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).
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
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
They reasons the one contains the self consciousness is because of reasoning with himself and the world and ...
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 .
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.
What is the self? Defining this concept has been a struggle for man since the earliest thinkers first looked inwards on themselves, only to find that they could not truly comprehend what was there, or as some came to believe, not there. Over time, everyone from philosophers, to psychologists, and neuroscientists, to religious thinkers, and the ordinary man have thought on this, yet many have come up empty. Two prominent theories, which see themselves at the forefront of the debate on the truth, are known as ego theory, and bundle theory.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi author had explained in the ‘What is the self’ about when the human born until death, there are always trying to do better represent their ideal images and gets more and more respects of the own self in the world. At the beginning, the author had provided an example of the ocean have tremendous of water, but water produces from many hydrogen and oxygen, so it is the same thing the for human’s self-having numerous goals, thoughts or ideas that organized in consciousness, sense that reification of the brain. The author has defined ‘self is the reification of related an abstract idea which are creating the emotions, thoughts, feelings and awareness all of these records in the human’s brain, but all ideas related to an
For a long period of time the question of “What is the self?” has been debated by many people. According to Bermudez, Ma...
For philosopher John Locke, humans could only be defined through their sense of self, and this sense of self was not automatic, but rather gradual. He believed that humans were, at birth, tabula rasa and it was the accumulation of sense perception and experience that allowed human beings to develop their sense of what it mean to be human and learn to function in a social system. He also argued that the way in which people clustered their experiences became the foundation for the rest of their lives and it was a key part of parenting and education to ensure that the foundations were sound (Copelston,...
...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 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...
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
The Self-Concept is a complicated process of gaining self-awareness. It consists of mental images an individual has of oneself: physical appearance, health, accomplishments, skills, social talents, roles, intellectual traits, and emotional states and more –all make up our self-concept.
...have struggled with the nature of human beings, especially with the concept of “self”. What Plato called “soul, Descartes named the “mind”, while Hume used the term “self”. This self, often visible during hardships, is what one can be certain of, whose existence is undoubtable. Descartes’s “I think, therefore I am” concept of transcendental self with just the conscious mind is too simplistic to capture the whole of one’s self. Similarly, the empirical self’s idea of brain in charge of one’s self also shows a narrow perspective. Hume’s bundle theory seeks to provide the distinction by claiming that a self is merely a habitual way of discussing certain perceptions. Although the idea of self is well established, philosophical insight still sees that there is no clear presentation of essential self and thus fails to prove that the true, essential self really exists.
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.