Understanding the Self

Philosophers, Philosophy
 SOCRATES
469-399 BC
Considered father of Western
Philosophy
Never recorded any of his
thoughts
Most of his life has been written
by Xenophanes
 Socrates Belief
Wisdom is awareness of own self
ignorance, especially through the
acquisition of self-awareness and self
knowledge
Self-awareness and self-knowledge
were key to becoming an individual
who can think and analyze for
himself/herselfFor Plato, the
philosopher has a duty to enlighten
the uneducated.
 Socrates Virtue
Humility-the quality or state of being
humble (not arrogant/proud)
Frugality-characterized by or
reflecting economy in the use of
resources
Simplicity-uncomplicated
 According to Socrates
As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.”
“False words are not only evil in themselves,
but they infect the soul with evil.”
“True wisdom comes to each of us when we
realize how little we understand about life,
ourselves, and the world around us.”
“Wisdom begins in wonder.”
 PLATO
 427(?) - 348 BCE
 Lived about 200 years after Pythagoras.
 “Plato” means “the broad” – possibly his nickname.
 Son of a wealthy Athens family.
 Served in the Athens army during the Peloponnesian War.
 Plato was Socrates’ student.
 Almost all we know about Socrates is from Plato’s writings.
 After Socrates’ execution for corrupting the young and neglecting
the gods, Plato left Athens in disgust and travelled widely.
 In Italy, Plato met the Pythagoreans
Plato’s Belief
 For Plato, the philosopher has a duty
to enlighten the uneducated.
 Believed in order
 Political Liberty was disorder
 Only wise and good should rule
 Believed in the truth, had to search
long for it
 The Academy

In (ca.) 387 BCE, Plato returned

to Athens and established a
school for philosophy, built in a
grove dedicated to the famous
hero Academos.
The Academy continued until it
was closed in 529 CE, over 900
years.
Plato on Reality
Most of Plato’s writings are not about nature, but his
concepts of reality and knowledge have had a profound
impact.
These are characterized by two well-known passages from
his dialogue, The Republic.
 The Divided Line
 Think of
everything
that is, placed
on single line,
extending
from the
lowest to the
highest sense
of reality.
 The Divided Line, 2
 There are two
main sections
of the line,
representing
those things
apprehended
by the senses
and those
things only
apprehended
by the mind.
The Divided Line, 3

 Each section
can also be
divided into
two
subsections.
 At the bottom
the division is
between
objects and
mere
appearances.
The Divided Line, 4

 In the upper
section, the
lower part
represents
matters
understood by
deductive
reasoning
 Deduction
implies valid
arguments
from an
assumed
starting place.
 The Divided Line, 5

At the very

top is the
purest form of
reality, the
forms.

 Understanding
the forms is the
highest goal of
philosophy.
 The Divided Line, 6
 Knowledge is
possible only of
what lies in the
Intelligible World.
 Opinion is all that
is possible for the
Sensible World.

