Concept and Nature of Self Flashcards
(25 cards)
- A product of natural processes which we are inherently predisposed.
- Largely influenced and principally constructed by one’s social environment.
- Both a product of nature and nurture
Self
- anchored on the lens of biological sciences
- traits are passed on by one generation to another
Nature
self should be viewed as an outcome of various nurturing factors in the context of one’s social life.
Nurture
Defined as the qualities, beliefs, etc. that make a particular person or group different from others.
- Known to self
- Known to others
Identity
Is the person that someone normally or truly is or the entire person of an individual
- Known to self
- Unknown to others
Self
a dimension of the self that refers to the groups in which individuals can directly identify him/ herself (family, peer, organization, etc.)
Social Factors
a dimension of the self that broadly includes the physical and communal elements present in our everyday surroundings.
(climate, temperature, larger community)
Environmental Factors
a dimension of the self that is a biological process by which certain traits and characteristics are passed on from one generation to another.
Hereditary Factors
A dimension of the self that refers to the inclination of a person to form and construct a specific identity which will set him apart or unique compared with others.
Person-Volition Factors
Whose Philosophy?
- Principally concerned with man
- Considers man from the point of view of his inner life
- Tells each man to bring his inner self to light
- Emphasizes the concept of virtue and knowledge
Socrates
- Behavior showing high moral standards
- The deepest and most basic propensity of man
- Innate in the mind
Virtue
Two distinct philosophical lens that define the Philosophies of the Self
- Empiricism
- Rationalism
- Derives explanatins of the self from sensory and bodily responses
- We know things because we experience it through bodily senses
Empiricism
- There is an innate knowledge
- They differ in that they choose different objects of innate knowledge.
- Explains self in the standpoint of what is “ideal” and the “truth”, not rooted in what us felt by the senses or body.
- Using logic and reasoning
Rationalism
- The unexamined life is not worth living
- Living a virtuous life requires self-examination and a commitment to moral principles
- Knowledge is the ultimate virtue
- Should live a life of virtue
Socrates
Socratic Philosophy (Idealism)
Formula for Happiness
according to Socrates
Knowledge = Virtue = Happiness
- The ideal society would be one in which each person performed a role that was best suited to their abilities
- Diversity is not tolerated in this state.
- Preaches The Ideal Self, The Perfect Self
Plato
Dualism and Idealism (Idealism)
- Emphasizes importance on individual autonomy
- Individuals should adhere to the moral law
- Reason is the final authority of morality
- There is the inner self and outer self
Kant
Metaphysics of the Self (Rationalist/Empiricist)
- Emphasized the importance of the individual mind and the power of reason.
- The mind and the body are independent from each other and serve their own function.
- Self is a thinking entity distinct from the body
- “Cogito, ergo sum”
René Descartes
Mind-Body Dualism (Rationalist)
- Personal Identity (the self) is a matter of psychological continuity.
- Is founded on consciousness (memory), and not on the substance of either soul or body
- The concept about oneself that evolves over the course of an individual’s life.
John Locke
Theory of Personal Identity (Empiricist)
- skeptical about the existence of the self
- Man has no “clear and intelligible” idea of the self.
- No single impression of the self exists;
- The self is just the thing to which all perceptions of a man is ascribed.
David Hume
Skeptical Philosophy (Empiricist)
- believes that a virtuous life is a dynamism of love.
- It is a constant of and turning towards love.
- A wicked life is a constant turning away from love.
St. Augustine
Neo-Platonism (Platonism)
Golden Principle
Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The “Self” is just a collection of different perceptions which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity
David Hume’s Skeptical Philosophy