Understanding the Self

Philosophers

BACOLOD, Alexia Mary Solei A. BSMT2 B September 2, 2023

I. John Locke: The Self is Consciousness

According to Locke, personal identity (the self) “depends on consciousness, not

on substance” nor on the soul. We are the same person to the extent that we are
conscious of the past and future thoughts and actions in the same way as we are
conscious of present thoughts and actions.

John Locke popularized Tabula Rasa. Tabula rasa (Latin: scraped tablet, though
often translated “blank slate”) is the notion, popularized by John Locke, that the
human mind receives knowledge and forms itself based on experience alone,
without any pre-existing innate ideas that would serve as a starting point. Tabula
rasa thus implies that individual human beings are born “blank” (with no built-in
mental content), and that their identity is defined entirely by their experiences and
sensory perceptions of the outside world. In general terms, the contention that we
start life literally “from scratch” can be said to imply a one-sided emphasis on
empiricism over idealism.”

In his Essay, Locke suggests that the self is “a thinking intelligent being, that has
reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing, in
different times and places” and continues to define personal identity simply as “the
sameness of a rational being.

II. Sigmund Freud: The Self is Multilayered

Sigmund Freud’s view of the self leads to an analogous dualistic view of the self,
though the contours and content of his ideas are very different from Kant’s. Freud’s
view of the self was multilayered, divided among the conscious, preconscious, and
unconscious. It is by no means an exaggeration to assert that the concept of the
unconscious forms the central core in Freud’s theory of the structure and dynamics
of the human personality. And though the conscious self has an important role to
play in our lives, it is the unconscious self that holds the greatest fascination for
Freud, and which has the dominant influence in our personalities. Freud’s focus on
the unconscious self marks a significant departure from previous efforts in
philosophy to understand the nature of the self, and in so doing, it challenges the
traditional philosophical assumption that the self can be explored and understood
primarily through rational reflection and analysis.
 According to Freud, these two levels of human functioning—the conscious and
the unconscious—differ radically both in their content and in the rules and logic that
govern them. The unconscious contains basic instinctual drives including sexuality,
aggressiveness, and self-destruction; traumatic memories; unfulfilled wishes and
childhood fantasies; thoughts and feelings that would be considered socially taboo.
The unconscious level is characterized by the most primitive level of human
motivation and human functioning. At this level, the most basic instinctual drives
seek immediate gratification or discharge. Unheedful of the demands and
restrictions of reality, the naked impulses at this level are governed solely by the
“pleasure principle.”

III. Paul Churchland: The Self is The Brain

Paul Churchland acknowledged that a simple identity formula—mental states =

brain states—is a flawed way in which to conceptualize the relationship between the
mind and the brain. Instead, we need to develop a new, neuroscience-based
vocabulary that will enable us to think and communicate clearly about the mind,
consciousness, and human experience. He refers to this view as eliminative
materialism.

Churchland’s central argument is that the concepts and theoretical vocabulary

we use to think about ourselves—using such terms as belief, desire, fear, sensation,
pain, joy—actually misrepresent the reality of minds and selves. All of these
concepts are part of a commonsense “folk psychology” that obscures rather than
clarifies the nature of human experience. Eliminative materialists believe that we
need to develop a new vocabulary and conceptual framework that is grounded in
neuroscience and that will be a more accurate reflection of the human mind and
self.

Eliminative materialism is the main idea that Churchland is based on. Eliminative
materialism basically says that people's common understanding of the mind is
wrong and that most of the mental states that people believe in do not actually
exist. This idea also applies to how behavior and emotions are understood. This led
to his idea of neurophilosophy. He thought that to fully understand a person's
behavior, one should know how the brain's nerve cells move in response to different
emotions, actions, and reactions, and how these brain movements affect the body.
References:
I. John Locke: The Self is Consciousness
 https://coreconceptgroup.wordpress.com/2020/10/03/the-philosophy-and-
teaching-of-john-locke-about-self-copied-and-annotated/

II. Sigmund Freud: The Self is Multilayered

 https://revelpreview.pearson.com/epubs/pearson_chaffee/OPS/xhtml/ch03_sec
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III. Paul Churchland: The Self is The Brain

 https://revelpreview.pearson.com/epubs/pearson_chaffee/OPS/xhtml/ch03_sec
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 https://brainly.ph/question/4520772