 Therefore true
knowledge
depends entirely
on the mind.
 Plato’s Virtue
 If you know goodness, you will be
good.
 The philosophers ‘assimilates’ himself to
what he envoys, wiz. The form of the
good
 How does such abstract knowledge
help practically? Plato never says
 Plato argues that philosophers are
prone to corruption, influenced by
praise
 So philosophy only produces virtue in a
virtues society.
 St. Augustine of Hippo
 Born at Tagaste, in Numidia, Northern
Africa, in A.D. 354
 His mother, Saint Monica, was a Christian
but his father, Patricius, was a pagan
 Augustine’s baptism was delayed until he
was in his thirties, though he was reared as
a Christian
 At 17, he went to Carthage for higher
education
 Though he was a good student, he
continued to practice evil habits he had
already begun
 He took a mistress, and soon had a son,
Adeodatus
 St. Augustine of Hippo
 He lost what Christian faith he had, and when he finished his
education he became a Manichee – a disciple of Mani, who taught
a mixture of Christian and pagan thought
 He followed his faith for nine years while he was teaching in Tagaste
and Carthage
 His Manicheeism was then replaced by his personal mixture of several
Greek and Roman philosophies
 In 383, he went to Rome to teach
 384, he moved to Milan, then the capital of the Empire
 He fell under the influence of the bishop of Milan (Saint Ambrose), the
teachings of the Platonists, and the letters of Saint Paul
 He lost his skepticism and was convinced that he should become a
Christian
 St. Augustine of Hippo
 But his will was unable to take the step; he could not give up his
mistress
 It was only because God gave him the strength (miraculously, it
seems) that he was able to make the decision to leave his past life
behind and start afresh
 He and his son and some of his friends were then baptized
 Augustine decided to return to Africa in 387, but his mother, who
had accompanied him to Italy, died at Ostia, the port of Rome, on
the return journey
 He then remained in Rome for another year before returning to
Africa; his son died soon after his arrival thereHe entered the
monastery
 Later he became a priest in the town of Hippo and in 395, he was
made its bishop
 As the bishop of Hippo, he spent the next thirty-five years preaching,
leading a religious community and writing
 Augustine’s Belief
 Being a person means having multiple
relationships with other persons
 Having multiple relationships is what
distinguishes a person from an individual
 Our will is responsible for developing
these relationships
 We are therefore responsible for who we
are The moral life is a struggle
 Humans are truly free only if their
freedom is limited
 The will, not what it wills, causes evil
 What is most truly ourselves is our will
 Augustine’s on God
 “Saint Augustine is the first great Christian philosopher”
 This intellectual giant exposes his philosophical genius in
maintaining his dogma of God
 God is Absolute Spirit, Absolute Will, Absolute Intelligence,
Absolute Freedom, Absolute Good, Absolute Power, Absolute
Holiness, cannot will evil, no beginning and no end (Eternal)
and Transcendent
 Augustine asserts that God is Creator
 God created the world out of nothing
 But creation is not indispensable on the part of God, because
for Augustine, God created the world out of love
 And “man is part of this creation”
 Augustine on Human Person
 Saint Augustine is the real founder of the study of the person
 “the first thinker who brought into prominence and undertook
an analysis of the philosophical and psychological concepts of
person and personality”
 Augustine worked to understand God by using the human mind
as an example, but he ended up understanding the human
person by using God as an example
 Augustine believed that the human person, through his or her
mind, is an image of God
 Augustine saw that in the Trinity there are relations, for example,
relations of fatherhood and sonship between the Father and the
Son
 The very notion of a divine person is a relational notion
 Augustine on Human Person
 A person is not just a substance that simply possesses
intellect and will, in its deepest reality, related to other
persons
 He saw human person as essentially a relational being
 A human being is “constituted a person only insofar as he is
related to other persons”
 “Augustine teaches that the person, while being an
absolute, is also and essentially a being related to others,
open to others, and defined as person by this very relativity”
 To be a person is to be “for others.”
 And, of course, others are likewise “for us”
 Augustine’s Virtue
 Human beings are not meant to live in an impersonal world but in relation
to other persons
 “We are, it is true, little absolutes, and yet at the same time always related,
correlated, and interrelated with other persons and personalities. We are
not meant to live in a depersonalized world”
 Since other human persons are relational also, we must recognize that we
are “for them” as much as they are “for us”
 Human beings are made for each other, for I-Thou rather than I-It
relationships
John Locke
 John Locke
Humans therefore invented government
Purpose of government:
Protect liberty (freedom)
Protect private property
Capitalism is ethical on rights grounds
Based on liberty and private property
Government regulation unethical
Infringes on liberty and private property
 John Locke (1632–1704)

Rights perspective
Humans have “natural rights”:
Liberty (freedom)
Private property
Why? Without government, humans would be in
a “state of nature”
Freedom: Free of all human-made laws
Property: Resources combined with work
Common fear: theft of freedom or property
 John Locke

 John Locke (1632 – 1704)

 Enters Oxford in 1651
 Studies philosophy, natural history,
medicine
 Becomes physician and advisor to
First Earl of Shaftesbury (big Whig
politician)
 Reign of Charles II, Charles dies in
1685
John Locke

Line of succession issue (Catholic vs.

