Who am I? This question has plagued humanity for as long as we have been asking questions. In an attempt to define the self, philosophers throughout the ages have developed many different theories from whether it is a material thing, a type of accomplishment, a kind of convenient fiction, or question if a self even exists. Ultimately, of all the theories, from Strawson’s idea of a material self to Dennet’s self as a useful fiction, none provide an inerrant definition of selfhood. However, the closest that parallels to the value and significance which humans place on the events in their lives is arguably the idea of the self as a type of accomplishment.
Beginning with theories of the material self, Galen Strawson argues in his essay “The Minimal Subject” for the existence of a thin self. This self is initially declared in the phenomenological dimension of experience, and thusly exists only during this experience. Strawson further states that the self exists as a kind of thing, object, or substance (TOS) which is created by the neurological mechanisms of the brain during the moment of experience. Additionally, he claims that a new self is generated by these mechanisms
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One response I have to this, is that humans have the capability to imagine a self that is better than we are right now. What may be happening in these cases is not that it is not “false” or a lie, but instead they are telling the truth about who it is they want to be, smarter, stronger, or funnier. So by engaging in this behavior, they are telling others about who the person they wish to become. Furthermore, why does it matter whether or not we lie, or exaggerate when we self-narrativize? The truth of falsity of the claims are irrelevant to the concept of the self that is constructed from the
Focusing on Strawson’s position on the notion of free will, he points out the argument of the pessimists, who believe that the reason why one can be responsible for what one does is because one’s self is sometime independent of one’s general mental state (). Strawson debunks this by presenting the fact that they are not recognizing the importance of the self or “the agent self”. He states,
Take a minute to relax. Enjoy the lightness, or surprising heaviness, of the paper, the crispness of the ink, and the regularity of the type. There are over four pages in this stack, brimming with the answer to some question, proposed about subjects that are necessarily personal in nature. All of philosophy is personal, but some philosophers may deny this. Discussed here are philosophers that would not be that silly. Two proto-existentialists, Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, were keen observers of humanity, and yet their conclusions were different enough to seem contradictory. Discussed here will be Nietzsche’s “preparatory human being” and Kierkegaard’s “knight of faith”. Both are archetypal human beings that exist in accordance to their respective philosopher’s values, and as such, each serve different functions and have different qualities. Both serve the same purpose, though. The free spirit and the knight of faith are both human beings that brace themselves against the implosion of the god concept in western society.
That, like unreliable narrators, individuals often ‘lie’ to themselves in order to cover up the actual
Anil Ananthaswamy describes the self as the role the brain plays in our notions of self and existence. That our sense of self is layered, pulling information from
The people who claim that they do not lie are probably lying when they say it. Whether it is to deceive authority or just to play a joke on a friend, it is part of human nature to lie. In the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby takes on a character of wealth and luxury. Gatsby wants to win back his love interest from five years ago, so he secretly becomes wealthy through owning an illegal drug business, using his abundance of money to impress her. In contrast, in Tobias Wolff’s “The Liar,” he tells a story of teenage James as he lies about his life to appear more fascinating. He lies not because he wants to, but because it comes naturally to him. Both stories convey people struggling to find the purpose of their
If the idea of the self is somehow able to exists in a potentially altered version of Hume’s epistemology that accounts for what is known, now, about the subconscious synthetization of ideas, It could function in the deflection of such claims as the soul and god but could hold an idea of identity that could not be conflated with the two because it still must rely on experience. If Hume’s epistemology included the subconscious and it and be argued that from the subconscious ideas can form behaviorally from our impressions, our illusion of self could stand as an idea within Hume’s vision of the mind. This would circumvent many problems that are created when there is no justification for the self. Ideas such as guilt, punishment, and whether or not your life can have meaning are not necessarily uprooted by Hume’s analysis of how the mind
Have you ever heard, “You only have one chance to make a first impression?” Now, whether you choose to be yourself or you choose to be who you thought someone wanted you to be, a conscientious decision was made. Presenting who we would like others to believe we are is self-presentation (Gilovich, Keltner, & Nisbett, 2011). Now answer another question for me, under the correct circumstances, do you think that everyone has the ability to lie about information or details about themselves?
