CUS FINALS

The Self from Various Perspectives

  • Social, Environmental, and other Life factors - S.E.L.F meaning

  • Nature vs Nurture - one of the oldest philosophical issues/debate within psychologically

    • Nature - a person develops hits/her characteristics biologically

    • Nurture - a person develops his/her characteristics through the external factor

    • Behaviorism - focuses on the impact that the environment has on behavior.

  • Identity vs Self

    • Identities - are “qualities, characteristics, beliefs, opinions, etc., that makes a person unique from others”.

      • is distinguishable by others, or what they perceive to us through our actions.

    • Self - is the “person of himself/herself.” meaning it is what the others don’t see in you, because this is personal character, this is what makes up a person.

  • Social Factors - are the factors in the development of a person which includes all the person around us, like our Family, Playmates, School, Church, Neighbors, Friends, Love Life

  • Environmental Factors - is are the factors in the development of a person that includes the environmental structure, events, and such, which might give an impact on how a person could grow in all the aspects of his/her life

    • Environmental factors are natural forces that broadly includes physical and communal elements present in our daily surroundings. Environmental factors includes: Geographic region/area, Climate, Temperature, Forms of land, Norms of the community

  • Hereditary Factors - are the factors in the development of the person that includes biological changes and events that usually affects the physical characteristics of a person

  • Self - “a unified being, essentially connected to consciousness, awareness, and agency

  • Socrates - popularized the dictum “ignorance is the beginning of wisdom“

    • He was also known for his advice “Know thyself.”

  • Plato - The self exists in tripartite nature: Soul, Courageous “Spirited part”, Appetitive Part

    • 428 - 348 B.C.

    • For Plato, the self is “a soul using the body”

    • “Life is a cautious ascent towards the world of ideas”

  • Aristotle - The self is composed of: Body and Soul, Mind and Matter, Sense and Intellect, Passion and Reason

    • Reason - is supreme in a human person and so should govern all of life's activities

  • Consciousness - Existence of the self has been almost automatic or reflexive.

  • Behaviorism - a school of psychology that focuses on the impact the environment has on a behavior

Contemporary Philosophers

  • Rene Descartes

    • The Mind is the seat of consciousness

    • The self is an immaterial mind with a material body.

    • Philosophy is heavily tied with dualism

      • The Body

      • The Mind

    • The body - includes human senses that can be unreliable hence it cannot be trusted

    • One can have ideas prior (priori) to experience

    • “I think, therefore I am.”

    • Rationality and Activity of the Mind - are at the center of man’s being

    • Instill Virtue and Give Primacy to the Mind - understand and work hard enough on our passion so these passions are put under our control

  • John Locke

    • Tabula Rasa “Blank Slate”

    • The mind is empty at birth

    • It is without rules for processing data and that data is blank.

    • Associations of Ideas - that individuals make when young are more important than those made later because they are the foundation of the self.

    • infancy serve as foundation of the self

    • “Freedom of individuals to author their own soul.”

    • “Individuals are free to define the content of the character except for their basic identity as a member of the human species”

  • Immanuel Kant

    • The Supreme principle of morality is a principle of practical rationality

    • These two together, form your consciousness

      • Inner self - consists of psychological state and rational intellect

      • Outer self - is a human person’s senses and the physical world

    • He sees the self as prone to corruption

    • Life is a constant struggle between beauty and pleasure, between the inner self and outer self

    • He lived during the Enlightenment period

    • He replaced religion with reason

    • “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a natural law“

  • Gilbert Ryle

    • The Mind and Body are one and the same

    • The mind - is a set of capacities and abilities belonging to the body

    • The mind is a mysterious entity that controls the mechanical workings of the body.

      • Technical Ability - Knowing How

      • Facts and Propositions - Knowing That

      • Acquaintance with Things and Persons - Knowing What

    • Knowing that (Some fact) is empty Intellectualism without knowing how to make use of the fact.

  • Paul Churchland

    • Materialism

    • Nothing except matter exists

    • If a thing can’t be recognized by the senses, then it cannot be real

    • If the mind can’t be experienced by our senses, then the mind doesn’t really exists

    • It is the physical self, and not the mind that gives us our sense of self