Protestant)
Locke – through Shaftesbury – gets
implicated in plot to assassinate James
Leaves England for Holland in 1683
Begins to write anonymous political
pamphlets, including the Two Treatises on
Government (1689)
Critics of John Locke

Are the liberty and property rights of the buyer

and seller the only relevant rights?
Example: cigarettes
If there are rights at stake in addition to the
liberty and property rights of the buyer and
seller, then government regulation might be
justified to protect all the relevant rights.
Example: cigarettes
 Immanuel Kant
Groundwork for Metaphysics of
Morals- 1785- after American
Revolution and Before French- rights
Morality is about respect for persons
Informs contemporary thought
 Immanuel Kant

Utilitarianism leaves rights vulnerable-sacrifices

one for whole.
That majority get pleasure or favor a law- not
make it right.
No empirical interests, pleasures- not
calculation, right
Good Will and Duty

A good will is determined by moral demands-

constrained to act in certain ways- according to
duty.
The moral agent, for Kant, gives priority to the
moral demand- does not mean rule-bound
character devoid of the warmth of human
emotion.
Respect for Moral Law

How different-? Respect the law or don’t-

May violate moral requirements.
As beings of rational will- it is a law of
practical reason-prescribes now any
rational being should act.
 Categorical Imperative
“ Act only in accordance with that maxim
through which you can at the same time will
that it become a universal law.”
Incorporates your reason as law.
Becomes a universal law governing all rational
agents.
What world becomes by this law.
Different Duties

Perfect duty to self-suicide no.

Perfect duty to others- promises as
example.- self-contradictory, world. p. 63-
4
Imperfect duty-self-talents.
Imperfect duty to others- helping others.
 The Humanity Formula

“Never act in a way that you treat Humanity,

whether self or others, as a means only but
always as an end in itself.”
Respect for persons’ wills.
Regard- not a matter of degree or standard of
judgment.
 Kingdom of Ends
“Act in accordance with the maxims of a
member giving universal laws for a merely
possible kingdom of ends.”
Our moral obligation is to act only on
principles which could earn the acceptance
of a community of fully rational agents each
of whom has an equal share in legislating
principles for the community.
 Autonomy

“The idea of the will of every rational being

as a will that legislates universal law.”- laws
are of our own making.
Autonomy- our status as free moral agents is
the source of our dignity and worth- we are
“moral beings above all.”
 Virtue and Vice

Virtue is acting according to principles

and have moral strength of will. It is not a
matter of degree.
It is a disposition to give decisive priority to
moral demands.
 Rene Descartes
(1596-1650)
“Cogito, ergo sum”
(I am think, therefore I am)
 Rene Descartes
 was–and is–considered the father of modern philosophy. But he was not
only a philosopher. He is also a well known French mathematician and
scientist.
 He was born in Descartes, formerly known as La Haye in Touraine. He was
born in a family which produced a number of learned men. He’s the son of
minor nobleman.
 During 1604 to 1612, Descartes studied at Jesuit College of La Flèche.
However, he later claimed that that education, except for mathematics,
gave him “little of substance”. Only mathematics, he said, had given him
certain knowledge.
 Rene Descartes
 During 1604 to 1612, Descartes studied at Jesuit College
of La Flèche. However, he later claimed that that
education, except for mathematics, gave him “little of
substance”. Only mathematics, he said, had given him
certain knowledge.
 In his school, he was taught about Scholastic philosophy.
This philosophy tried to understand the Christian
doctrines with the use of human reason.
 Descartes was greatly influenced by the Roman
Catholicism.
 Rene Descartes

