Wiki Philosophy of Self

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Philosophy of self

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The philosophy of selfis the defining of the essential qualities that make a person distinctfrom all others. There have been a number of different approaches to defining these

qualities. The self is the idea of a unified being which is the source of consciousness.Moreover, this self is the agentresponsible for the thoughts and actions of an individual to

which they are ascribed. It is a substance, which therefore endures through time; thus, thethoughts and actions at different moments of time may pertain to the same self. As the

notion ofsubject, the "self" has been harshly criticized by Nietzsche at the end of the 19thcentury, on behalf of what Gilles Deleuze would call a "becoming-other".[citation needed]

Contents

[hide]

y 1 Philosophical definitiony 2 Concepts of self

o 2.1 Self as an illusiono 2.2 Self-knowledgeo 2.3 Self as an activityo 2.4 Self independent of the senseso 2.5 Bundle theory of selfo 2.6 Self-enquiry and self-surrendero 2.7 Self as a narrative center of gravityo 2.8 The Buddhao 2.9 Others

y 3 See alsoy 4 References

[edit] Philosophical definitionMost philosophical definitions of self are expressed in the first person, as with Descartes,

Locke, Hume, and William James.[1]

A third person definition does not refer to specificmental qualia but instead strives forobjectivity and operationalism.

To another person, the self of one individual is exhibited in the conduct and discourse ofthat individual. Therefore, the intentions of another individual can only be inferred


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indirectly from something emanating from that individual. The particular characteristics of

the self determine its identity.

[edit] Concepts of self

[edit] Self as an illusion

In spirituality, and especially nondual, mystical and eastern meditative traditions, the

human being is often conceived as being in the illusion of individual existence, andseparateness from other aspects of creation. This "sense of doership" or sense of individual

existence is that part which believes it is the human being, and believes it must fight foritself in the world, is ultimately unaware and unconscious of its own true nature. The ego is

often associated with mind and the sense oftime, which compulsively thinks in order to beassured of its future existence, rather than simply knowing its own self and the present.

The spiritual goal of many traditions involves the dissolving of the ego, allowing self-

knowledge of one's own true nature to become experienced and enacted in the world. Thisis variously known as enlightenment, nirvana, presence, and the "here and now".

[edit] Self-knowledge

This section requires expansion.

Lao Tzu, in his Tao Te Ching, says "Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing the self is

enlightenment. Mastering others requires force. Mastering the self requires strength."[2]

Adi Shankaracharya, in his commentary on Bhagavad Gita says "Self-knowledge aloneeradicates misery".[3]. "Self-knowledge alone is the means to the highest bliss."[4]

."Absolute perfection is the consummation ofSelf-knowledge."[5]

[edit] Self as an activity

Aristotle, following Plato, defined the soul as the core essence of a being, but argued

against its having a separate existence. For instance, if a knife had a soul, the act of cuttingwould be that soul, because 'cutting' is the essence of what it is to be a knife. Unlike Plato

and the religious traditions, Aristotle did not consider the soul as some kind of separate,ghostly occupant of the body (just as we cannot separate the activity of cutting from the

knife). As the soul, in Aristotle's view, is an activity of the body, it cannot be immortal(when a knife is destroyed, the cutting stops). More precisely, the soul is the "first activity"

of a living body. This is a state, or a potential for actual, or 'second', activity. "The axe hasan edge for cutting" was, for Aristotle, analogous to "humans have bodies for rational

activity," and the potential for rational activity thus constituted the essence of a human soul.Aristotle used his concept of the soul in many of his works; the De Anima (On the Soul)

provides a good place to start to gain more understanding of his views.


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Aristotle also believed that there were four sections of the soul. The four sections are

calculative part, the scientific part on the rational side used for making decisions and thedesiderative part and the vegetative part on the irrational side responsible for identifying

our needs.

[edit] Self independent of the senses

Main article: Avicennism

While he was imprisoned in a castle, Avicenna wrote his famous "Floating Man" thought

experiment to demonstrate human self-awareness and the substantiality of the soul. His"Floating Man" thought experiment tells its readers to imagine themselves suspended in the

air, isolated from all sensations, which includes no sensory contact with even their ownbodies. He argues that, in this scenario, one would still have self-consciousness. He thus

concludes that the idea of the self is not logically dependent on any physical thing, and thatthe soul should not be seen in relative terms, but as a primary given, a substance. This

argument was later refined and simplified by Ren Descartes in epistemic terms when hestated: "I can abstract from the supposition of all external things, but not from the

supposition of my own consciousness."[6]

[edit] Bundle theory of self

David Hume pointed out that we tend to think that we are the same person we were fiveyears ago. Though we have changed in many respects, the same person appears present as

was present then. We might start thinking about which features can be changed withoutchanging the underlying self. Hume, however, denies that there is a distinction between the

various features of a person and the mysterious self that supposedly bears those features.

