The Importance of Self

The Importance of Self

For many centuries people have been trying to find answers to questions concerning the reason for their existance and the meaning of self. Questions such as: 'What is the meaning of I? Where does the idea of self come from?' pose many arguments in our society. Many philospophers tried to find solutions to these questions yet it seems that those questions are much more complex than we perceive them and are not fully explainable. One of the most famous philosophers, Descartes, spend much time analyzing human existance and the idea of self. Even though his solutions are questionable to certain extend, he provides us with helpful knoweledge on how to approach this complex matter of self.

The matter of self is very complex and not easily explainable. Self is a principal and most important part of every human being. It is what makes us unique and distinct from one another. The self is much more than a body; it heavily depends on our mind. Just as Descartes concludes the body and the mind are two distinct things. The minds takes up no space and consists of the senses and all modes of thought. The body on the other hand takes up space but at the same time has no consciousness. They both are crucial to our elements of being, but they are independent, even though there is always a constant interaction between the two. So the mind, which is very closely connected to self is the main source of our knoweledge through the use of senses and reason. Senses, which present the mind with images of sight, touch, taste, and smell not always deliver true information about the world. The reason lets us draw conclusions from given premises and allows us to "see" the truth. The self therefore is like a wi...

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... intellect are affirmed or denied by an act of the will. Error arises when the will affirms ideas that are not clear or distinct, and therefore makes a false judgment. Sometimes we might understand a thing or an idea without knowing what it is like. Our senses might be telling us one thing yet our reasoning another. When that happens we use our will to distinguish which is true. The self depends heavily on our mind, consisting of both senses and reasoning. When making choices based on reasoning we most likely opt to make a right decision and follow the right path. Therefore the self plays a huge role in our lives. It allows us to differ from one another, by letting us make the choices we feel are right for us. The self tends to put itself first in almost evry situation. Everything human beings do we do it to satisfy our self, a complex part of ourselves.