 In 1618, Rene Descartes joined the army of Prince

Maurice of Nassau, leader of the United Province of the
Netherlands. He, then, had the intent of pursuing a
military career. Little did he know that he’ll be
contributing a lot to science and philosophy.
 His Works

 Essais philosophiques (Philosophical Essays) which was

published in 1637 was one of Rene’s works. This contains
four parts: geometry, optics, meteors, and Discours de la
mèthode (Discourse on Method). The last topic
describes his philosophical speculations.
 His other works include Meditationes de Prima
Philosophia (Meditations on First Philosophy) in 1641 and
was revised in 1642. Principia Philosophiae (The Principles
of Philosophy) in 1644 was also one of them. The latter,
Rene dedicated it to Princess Elizabeth Stuart of
Bohemia, a close friend of his.
Rene Descartes on Science

 Rene Descartes had been a supporter of the Copernican theory. However,

when the Church claimed this theory as heretic, he abandoned it.
 He, then, made another theory, theory of vortices, in its place. In his theory,
he stated that space consists of matter in various states that whirls around
the sun.
Rene Descartes on Philosophy

 In his philosophy, Descartes attempted to apply the

rational inductive methods of science, in particular of
mathematics.
 During his time, the method of Scholasticism was used. In
that method, the people compare and contrast the
views of the recognized authorities.
Rene Descartes on Philosophy
But Descartes rejected the method. He stated,
“In our search for the direct road to truth, we
should busy ourselves with no object about
which we cannot attain a certitude equal to
that of the demonstration of arithmetic and
geometry.”
Therefore, he was determined to does not
believe in anything to be true unless proven.
Rene Descartes on Philosophy

 But Descartes rejected the method. He stated, “In our search for the direct
road to truth, we should busy ourselves with no object about which we
cannot attain a certitude equal to that of the demonstration of arithmetic
and geometry.”
 Therefore, he was determined to does not believe in anything to be true
unless proven.
 The single sure fact from which his investigations began was expressed by
him in the famous words Cogito, ergo sum, ‘I think, therefore I am.’”
(Encarta, 2004)
 Rene Descartes on Philosophy

This means that a clear consciousness of his thinking

proves his existence. From that, he proved the
existence of God.
God, according to Descartes's philosophy, created
two classes of substance that make up the whole of
reality. One class was thinking substances, or minds,
and the other was extended substances, or bodies.”
(Encarta, 2004)
 David Hume
(1711-1776)

An Inquiry Concerning Human

Understanding
The Nature & Limits of Human
Knowledge (329-331)

"All the objects of human reason or

inquiry may naturally be divided into
two kinds: relations of ideas and
matters of fact"
And why do we believe that there
is a "tie or connection" between
cause & effect?

Answer: The belief arises entirely from

experience [a posteriori, not a priori], namely,
the experience of finding that two events
(cause & effect) are "constantly conjoined" with
each other
Hume’s ‘radical’ empiricism

 Hume’s inspiration, as for nearly all English-speaking

philosophers in the 18th century, is Locke -- and
especially Locke’s notion that all our knowledge, indeed
all our thinking, is based ultimately on materials which
originate in sensation
 But: Hume takes Locke to task for failing to follow
through on all of the consequences of this view, i.e. that
Locke is not radical enough
Hume’s version of the Lockean theory
of ‘ideas’
 Hume’s insight is that the only consistent way to classify
the contents of our experience (what Locke would have
called ‘ideas’) is not by ‘source’ or ‘resemblance’, but
only by differences in their appearance
 The only relevant differences are ‘force’, ‘vivacity’, or
‘liveliness’
 This yields a distinction into: impressions (the more lively)
and ideas (the less lively)
The ‘copy thesis’

 Though ideas and impression differ in virtue of force and

vivacity, they are related in the following way: every
idea is the copy of some impression.
 Q: What is the proof of this?
 The “missing shade of blue” is supposed to be a counter-
example to this; why does Hume undermine his own
claim?
 What good does the “copy thesis” do?

