 PLATO  RYLE

 The person has two parts: a body and a soul  “I act; therefore, I am!” Instead of "I think, therefore I am,"
 Body is prison of the soul  Our behaviors and deeds are what give us a feeling of self
 Soul is separate from the body and eternal  Mind does not exist and, hence, cannot be the seat of the self.
 Soul moves to another body  Our sense of self is not derived from the mind or the body, but rather from our
o APPETITIVE SOUL – choose based on desires to meet our needs behavior in our daily activities
o SPIRITED SOUL – mood or emotion w/c need to be always kept in check  Ryle’s first book, The Concept of Mind (1949), is considered a modern classic
o RATIONAL SOUL – choose based on logic and intellect picking the healthy one for us  CHURCHLAND
 Founder of the Academy 387 BCE in Athens  rejects dualism and believes that our sense of self is derived from the physical brain
 Known as the maker of Mathematics  Eliminative materialism - only matter exists
 SOCRATES  Anything that cannot be perceived by our senses is a fable, as a result mind does not
 Highest form of human existence is to question one’s self and others exist because it cannot be perceived by the senses
 High standing mission “Know Yourself”, one must look in mirror  Sense of self is determined by the physical brain rather than the hypothetical mind.
 Worst thing is ‘to live but die inside’  Physical brain is the source of "self" and that believing in the mind is mostly
 Personhood is made up of body and soul unnecessary
 The soul is immortal  MERLEAU-PONTY
 Death is not the end of life, rather the separation of soul from body  Philosophical movement called existentialism and its intention to begin with an
 Argue that just because it appears to be true does not imply that it is analysis of the concrete experiences, perceptions, and difficulties of human existence
 AUGUSTINE  Body was a key part of the subjective self
 The soul is immortal, like Plato  we shouldn't think of the mind and body as separate things, but that they are
 Does not believe that soul moves but one person is made up of one body & one soul intrinsically linked
 Body is that imperfect part of a person that is doomed to die on earth and constantly
desires to be in touch with the spiritual realm of the Divine God  Augustine and Aquinas had different attitudes to philosophy.
 He adapted Classical thought to Christian teaching  While Augustine offered individual ways to cognize God, Aquinas presented logical
 Philosophy is the “love of wisdom” proofs that God exists.
 Study of Theology Confessions (c. 400) The City of God (c. 413–426), shaped the  Augustine teaches us the awe of God coming down to sanctify man, while Aquinas
practice of biblical exegesis and helped lay the foundation for much of medieval and starts with the proper understanding of man and how that leads us up to God
modern Christian thought.  Unlike Augustine, Aquinas acknowledged earthly happiness.
 In Roman Catholicism he is formally recognized as a doctor of the church.  Augustine view of political institutions as a result of man’s sinfulness, Aquinas argued
 AQUINAS that man was by nature a political animal, both because he had natural impulses to
gather with others of his kind and discuss political concepts such as justice and right
 “Who am I?”
 Augustine’s approach was more story oriented, where was Aquinas was more
 Theory of self-knowledge that all our experiences with the world around us
analytical in his approach
determine what we know about ourselves
 Observation was the way to learn
THE SELF, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE
 Self-awareness
A. SELF-IDENTITY VS. SOCIAL IDENTITY
 Human is not made up of separate minds or selves, but rather of agents that interact
 SELF-IDENTITY contributes to the formation of an individual's self-identity
with their surroundings
 Perceptions are how people perceiving the world around them.
 Affirming the existence of God
 Attitude refers to how an individual thinks or feels about something, which is
 Scholasticism – new general philosophical problems
determined by how she identifies herself.
 Father of Thomistic school of theology.
 self is manipulated by Values, which are what an individual believes to be right
 DESCARTES
or wrong
 Father of Modern Philosophy
 Beliefs which are what he or she sees as true and false.
 Most famous dualist thinker
 SOCIAL IDENTITY as the way in which other people view or perceive an individual,
 Dualism - reality or existence is divided into two parts: the mind and the body
is similarly impacted by the perceptions, attitudes, values, and beliefs held by other
 The mind and the body are two distinct separate entities people
 We all have a physical brain as well as a distinct mind B. SENSE OF SELF AND SOCIALIZATION
 Mind is a part of the unseen creation, and the Body is just a part of the mind  sense of self is defined as a collection of beliefs that an individual hold about
 Not always trust your senses, they can be misleading himself
 Consciousness comes from the mind  George Mead
 I think therefore I am o Social Self Theory a sense of self is formed through social interactions
 can't be questioned is the existence of the self o self does not exist at birth acquired over time through social activities and
 Meditationes de Prima Philosophia (Meditations on First Philosophy), published in experiences.
1641, in which he provides a philosophical groundwork for the possibility of the o "me" is the socialized part of a person. It is comprised of learned behaviors,
sciences. o attitudes, and societal expectations.
 LOCKE o "me" is like a system of checks and balances for one's own self, part of oneself
 Father of Liberalism that prevents them from breaking the rules or caring what society expects of
 Locke famously wrote that man has three natural rights: life, liberty and property. o "I" says, "If society tells me to be nice, I should do the same
 Identity is related to consciousness, composed of memories o "I" allows us to break some social rules, allowing us to express our creativity,
 Physical form does not determine who we are originality, and imagination.
 Our memories are the source of our identity o "me" and "I" comprised the self
 HUME  Charles Cooley
 No such thing as true self o Looking-Glass Self how people develop a sense of self. Having three elements:
 Empiricism – what one can perceive (which asserts that knowledge is only acquired by 1. how we imagine we appear to others.
the senses) 2. is the judgment we imagine that other people may be making about us
 We can only know what we know based on our physical experiences 3. our self-image based upon the evaluations of others.
 Impressions - everything that comes from our senses C. I VS. WE
 how we feel about ourselves is determined by how our minds combine impressions  Western civilizations - Individualism or the “I” ideology portrays the self as existing
and interpret them as "self" independently from others and includes personal features.
 Bundle Theory – only real parts are what we can feel  Eastern cultures - Predominance of Collectivism or the "we" idea, emphasizes the
 removing all a person's physical characteristics removes the idea of that person interdependence of the self as part of a broader network of individuals who all
 sense of self is the sum of all our impressions, when removed, leave us w/ no sense of contribute to each other's development.
self at all. D. NATURE VS. NURTURE
 KANT  "nature" argues that a person develops his or her characteristics biologically
 Human conscious has an inner and outer self  "nurture" a person develops her characteristics through the influence of external
 Inner self is comprised of our psychological state and our rational intellect factors such as the environment and the society
 Outer self includes our sense and the physical world E. ETHNICITY AND CULTURE
 Apperception - which is how we mentally assimilate a new idea into old ones.  Ethnic identity is an important part of a person's sense of self because it makes
 His life was uneventful them feel like they belong to the cultural values
 Cultural identity is how a person feels about being part of a group.