Understanding the Self (UTS 101) - Philosophy of the Self

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key philosophers and concepts discussed in Chapter 1: Philosophy of the Self.

Philos

A Greek word meaning 'Love'.

Sophia

A Greek word meaning 'Wisdom'.

Philosophy

A thinking mode or method which asks questions about the nature and essence of various realities appearing on our earth.

Metaphysics

A branch of philosophy that is an attempt to determine what is real.

Epistemology

A branch of philosophy focused on questions about knowledge and knowing.

Logic

A branch of philosophy that provides procedures for arguing that bring people to valid conclusions.

Axiology

A branch of philosophy seeking wisdom about the nature of ethical and aesthetic values.

Philosophers

'Lovers of wisdom'; persons who offer views or theories on profound questions outside of science and theology.

Sophists

Deceiving Philosophers who were critiqued by Socrates.

Socratic Method

A method of inquiry involving five steps: admit ignorance, never rely on tradition, continuously question, formulate own opinions, and test opinions with others.

Hemlock

A highly poisonous biennial herbaceous flowering plant consumed by Socrates for his execution in $399$ B.C.

Aristocles

The name originally used for the philosopher Plato ($427$ – $347$ B.C.).

Essentialists

The philosophical belief, held by Plato, that all things have essences or attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is.

Allegory of the Cave

Plato's representation of the human condition as being chained in darkness, perceiving the outside world only through shadows on a wall.

Plato's Tripartite Individual Structure

The division of the self into 'appetite-stomach', 'spirit-chest', and 'reason-head'.

Lyceum

The school founded by Aristotle after he left Plato’s Academy.

De Anima

Aristotle's work, meaning 'On the Soul', which posits that the soul gives life to the body.

Golden Mean

Aristotle's advocated balance between the extremes of human activity.

Evil (Augustinian view)

According to Augustine, this is not a lack of goodness but the result of excessive self-love and a lack of sufficient love for God.

God’s Illumination

Also known as the 'Doctrine of Grace' in the philosophy of Augustine.

Mind-Body Dualism

René Descartes' theory that a structure in the brain called the Pineal Gland causes the interaction of the non-material mind and the physical body.

Monism

The view advocated by Thomas Hobbes that mind and body are one and that mental events are simply products of physical events in the brain.

Tabula Rasa

John Locke's concept that the mind at birth is a 'blank slate' with no innate ideas, shaped only by environments and experience.

British Empiricism

A school of thought founded by John Locke which holds that all knowledge comes from experience.

Self (Hume's view)

The idea that the self is an 'illusion' and merely a collection of changing experiences and impressions shaped by senses and memory.

Pietism

The religious training characterized by a deep commitment to a relationship with God in which Immanuel Kant was raised.

Eros

Life instincts in Sigmund Freud's theory that serve the purpose of survival.

Thanatos

Death instincts in Sigmund Freud's theory representing the compulsion to destroy, conquer, or kill.

Libido

Freudian term for pleasurable behaviors associated with life instincts.

Id

The instinctual part of the personality that operates on the pleasure principle.

Ego

The mediator of the personality that operates on the reality principle.

Superego

The part of the personality that operates on the morality principle and includes the conscience and ego ideal.

The Concept of Mind (1949)

A book by Gilbert Ryle that challenges the traditional Cartesian distinction between body and mind.

Dispositions to behave

Gilbert Ryle's explanation of the mind, where mental activities are explained in terms of external, observable behaviors.

Neurophilosophy

An approach by Paul and Patricia Churchland that integrates the disciplines of philosophy of mind and neuroscience.

Folk Psychology

The everyday explanatory strategies used to describe ourselves and others, which the Churchlands argue should be abandoned.

Phenomenology

A philosophical movement for which Maurice Merleau-Ponty was the leading exponent in France.