 Here are Hume’s own words on this: “When we entertain…any

suspicion that a philosophical term is employed without any
meaning or idea (as is but too frequent), we need but enquire,
from what impression is that supposed idea derived? And if it be
impossible to assign any, this will serve to confirm our suspicion.
By bringing ideas into so clear a light we may reasonably hope to
remove all dispute, which may arise, concerning their nature and
reality.”
The Associative principles of ideas

 Hume contends that all our ideas are related one to another (in our
thinking or ‘train of thought’) in one or more of the following three
ways:
a) resemblance
b) contiguity in space or time
c) cause/effect
Q: what is the proof that these are all the ways in which ideas can be
connected?
The argument against the idea of the
self
 By “self” we mean a single thing which is the subject of
all our experiences and which continues the same over
time
 If we do have such an idea (thought or concept), then it
must be possible to show the impression (experience or
perception) upon which this idea is based
 We have no experience which could give rise to such an
idea [why not?]
 Therefore, we have no such idea (i.e. the term is
meaningless, in the sense that there is nothing to which it
refers)
What do we do with the term “self”
then?
 If, as Hume contends, we have no meaningful idea of a
thing which is the subject of the experiences we have,
then who/what are we (what idea do we have of the
self)?
 “I may venture to affirm of…mankind, that they are
nothing but a bundle or collection of different
perceptions, which succeed each other with
inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and
movement.”
Why do we believe that we do have
an idea of the self?
We confuse “identity” with “diversity” when
successive perceptions are perfectly resembling
(and presume a something which connects
these perceptions)
Small changes (either proportionally or
incrementally) don’t undermine or destroy the
association between related ideas or
impressions
Where a common effect or end is produced by
distinct impressions, we suppose a unifying or
common principle
What is the connection between or
among our experiences?
 Resemblance: our present thoughts resemble our past
experiences, and we suppose that because they are
resembling, they proceed from or belong to the same
thing
 Cause & effect: our concern for the future &
nostalgia/regret for the past leads us to suppose a
causal connection between past & future (e.g. I feel
bad about some past event, therefore that past
experience really is me)
What are some consequences of this
view?
There is no exact standard for identity (either
personal identity or any other kind); therefore
some puzzles about it are insoluble (but that’s
ok, because they don’t really need to be
solved)
Certain views about the persistence (or
preexistence) of the self must be false (e.g.
reincarnation, survival after death)
 Immanuel Kant
(Born 22 April 1724 -- died 12 February 1804,
two months before his eightieth birthday.)
 On April 22 of this year [1724] Immanuel Kant
was born in Königsberg. The Old Prussian
Almanac associated the name ‘Emanuel’ with
this date. Accordingly he was baptized
‘Emanuel.’ He would later change it to
‘Immanuel,’ thinking that this was a more
faithful rendition of the original Hebrew
‘Emanuel’ or ‘Immanuel’ means God is with
him.’ Kant thought that it was a most
appropriate name, and he was uncommonly
proud of it, commenting on its meaning even in
his old age”1
 Getting Oriented: Five Facts about
Kantian Morality
1. There is one moral law and all duties are but particular applications of it.
2. This single moral law holds for ALL RATIONAL BEINGS. (If God is a rational being, then it is
binding for him as well. – No exceptions!)
3. This law is universal, unchanging, the same for all cultures, times and places. It is valid even
if no one were ever to obey it. Indeed, even if no rational beings in fact existed, it would
be true to say that if they did, then it would be the law of their wills.
4. This moral law is valid, not because it is given by God, by a King or by Nature, but because
it is given by US to ourselves. We are individually both author and subject of it, and when
we break it both judge and criminal (in the our “hearts”).
5. The law tell us what actions to perform or omit, but morality is ultimately about seeking to
become “holy”, i.e. seeking to conform our minds and wills (the “heart”) to obeying the
law simply because it commands us to obey it. This is an internal matter having to do with
having a good or virtuous character, or in other words, doing things for the right reasons.
 Formulations of the Supreme Principle or
Law of Morality, i.e. the Categorical
Imperative
 Formula of Universal Law: “I ought never act except in a way that I could also
will that my maxim should become a universal law.” (4:402) [ Also: “Act only in
accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that
it become a universal law.” (4:421)]
 Formula of the Law of Nature: “Act as if the maxim of your action were to
become by your will a universal law of nature.” (4:421)
 Formula of Humanity as an End in Itself: “So act that you use humanity, whether
in your own person or that of another, always at the same time as an end,
never merely as a means.” (4:439)
 Formula of Autonomy: “Choose only in such a way that the maxims of your
choice are also included as universal law in the same volition.” (4:439)
 Formula of the Kingdom of Ends: “Act in accordance with the maxims of a
member giving universal laws for a purely possible kingdom of ends.” (4:439)
 Note: Kant claims the first formulation is the central one, but that they are all
equivalent such that any one of the formulations contains within itself the others.
- If the moral law is truly law, it cannot be
empirical; for the empirical is never genuinely
universal and necessary

