As I read through the Thinking Philosophically box in our text, the first question that comes up is, “What is a self?” It is wonderful to start off with an easy question, right? Well, Wikipedia defines the self as the subject of one’s own experience of phenomena: perceptions, emotions, thoughts ("Self," 2014). A standard dictionary definition is a person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action; and a person’s particular nature or personality; the qualities that make a person individual or unique ("Oxford dictionary," 2014). Don’t you feel more enlightened already?
Referencing back through Who Are You: Consciousness, Identity, and the Self, the English philosopher and physician John Locke ideas about self state what does it mean to be a person and what is consciousness? He felt a person is a thinking, intelligent being who has the ability to reason and to reflect. He also thought consciousness is being aware that we are thinking (Chaffee, 2013). Personally, he was one of the few philosophers that I could agree with in this chapter. The world is full of human beings, with the ability to think, to go about their day and perform the tasks needed to survive, but with one of the questions that arose fairly early in the class, how many people contemplate their existence? How many have the ability to reason and reflect and actually do so? I feel Locke was on the right track in his thinking – we have the ability, but each one of us has failed to ask the right questions and look for deeper answers throughout our life. I have gone through periods in my life where surviving was all I could manage and I look back on those times with regret because, as I si...
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... In conclusion, reading and understanding the positions of various philosophers has prompted me to think a bit deeper about my own position about things in the world and why I make the choices that I do. As Lewis Carroll said in Alice in Wonderland, “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” None of us can go backwards – why would we want to. It is my hope to examine each day a little more and utilize what I have learned here, and “know thyself” a bit better.
Works Cited
Self. (2014, January 22). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self
Oxford dictionary. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/self
Chaffee, J. (2013). The philosopher's way. (4th ed., p. 120).
Chaffee, J. (2013). The philosopher's way. (4th ed., p. 102).
Chaffee, J. (2013). The philosopher's way. (4th ed., p. 155).
The better which a person develops an understanding of themselves and of the other people around them, the better able they will be able to develop intimate relationships. A person who has a negative model of self and has a negative model of others , otherwise known as Fearful, is going to shy away from attachment and be socially avoidant which obviously is going to affect the crisis of intimacy versus isolation. The example describes a person who is hesitant to make long term commitments and resists urges to display intimacy, but is capable of forming a dependency on him by the other in the relationship. A Preoccupied person has a negative self model and a positive model of others. They often tend to be overly dependent and ambivalent. The example suggests a person who might be shy and conservative but is capable of not displaying their awkward feelings to the other person. A Secure individual has a positive model of self and others. They are comfortable with intimacy and autonomy and often do not have a difficult time in forming intimate relationships. The example describes this person as someone who is very capable of healthy relationships and good communication skills. It seems like a secure person has all the good qualities that any relationship requires. And finally, a Dismissing person has a positive model of self but a negative model of others. They are characterized by denying attachment and their counter dependency. All of the differences among the different models result from past experiences in the individual’s life. How they were raised in terms of different parenting styles and methods of child raising affect an individuals internal working models of self and others.
Anil Ananthaswamy describes the self as the role the brain plays in our notions of self and existence. That our sense of self is layered, pulling information from
John Locke's account of identity was a radical rethinking on the subject of personal identity. Moreover, his conception of personal identity shaped modern thought about the subject by placing the emphasis on a psychological criterion . Locke argued that there is a distinction between the human being, the person, and the soul, and that the identity of the person relies upon the continuation of the same consciousness. In other words, Locke believed that personal identity remains if the same consciousness remained. However, at the time of publication, Locke was heavily criticised by those who argued that his uses of the word 'consciousness' was too ambiguous. Some, such as Thomas Reid, interpreted Locke as equating consciousness with memory, and as a result of the fallible nature of memory, argued that Locke's account of personal identity failed .
Self could be defined in different ways. In John Perry’s “dialogue on personal identity and immorality”, both characters Weirob and Cohen are correct on their argument of personal identity, there are just some imperfections on each of the views. My view of “persons are identical with brains” fills the gaps of ideas of them. Brain is the junction that could bring mind and
Locke believed that the identity of a person has the sameness of the consciousness: “What makes a man be himself to himself is sameness of consciousness, so personal identity depends entirely on that—whether the consciousness is tied to one substance throughout or rather is continued in a series of different su...
As Locke advances into his reasoning, he expands on the definition of a person, as beings that are able to rationalize, perceive, and contemplate. These are all faculties that are in fact “conscious” or in other words, things that we are self- aware of. A person is aware of themselves as well as their surroundings, which they are able to perceive through their senses and from there, they are able to internally rationalize, think and interpret. Locke’s definition of a person would require them to possess a certain level of intellectual understanding and poses innate characteristic, such as those possessed by human, however this will evidently exclude all other animals from this category. The contextual meaning of consciousness also helps derive of the concept of self.