Myers, D. G., (2009). Self-Concept: Who Am I?. In M. Ryan(Ed.), Exploring social psychology (pp. 23-33). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.
Self Deception Self deception is the process or fact of misleading ourselves to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid. Self deception, in short, is a way we justify false beliefs to ourselves. There is no doubt that sometimes we are not realistic. Not all of our actions are rational or intentional.
The concept of the term “self” is a topic that has been analyzed for many years by many people. The self is the whole part of the being that contains the person. This is a very broad topic and although the term is simple it holds a vast amount if information. One of these people is a man by the name of Sigmund Freud. In the paper “The Dissection of the Psychical Personality” written by Freud, uses the term “Psychical Personality,” to explain the human thought processes, thinking and feelings that make up concept of “the self ” part of the person’s personality (Freud, The Dissection of the Psychical Personality, 2004, p. 70). The concept of the structural model of the psyche contains the Id, Ego and Superego, as developed by Freud tries to
But, “human persons have an ‘inner’ dimension that is just as important as the ‘outer’ embodiment” (Cortez, 71). The “inner” element cannot be wholly explained by the “outer” embodiment, but it does give rise to inimitable facets of the human life, such as human dignity and personal identity. The mind-body problem entails two theories, dualism and physicalism. Dualism contends that distinct mental and physical realms exist, and they both must be taken into account. Its counterpart (weak) physicalism views the human as being completely bodily and physical, encompassing no non-physical, or spiritual, substances.
Throughout our lives we are shaped and molded by our friends and family. They have a lasting affect that can shape our mind and our self. Self is determined by the combination of selves that surround a person on a daily basis. From the childhood friends that we try so hard to hang on to as we journey farther and farther into the real world, to the hated boss and teachers that haunt our mind as we lie awake in our beds at nighttime, we are a product of all those selves. It is the self that determines the course of actions that are taken. Our Actions offer a window into our selves. The actions or reactions toward tragedies, celebrations, disappointments and the occasional lucky break all reflections of our self. Every one of us has a different self, because no one knows the exact same people as someone else. I believe our self contains our values and beliefs. All of our priorities, goals and aspirations we have for ourselves stem directly from the self. Our reactions are also a window into our self. In my opinion, self is a giant jigsaw-puzzle. It is filled with different pieces of others selves that we have interacted with throughout our life, that combine to make one big picture, our self. I have taken pieces of many people who I have encountered throughout my life. My three older brothers influenced major pieces of my self. The pieces of their selves have "fit" into my jigsaw-puzzle self, and complete my total picture. Without force, or a conscious effort by my brothers, the certain pieces of their selves have naturally configured to form my self.
As I read through the Thinking Philosophically box in our text, the first question that comes up is, “What is a self?” It is wonderful to start off with an easy question, right? Well, Wikipedia defines the self as the subject of one’s own experience of phenomena: perceptions, emotions, thoughts ("Self," 2014). A standard dictionary definition is a person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action; and a person’s particular nature or personality; the qualities that make a person individual or unique ("Oxford dictionary," 2014). Don’t you feel more enlightened already?
The concept of the ‘self’ is regarded as an “entity which persists through time and change” (Grayling, pg. 540), in spite of other variations, albeit unnecessary ones, that occur in a person. Ones self is alleged to be the backbone of “thinking, perceiving, memory, and the like – the ultimate ‘bearers’ of our psychological properties.” (Grayling, pg. 540) The idea of ‘self’ is a topic of important philosophical debate, and one which Kant and Hume dexterously engage themselves in. This essay will begin by outlining Hume’s philosophical approach and his theory of self. Following that Kant’s theory of self will be looked at.
...have struggled with the nature of human beings, especially with the concept of “self”. What Plato called “soul, Descartes named the “mind”, while Hume used the term “self”. This self, often visible during hardships, is what one can be certain of, whose existence is undoubtable. Descartes’s “I think, therefore I am” concept of transcendental self with just the conscious mind is too simplistic to capture the whole of one’s self. Similarly, the empirical self’s idea of brain in charge of one’s self also shows a narrow perspective. Hume’s bundle theory seeks to provide the distinction by claiming that a self is merely a habitual way of discussing certain perceptions. Although the idea of self is well established, philosophical insight still sees that there is no clear presentation of essential self and thus fails to prove that the true, essential self really exists.