philosophical perspective of the self, Summaries of Biology

Download philosophical perspective of the self and more Summaries Biology in PDF only on Docsity! FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY Butuan City Social Sciences Division Course Code: GE 101 Course Title: Understanding the Self Lesson 1: Philosophical Perspectives of the Self A. The Self in the Greek Philosophy The Greek philosophers are considered as forerunners in the study of man. Protagoras’ maxim “wan is the measure of all things” (homo mensura) signalled a significant shift in philosophical probing from cosmological to anthropocentric. Their approach is man-centered for its special concern with the nature of man, virtue and human personality. Their philosophy underscores the intimate connection between the self, the very core of our being with virtue, Virtue depends on character and character is shaped by every action the self perfomms. We must seriously mind out the moral character of our actions. The general thread of the concept of the self is that the self is seen as body-soul compound with the rational soul as immaterial, immortal, immutable, distinct, and far supetior to the body. The formation of the self primatily consists of the nourishment of the rational soul of the self. In our attempt to understand the nature and identity of the self from the Greek philosophy, we limit our discussion to Socrates and Plato. Socrates (469-399 B.C.) Soctates’s main philosophical interest is in epistemology and ethics, and the correlation between knowledge and virtue Known as rationalistic moral philosophy. Based on the rationalistic moral philosophy, reason or rationality is the principal component in shaping moral component. He contemplated that the self is not just a mind-body aggregate, but also a moral being, That is why his philosophy chiefly centered on the moral aspect of man, on how man should live a morally good life or attain happiness. He opined that happiness, without momality is impossible. Man must live a good moral life in order to be happy. Since the mind stems from the realm of reason, man becomes rational and his function therefore is to live rationally. How, then, the self, can be able to live a morally good life? First, the self must focus on improving quality of the soul or moral life through the quest for wisdom and truth instead of indulging in the chase of material things, fame, and prestige. Second, the improvement of the soul can be achieved through quest for wisdom and truth. That is the reason why Socrates believed that knowledge equals vitae. Wrongdoings consequently occur cue to the failure in attaining the knowledge of what is really good for one’s life. Third, life must be ceaselessly examined for it to be worth living. By examining life, the self will be able to know his/her true nature, what is really good for him /her, and what really matters in life that begets happiness. If life is not worth living any longer, then happiness could hardly be attainable. Tre happiness springs from goodness or living out a morally good life (Castell & Borchert, 1988). The key to self-discovery is mediation: “Know thy se”. The self is the one who thinks, reflects, and acts on what is right. Only in the pursuit of goodness, the self can find happiness. Plato (427-3447 B.C.) Plato’s dualistic, idealistic, and abstract view on reality shaped his notion of the self. The self, for him, is a rational substance consisting of body and soul. The soul is derived from the world of ideas, while the body from the world of matter. Since everything in the world of matter merely contains the shadows of the real and perfect realm of reality in the world of ideas, he deduced that man is essentially a soul imprisoned in a body. The ideal self does not exist in the world of matter because what we see in this world is an imperfect copy of the otiginal self in the perfect realm of reality or world of ideas. The individual self that exists in this world is not real since the self exists in space and time, passes in and out of existence. The self who exists in this world is mortal. Although the self is created, the self is distinctive from other created beings because the self possesses a soul which is part of divine reason that passes in into the body. As a result, the self is a rational animal capable of knowing the reality of the universe. Plato, in his theory on the tripartite of the soul, stated that the soul of the self consists of three dissimilar elements; the highest is the element of reason (head); the spirited element (heart) which expressed emotional drives such as aggression, ambition, pride, anger, honor, loyalty, courage, and protectiveness; and at the bottom level of hierarchy ate the bodily appetite Updated on January 2021 (stomach), which includes ones physiological desire and needs (Lavine, 1989). In a given time, each of the three elements is dominant in an individual which results in an individual person having a distinct type of personality and goal in lif. If the reason is the dominant element, the chief goal of an individual is the pursuit of knowledge and truth. An individual will live and strive for success