Philosophers and Their Ideas About the Self (Video)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and definitions related to the concept of the self from the lecture notes.

Socrates

Greek philosopher who argued the importance of an examined life and posited a dualistic view of body and soul.

Unexamined life

A life without knowledge of oneself; Socrates claimed it is not worth living.

Dualism

The belief that a person consists of two distinct parts: body (physical) and soul (non-physical).

Body

The impermanent, physical part of a person in the body–soul distinction.

Soul

The permanent, non-physical essence of a person in the body–soul distinction.

Plato

Greek philosopher who described the three parts of the soul—appetitive, rational, and spirited—and argued harmony among them leads to justice and virtue in The Republic.

Appetitive soul

Part of the soul driven by desires such as hunger, thirst, and sleep.

Rational soul

Part of the soul responsible for thinking, reasoning, and judging.

Spirited soul

Part of the soul responsible for emotions, courage, and pursuit of honor.

The Republic

Plato's work emphasizing that the three parts of the soul must harmonize to attain virtue and justice.

Augustine

Christian philosopher who linked the self to God and discussed the existence of imperfect earthly desires and the immortal soul.

Cogito ergo sum

Descartes’ conclusion that thinking proves the existence of the self.

Descartes

Philosopher who argued mind–body dualism and that the self is a thinking thing; famous for cogito ergo sum.

Cogito + extenza

Descartes’ idea that the self consists of thinking (cogito) plus extension (extenza) of the body.

Tabula rasa

Locke’s concept that the mind is a blank slate at birth, filled by experience.

John Locke

Philosopher who proposed tabula rasa and that the self is formed through experience.

Impressions

Basic, immediate experiences or sensations in David Hume’s theory.

Ideas

Copies of impressions; less vivid representations of experiences.

David Hume

Scottish philosopher who described the self as a bundle of perceptions in perpetual flux.

Bundle of perceptions

The self as a collection of continually changing perceptions and impressions.

Kant

Philosopher who argued that reason organizes sensations to create knowledge, with the self synthesizing experiences beyond raw experience.

Reason

The organizing faculty in Kant’s view that structures experiences into meaningful knowledge.

Self (Kant)

The organizing, transcendental self that synthesizes experiences and is independent of sensory input.

Gilbert Ryle

Philosopher who rejected dualism and emphasized observable behavior in defining the self.

Observable behavior

External actions used to describe the self, rather than private mental states.

Freud

Austrian psychiatrist who founded psychoanalysis and proposed a structural model of personality and levels of consciousness.

Levels of consciousness

Conscious (aware), preconscious/subconscious (recallable), and unconscious (not in awareness).

Id

Primitive part of personality seeking immediate gratification; operates on the Pleasure Principle.

Ego

Mediator between the id and reality; employs the Reality Principle and rational decision-making.

Superego

Moral component of personality; the Ideal Principle; conscience and ethical standards.