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
John F. Crosby in his work, The Selfhood of the Human Person, attempts to provide an advancement in the understanding of the human person. Persons are conscious beings who think and know they are thinking. He claims persons are not merely replaceable objects, but characters who cannot be substituted or owned. Crosby describes personhood as standing in yourself, being an end to yourself, and being anchored in yourself. A feature of personhood is that persons can be conscious of everything in the universe while the universe acts on them. Additionally, personhood means persons exist for their own sake and not for the sake of others. However, persons who are centered in themselves often give of themselves. Persons are incommunicable unlike any other piece of creation. A quality of the incommunicability of persons is action. Aquinas explains person are not acted on but act through themselves.
...rick. That is to say, a self-reflection exists naturally without one’s doing anything to bring it into existence, but one is ignorant of it until one begins to look at oneself.
Locke was an empiricist and materialist who believed that knowledge comes from experiences and that substances outside of the mind are indeed real. To him, the mind was considered a blank slate or “tabula rasa” at birth and knowledge of the world comes through sensations and reflection. In his essay Locke expresses, “Our observation, employed either about external sensible objects or about the internal operations of our minds perceived and reflected on by ourselves, is that which supplies our understanding with all the materials of thinking.” (Locke 158) Direct sensory experiences and personal memories of past experiences actually make each and every person unique and knowledgeable. Locke believes there are two different ideas to every object, simple ideas and complex ideas. A simple idea is one attribute that aids in making the object what it is. A complex idea is the actual object it’s self; many simple ideas form the complex idea. In addition to Locke’s ideas, he also believes that every object has two types of qualities, primary and secondary. Primary qualities are “in the object” such as figure, motion, or extension. If it was not for these particular qualities, an object could not be known for what it is. Secondary qualities are solely in the perceiver and can change without the object itself changing. Color, sound, and taste
“You are requested to close the eyes.” This urging that Sigmund Freud experienced in a dream helped to unlock repressed feelings, and gave him insight into his personality. Fortunately, there are now tests available to help us to understand ourselves. Our behavior can be determined and understood by analyzing different aspects of ourselves. The four main aspects are: Decision Making, Self-Concept, Interpersonal Relationships, and Affect. Decision Making is very important.
He also states the evidence of self-identity is not one’s soul, but one’s consciousness and memories. As an illustration of his argument, as a person getting older, his self-identity may change, so his unchanging soul can not be the evidence of his self-identity. In “Personal Identity in Change of Substance” section of “On Personal Identity,” Locke states “For the same consciousness being preserved, whether in the same or different substances, the personal identity is preserved.” Therefore, in short, his view on “self” is that memories and consciousness compose self-identity, and it does not matter what a substance or a soul a possessor of the memories
Sometimes a person may feel that they have no purpose in life. Finding out who you are just takes the time of sitting down and thinking of the importance in your life. Who am I? I am Mercedes Kimberly Kingston, and I am a person with different personalities, characteristics, and identities. The many ways, in which I identify myself, in fact, are the ways that define who I am. My Identity is something only I can fully define. I have a little brother, which makes me a sister; I have two loving parents, which makes me a daughter; I am in college studying medicine, which makes me a student; and I have wonderful friends in desperate need of support, which makes me a wonderful best friend.
How does one create the “self”? How do we form as individuals? Whether a person is male or female, white or black, rich or poor, tall or short, pretty or ugly, fat or skinny, the most important factor is the development of the “self”. The self refers to the unique set of traits, behaviors, and attitudes that distinguishes one person from another (Newman 283). To distinguish between oneself from others, one must be able to recognize their unique traits and characteristics. One must be able to differentiate between one’s own physical appearance and another’s. There are many components such as gender, race, ethnicity, and social class, which shape and influence our values, beliefs, and impression of life. Understanding the difference between sex and gender allows one to grow into their own masculinity and femininity. Recognizing the history of one’s past in regard to their ethnic backgrounds and struggle will shape the development on one’s self. Having the luxury of money and power will affect the self and the way that one appreciates the value of the dollar or lack thereof. One of the most important factors may be one’s physical features which will eventually influence one’s self-confidence and affect the self as a whole. Once an individual has acknowledged the traits of their “self”, they’re in control of either maintaining their self, or changing their self to satisfy their standards.
A self is some sort of inner being or principle, essential to, but not identical with, the person as whole. It is that in a person that thinks and feels. The self is usually conceived in philosophy as that which one refer to with the word “I”. It is that part or aspects of a person that accounts for personal identity through time. In spite of all the ways one can change with time, the self is invariably same through time. A self is what is supposed to account for the fact that an individual is same person today as he/she was at the age of five, given that all his characteristics have changed over time. For instance, compared to his childhood, this individual is stronger, taller, and smarter; he has different aspirations and dreams, different thoughts and fears, his interests and activities are remarkably different. Yet, he is still the same ...