- If the human will is to follow a non-empirical

law (have a duty to do so), it must be free to
chose independently of all empirical laws

- The human will must therefore be free, which

means have a side that is outside of or beyond
the empirical
 Two Worlds Seen from a Scientific Point of View
Plato Kant

N
Reality Itself o Reality “as it is in itself”
• Completely Knowable u • Absolutely Unknowable
• Perfect in Itself m • Possibly a realm of free actions
• Unchanging e • Non-sensible
• Timeless n
• Invisible a

P
The Appearance of Reality The “Mere Appearance” of
h
• Partially Knowable Reality
e
• Imperfect • Perfectly Knowable
n
• Changing • Here Newton’s physics is
o
• Temporal true.
m
• Visible • Actions and choices
e
completely determined by
n
physical causes and laws.
a
• Sensible
 The Two Worlds as We “Know” Them to be from a Moral Point of View
Plato Kant

N
Reality Itself o Reality “as it is in itself”
• Perfectly Knowable u • Still Absolutely Unknowable, but:
• Perfect m • We must believe for moral
• Unchanging e reasons that in it our actions and
• Timeless n choices are absolutely free.
• Invisible a

The Appearance of Reality P

h The “Mere Appearance” of
• Partially Knowable
e Reality
• Imperfect
n • Perfectly Knowable
• Changing
o • Here Newton’s physics is
• Temporal
m true.
• Visible
e • Actions and choices
n completely determined by
a physical causes and laws.
• Sensible
Seven Key Features of Kant’s Moral Theory

 Feature 1: According to Kant, Morality (i.e. our sense of right and wrong,
good and bad) is Rooted in Common Human Reason. It is in fact often
known better by the uneducated than by so-called specialists in moral
philosophy.
 Feature 2: Everything, including our actions, appears to be determined, but
we must believe for moral reasons that our actions at least are really free.
 Feature 3: Freedom is a Necessary Presupposition of Responsibility.
 Seven Key Features of Kant’s Moral Theory
 Feature 4: Nothing is Good in itself except the Good Will, i.e. the Will whose
Motive is to do Good for its own sake.
 Feature 5: Moral Goodness of Will Means Doing Things Absolutely and Entirely
Because They are Good, i.e. for No Other Reason than their Inherent Goodness.
 Feature 6: The Content of Morality (i.e. what is good, what we should do, what
we should take as the end of our actions) Must be Derived Exclusively from a
Consideration of Internal Motives and not from a Good Discovered in Some
Other Way. (Kant’s so-called “Copernican Revolution” in Morality)
 Feature 7: Genuine Morality is Autonomy or Self-Rule (not Heteronomy, i.e. Rule
by Another). Kant claims to be the first to formulate a truly autonomous moral
principle, which makes him able to claim to be the foremost of modern
moralists
END