and public acclaim if the spirited element is prevailing; and when the bodily appetites are domineering, the individual will work toward money and material gains. Irrespective of which element is dominant in a person, the primary goal is attaining the sense of well-being or happiness. This sense of well-being is the result of fulfilling the three needs associated with the head, heart, and stomach. The reason (head) must take charge to oversee the spirited element and bodily appetites. Like Socrates, Plato postulated that living a morally good life is important to a person in order to achieve happiness. Unlike Socrates, living a morally good life consists in not only knowing or having knowledge but includes maintaining the harmony or balance between the rational element (head) and irrational ones (heart and stomach). To attain happiness, the self, therefore, must be intellectually, emotionally, and biologically balanced. B. The Self in the Medieval Philosophy Before we discuss the idea of the self according to St. Augustine, we must briefly discuss the medieval philosophy to which St. Augustine belonged. The theocentric approach of the medieval philosophy relegated the self to secondary concem. God and faith in Him is primary, while the self is secondary because the self owed its origin from God Man is a creature made by God according to His image and likeness to know, love, and fulfil His purpose and to share His everlasting glory. Human truth is subordinate to divine truth. Divine truth must be accepted by faith and is beyond the power of human reason to prove. Since faith is fundamental, human reason is meant to strengthen the faith. St. Augustine (354-430 AD) St. Augustine is one of the two great thinkers of the medieval petiod whose works to some extent were influenced by Plato’s philosophy. He blended Christianity with the philosophy of Plato, particularly on the dualistic view of the reality and the self as evident in his work, The City of Gad. In this book, he classified human race into those who love God as belonging to the City of God, and those in the city of the world who do not love God. Yet he attempted to develop a more unified perspective on body- soul relation. Going beyond the body-soul dualism, St. Augustine along with St. Thomas Aquinas, contemplated that the self is a tripattite being. The self is composed of the body, soul, and spirit. The body is the outer part of the self through which the self can come in contact with the world The inner part of the self is called the soul whichis composed of the mind, the emotions and the will. The innermost part of the self or the core self is called the spirit, It is through the spirit that the self can commune to God (Joven, 2006). St. Augustine asserted that God created man, body, and soul of which the soul is spititual, perpetual, and superior to the body. The soul is created by God to administer the body. The body is subject to mottality. Though there is an asymmetry between the two, the body is united with the soul so that the self may be complete. The self is a great mystery. St. Augustine constmed the human condition by claiming that the self is gifted with freedom by God and the abuse of this freedom leads to misery in the life of the self. All human souls are proliferated from Adam’s soul. Hence, since Adam’s sin is hereditary, our sinfulness is inherent. God reformed this innate flaw by God's grace or salvation. The faith illumines the mind of the self and enables reason to understand the essential truths about reality (Pave, 2012). C. The Self in the Modern Philosophy The collapse of the medieval petiod paved the way to the birth of modem philosophy. With the spitit of the Remissance or the rebitth of leaming, the focus of the philosophical quest was on man again In opposition to the medieval view of man and his knowledge as subordinate to the divine truth, the modern philosophy affims the dignity and worth of man with regards to the power of his reason to know the truth of his nature. Various schools of thought come up with divergent views on the nature of man or the self. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Descartes, the celebrated French rationalist, presented an extreme dualistic separation of mind and body. His idea on the selfis centered on the concept of substance. Substance refers to anything that exists in itself, There are two kinds of subs tances: infinite and finite. Infinite, abstract substance refers to the innate idea of God while finite substance refers to man. Man is a finite substance composed of two independent substances: body and mind (known as “Cartesian dualism”). The body is independent of the soul since the mind is not the body's provider of life. The body is a material, mortal, non-thinking substance governed by completely mechanical laws. The mind is nonmaterial, immortal, conscious being, independent of the physical laws of the universe. The mind is not the principle of life because its ptimary function is to think. Thinking is an activity which is primarily spiritual and does not require the body as the medium for the activity of thinking. The self, therefore, is Updated on January 2021