When we start introspecting, "we are never intimately conscious of anything but aparticular perception; man is a bundle or collection of different perceptions which succeedone another with an inconceivable rapidity and are in perpetual flux and movement".[7]

It is plain, that in the course of our thinking, and in the constant revolution of our ideas, ourimagination runs easily from one idea to any other that resembles it, and that this quality

alone is to the fancy a sufficient bond and association. It is likewise evident that as thesenses, in changing their objects, are necessitated to change them regularly, and take them

as they lie contiguous to each other, the imagination must by long custom acquire the samemethod of thinking, and run along the parts of space and time in conceiving its objects."

[8]

On Hume's view, these perceptions do not belong to anything. Rather, Hume compares thesoul to a commonwealth, which retains its identity not by virtue of some enduring coresubstance, but by being composed of many different, related, and yet constantly changing

elements. The question of personal identity then becomes a matter of characterizing theloose cohesion of one's personal experience. (Note that in the Appendix to the Treatise,

Hume said mysteriously that he was dissatisfied with his account of the self, yet he neverreturned to the issue.) This view is very similar to that in Buddhism.


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The paradox of the Ship of Theseus can be used as an analogy of the self as a bundle of

parts in flux.

[edit] Self-enquiry and self-surrender


Ramana Maharshi's primary teachings documented in the bookNan Yar(Who am I) state:

y Enquire into the source of the "I" Consciousness by asking "Who am I". The sourceor seat of "I" consciousness is the true self.

y Self itself is the world; Self itself is 'I'; Self itself is God; all is the Supreme Self(siva swarupam)

Although his primary teaching was self-enquiry, he was also known to have advised the use

of self-surrender (to one's Deity or Guru) as an alternative means, which would ultimately

converge in to the path of Self-Enquiry.

[edit] Self as a narrative center of gravity

Daniel Dennett has a deflationary theory of the self. Selves are not physically detectable.

Instead, they are a kind ofconvenient fiction, like a center of gravity, which are convenientas a way of solving physics problems, although they need not correspond to anything

tangible the center of gravity of a hoop is a point in thin air. People constantly tellthemselves stories to make sense of their world, and they feature in the stories as a

character, and that convenient but fictional character is the self.[9][10]

[edit] The Buddha

Main article: Anatta

The Buddha in particularattacked all attempts to conceive of a fixed self, while stating that

holding the view "I have no self" is also mistaken. This is an example of the middle waycharted by the Buddha.

[edit] Others


Other broader understandings of Self place it to mean the essence of any living being. With

this understanding, Self is the hand of God or the expression of life that makes any living

entity inherently unique.

[edit] See also


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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:Self (philosophy)

Main article: Outline of self

y Atman (Buddhism)y Being and Timey Consciousness as the basis of personal identity (John Locke)y Gnosisy Mirror stagey Othery Personal identity (philosophy)y Reflexive Self-Consciousnessy Self (psychology)y Self (sociology)y Self (spirituality)y Self-realizationy Self-Schemay Subject (philosophy)

[edit] References

1. ^ Gaynesford, M. de I: The Meaning of the First Person Term, Oxford, OxfordUniversity Press, 2006.

2. ^ Laozi, Lao Tsu (1989). Tao Te Ching. Vintage Books. pp. 35.ISBN9780679724346.

3. ^ Alladi (1992). The Bhagavad Gita with the commentary of Sri Sankaracharya.Samata Books. p. 22.4. ^ Alladi, Mahadeva Sastry (1992). TheBhagavad Gita with the commentary of SriSankaracharya. Samata Books. p. 500.

5. ^ Alladi, Mahadeva Sastry (1992). TheBhagavad Gita with the commentary of SriSankaracharya. Samata Books. p. 484.

6. ^ Seyyed Hossein Nasrand Oliver Leaman (1996), History of Islamic Philosophy,p. 315, Routledge, ISBN 0415131596.

7. ^ Hume, David.A Treatise ofHuman Nature. I, IV, vi8. ^ Hume, David.A Treatise ofHuman Nature. 4.1, 29. ^ Dennett, Daniel (1986). "The Self as a Center of Narrative Gravity".

http://cogprints.org/266/0/selfctr.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-30.[dead link]

10. Dennett, Daniel. "The Self a a Centre of Narrative Gravity". University ofGlasgow.

http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/philosophy/Personnel/susan/EmmaJoanna/danieldennett.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-30.

y Self-knowledge entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophyy Carsten Korfmacher, 'Personal Identity', in "The Internet Encyclopedia of

Philosophy"


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