”. The self is basically our behavior. This concept provided the philosophical principle, “I act therefore I am”. In short, the self is the same as bodily behavior. The body is mortal and dies, whereas the mind is at least potentially able to continue existing beyond the death of the body. According to Ryle, this dualistic view has serious implications for what we can know and not know. Although each person has direct knowledge of his or her mind, it is impossible for us to have any direct knowledge of other minds. Jean Jacques Rousseau Rousseau wants to be recognized for the person he feels himself to be. He wants to promote self-knowledge – not only for himself but for others. Jean Jacques Rousseau ❑ Man is inherently good at birth. ❑ An evil society is the culprit for man’s evil deeds. Gilbert Ryle ➢Self is a product of freedom one makes and the consequence of this exercise. ➢One should assume full responsibility of destiny. ➢Freedom and responsibility coexistence. Ayn Rand ➢Feminine Philosopher ➢One cannot give what one does not have.