Who am I? This question has plagued humanity for as long as we have been asking questions. In an attempt to define the self, philosophers throughout the ages have developed many different theories from whether it is a material thing, a type of accomplishment, a kind of convenient fiction, or question if a self even exists. Ultimately, of all the theories, from Strawson’s idea of a material self to Dennet’s self as a useful fiction, none provide an inerrant definition of selfhood. However, the closest that parallels to the value and significance which humans place on the events in their lives is arguably the idea of the self as a type of accomplishment. Beginning with theories of the material self, Galen Strawson argues in his essay “The Minimal Subject” for the existence of a thin self. This self is initially declared in the phenomenological dimension of experience, and thusly exists only during this experience. Strawson further states that the self exists as a kind of thing, object, or substance (TOS) which is created by the neurological mechanisms of the brain during the moment of experience. Additionally, he claims that a new self is generated by these mechanisms …show more content…
One response I have to this, is that humans have the capability to imagine a self that is better than we are right now. What may be happening in these cases is not that it is not “false” or a lie, but instead they are telling the truth about who it is they want to be, smarter, stronger, or funnier. So by engaging in this behavior, they are telling others about who the person they wish to become. Furthermore, why does it matter whether or not we lie, or exaggerate when we self-narrativize? The truth of falsity of the claims are irrelevant to the concept of the self that is constructed from the
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Show More“Self” is the identity bestowed upon humans that allows us to distinguish ourselves from one another. A persons unique psyche is what entitles them to be considered an individual and mindfully independent. This distinct self identity follows a person through out every facet of their lives. It remains the same “self” from the time a person is born to the day they die, and possibly after. Despite many opinions, the true “self” does not come from our physical body, it comes from the mind and the soul. It is not what a person specifically thinks and feels, but the distinctive unparalleled way they do so. “Self” is embodied by our continued existence in every moment we experience. Our “self” is created to be stable and is best exemplified through consciousness. Consciousness, as defined by Miller in John Perry’s First Night, is “the non-physical and non-material aspects of you”. Some non-physical features of consciousness are demonstrated through our actions, memories, and how we perceive information. As new born babies, our consciousness is already established. Newborns have the ability to recognize their individual needs. They have a full understand of their idea of pain and pleasure, happiness and sadness. As we grow older, we better establish an awareness of our
Have you ever heard, “You only have one chance to make a first impression?” Now, whether you choose to be yourself or you choose to be who you thought someone wanted you to be, a conscientious decision was made. Presenting who we would like others to believe we are is self-presentation (Gilovich, Keltner, & Nisbett, 2011). Now answer another question for me, under the correct circumstances, do you think that everyone has the ability to lie about information or details about themselves?
Self as a concept was described by Professor Roy Baumeister as ‘the individual 's belief about himself or herself, including the person 's attributes and who and what the self-is’ . Baumeister created this description of self as a concept due to Dr Michael Lewis’s idea that the concept of self has two parts. The Existential self and the Categorical self. The existential self-stage starts when a child
There are many types of self that people can fit into. There is who I am (actual self), who I might become (po...
David Hume explores the issue of what exactly comprises the “self”. Hume states in his Treatise of Human Nature that
For a long period of time the question of “What is the self?” has been debated by many people. According to Bermudez, Ma...
The self is traditionally held to be synonymous with individual identity and autonomy, while the mind, which is closely associated therewith, is widely held to be a necessary basis of cognition and volition, and the responsibility following therefrom. However Buddhism, Existential Phenomenology and Postsructuralism all point out that we have neither direct empirical experience of, nor sufficient justification for inferring, the existence of an independently subsisting self.
Take a minute to relax. Enjoy the lightness, or surprising heaviness, of the paper, the crispness of the ink, and the regularity of the type. There are over four pages in this stack, brimming with the answer to some question, proposed about subjects that are necessarily personal in nature. All of philosophy is personal, but some philosophers may deny this. Discussed here are philosophers that would not be that silly. Two proto-existentialists, Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, were keen observers of humanity, and yet their conclusions were different enough to seem contradictory. Discussed here will be Nietzsche’s “preparatory human being” and Kierkegaard’s “knight of faith”. Both are archetypal human beings that exist in accordance to their respective philosopher’s values, and as such, each serve different functions and have different qualities. Both serve the same purpose, though. The free spirit and the knight of faith are both human beings that brace themselves against the implosion of the god concept in western society.
That, like unreliable narrators, individuals often ‘lie’ to themselves in order to cover up the actual
Myself, yourself, herself and himself are words we, as humans, often use to refer to our ‘selves’. It is extremely important to understand what constitutes the self because it gives us our personal identity. But what is the self? Jerry Fodor argues that the self is the brain and there is no immaterial self. John Locke claims that the self is our consciousness. Sigmund Freud says that a transcendental unifying principle of consciousness. For me, I come to believe that the self is immaterial and multi-layered.
Self-concept is a prominent term used not only in humanism, but also in social psychology to explain how a person perceives or thinks about herself. It is simply the image we have about ourselves and is influenced by people we interact with in our lives. It also portrays our ability and our uniqueness and constitutes a collection of qualities, beliefs, behavior, and the nature of an individual. Self-concept ent...
perceived as desirable. This type of self-deception is detrimental to a person’s idea of self and needs to be resolved. The biggest issue with this is that they stop thinking about what is real.
The concept of the term “self” is a topic that has been analyzed for many years by many people. The self is the whole part of the being that contains the person. This is a very broad topic and although the term is simple it holds a vast amount if information. One of these people is a man by the name of Sigmund Freud. In the paper “The Dissection of the Psychical Personality” written by Freud, uses the term “Psychical Personality,” to explain the human thought processes, thinking and feelings that make up concept of “the self ” part of the person’s personality (Freud, The Dissection of the Psychical Personality, 2004, p. 70). The concept of the structural model of the psyche contains the Id, Ego and Superego, as developed by Freud tries to
The concept of the ‘self’ is regarded as an “entity which persists through time and change” (Grayling, pg. 540), in spite of other variations, albeit unnecessary ones, that occur in a person. Ones self is alleged to be the backbone of “thinking, perceiving, memory, and the like – the ultimate ‘bearers’ of our psychological properties.” (Grayling, pg. 540) The idea of ‘self’ is a topic of important philosophical debate, and one which Kant and Hume dexterously engage themselves in. This essay will begin by outlining Hume’s philosophical approach and his theory of self. Following that Kant’s theory of self will be looked at.
Truth of oneself makes it visible when faced with absurd events in life where all ethical issues fade away. One cannot always pinpoint to a specific trait or what the core essence they discover, but it is often described as “finding one’s self”. In religious context, the essential self would be regarded as soul. Whereas, for some there is no such concept as self that exists since they believe that humans are just animals caught in the mechanistic world. However, modern philosophy sheds a positive light and tries to prove the existence of a self. Modern philosophers, Descartes and Hume in particular, draw upon the notion of the transcendental self, thinking self, and the empirical self, self of public life. Hume’s bundle theory serves as a distinction between these two notions here and even when both of these conception in their distinction make valid points, neither of them is more accurate.