UTS - Chapter 1 🍌 Philosophical Perspective on the Self ❤️

Socrates

He believed in the Dualistic Nature of the Self. The self is composed of two parts: the physical body and the immaterial soul.

Soul: true essence of a person ✅

Body: temporary vessel 🏺

The soul has existed even before the body existed and it will continue to exist even after the death of the body.

• Know Thyself — an Unexamined Life is not Worth Living

Plato

Like Socrates, he believed in the Immortality of the Soul and that a person is primarily a soul.

Tripartite soul:

1. Rational Soul: logic, reason, and intellect

2. Spirited Soul: Emotions

3. Appetitive Soul: Desires and appetites

For _ _ _ _ o, the self achieves harmony when these three parts of the soul are balanced.

St. Augustine

The Self as a United Whole is composed of both body and soul. However, the soul is more superior because it reflects God's image and is responsible for our capacity to love God.

Original Sin: we are all born with a sinful nature. We struggle between the desires of ghe flesh and spirit.

René Descartes

Body and Soul are two different entities. The self is essentially a mind.

“Cogito Ergo Sum” | “I think, therefore I am”

John Locke

The self is neither tied to body or soul. The self is based on memory and consciousness—personal identity continues as long as we remember our past experiences.

We are morally responsible for things that we can remember.

David Hume

The Bundle Theory of the Self: The self is just a bundle of different perceptions such as feelings, thoughts, and memories that are constantly changing. Therefore, there is no fixed true identity.

Immanuel Kant

The self is divided into the Empirical Self (Phenomenal Self) and the Transcendental Self (Noumenal Self)

Empirical Self: the self that we experience thriugh our senses.

Transcendental Self: Deeper, we can't touch or see. Unifies and organizes experience. The I that thinks and has consciousness.

Gilbert Ryle

Criticized Cartesian Dualism.

The self is a collection of BEHAVIORS and DISPOSITIONS. Therefore, the self is a sum of a person's behavior, actions, and habits.

Example: You are not kind because you have kindness inside you, you are kind because YOU ACT KINDLY towards others.

Paul Churchland

Promotes the Neuroscience view on the Self — the self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic, constantly evolving set of neural processes or brain activities.

• Eliminate Materialism.

According to Plato’s Tripartite Soul, what is a Rational Soul?

Rational Soul is the part of the soul that manages the logic, reason, and intellect.

According to Plato's Tripartite Soul, what is the Spirited Soul?

The Spirited Soul manages emotions.

According to Plato's Tripartite Soul, what is an Appetitve Soul?

Appetitive Soul manages our desires, appetites, and physical needs.