Prelim, UTS - Eternal essence of the soul

02/15/2023
Plato - Founder of the Academy of Athens.
*my notes*
The first institution of higher
learning in the Western world
- the soul is distinct to man
Philosophy – Originates from the Greek words:
- The soul is God-given and
Philos meaning love and Sophos
inhibited by the body as the
meaning wise
knower, determiner of an
Greek Civilization – Medival Period – Post individuals actions.
Modernism Period
Three parts of the soul

Reason – Reasoning, logic and cognition

Definition of Self According to Different Physical Appetite – basic needs and desire to
Philosophers survive
Spirit/Passion- basic emotions
Socrates – The self is found through
introspection: wherein one asks *these parts are dynamic and can dominant the
oneself through asking questions other parts*
about oneself.
- Neo-platonic philosopher
- an unexamined life is not worth Aristotle – Founder of the Lyceum
living - brightest of Plato’s students
- the self is the soul
- a person can have a happy and a Three Functions of the Soul
meaningful life by becoming 1. Vegetative – basic maintenance of life
virtuous and knowing ones own 2. Appetitive -focuses on desires and
significance motives
- Suggested that reality consists of 3. Rational- governs reason
two realms the physical realm and
the ideal realm: Four concepts that give understanding of any
being
Physical Realm:
1. Material Cause – Anything is
- Temporary composed of physical materials to
- changing manifest itself
- tangible 2. Formal Cause – it is the concept of a
- measurable being that exists with the requirements
- realm of the human body 3. Efficient Cause – Something must be
Ideal Realm: compared to, in order to be unique
4. Final Cause – any being must have a
- Permanent purpose or an apparent end and goal
- Unchanging
- Intangible - Potency and Act
- Immeasurable
 Any being has any certain potential
(potency), but it requires to be
actualized (act)
St. Agustine – Born in North Africa and became
the bishop of Hippo in North
Africa
- Combined Greek platonic with
Christian thinking
- introduced the meaning of
introspection, but it is asking
oneself questions to know God
better and describes its own
concious process.
- He believed that one should
detached from worldy affairs for
true knowledge can only be attained
through God.
- “know thyself through God”
The Trinity of the Soul
1. Memory – inherited from our ancestors
2. Intellifgence – reasoning
3. Will – Motivation
- the soul is the spouse of the body
- his definition of self/soul favors religion
-He emphasizes the importance of reflection,
prayer, and confession in justifying the
existence of God.
Rene Descartes - French Philosopher,
mathematician and psychologist
- father of modern philosophy
-Cogito ergo sum “I think
therefore I am” Is his concept of
self
- introduced the concept of
dualism and reflex action
- the mind and body interact to
make an individual functional.
Dualism- Body and soul
Cartesian Dualism – body and the mind
- he believed that nerves were hallow
tubes with animal spirits,
- Phylogenetic endowment
- inherited experiencies from our
ancestors
John Locke – all experiences may be analyzed
- coined the term Tabula Rasa,
meaning a blank slate
- the mind is just a blank sheet that
collects contents through life
experiences
- All ideas came from experience
with the mind being passive and
can only do two things
1. It could receive experiences from the
outside world, concerned with the
whole process of sensation.
2. The mind could reflect upon itself
through the process of reflection or
introspection.
David Hume- “There is no self”
- The mind is nothing but just a
heap or collection of different
perception, unified together by
certain relationships
- there are only Ideas and
impressions
Ideas are thoughts and images from impressions
that are less likely vivid
Impressions are the core of out thoughts
- He claims that people have no
experience of a simple and individual
impression that they can
- call the self where the self is the totality
of a person’s consciousness
02/20/2023
Immanuel Kant – Humans Have a distinct
ability called a rational will.
Module 2.: Western and Eastern Concepts of
- the Rational will is the capacity of
a person to act according to
principles that we determine
ourselves
- we have a “faculty” that has
inherent mental capacity.
- we are different from animals
because we have the ability to stop
and think what we are doing.
- The rational self is the self
Gilbert Ryle – “I act therefore I am”
- The behavior of a person defines
oneself
- The self is an entity that no one
can locate and analyze, It is rather a
convenient name that people use to
all the behaviors people make
Maurice Merleau-Ponty – The mind and body
are intertwined, it cannot be
separated
- The living body, thoughts
emotions and experiences are all
one
- The self is the self
Paul Churchland – no brain no self
- the mind does not exist
- known for eliminative materialism
-the brain gives people the sense of
self , not the imaginary mind
- the mind does not exists because it
cannot be experienced byu the
senses
End of Module 1.
the Self
I. Sociological and Anthropological
Perspectives of the Self
I.1 Sociopological Perspective
- The self is a product of social
interactions
- The self is influenced by interactions
between person to person
- Human behaviour is influenced by
group life, A view of ones self is formed
through interactions with other people or
groups.
e.g
You Buy a clothing brand of your
favorite artist. That behaviour is
considered as a sociological aspect
because you are influenced by a person.
I.2 Anthropological Perspective
- The self is a product of society
- It is likely that the creation of self is
formed through cultured difference
- It is influenced by the concepts, cultures
and traditions of a society
e.g
You wear Korean clothes because it is
trending. This is an example of an
anthropological perspective because it
features an in fluence between culture to
person.
Western Concept of the Self
The Western Self is defined the Western
concept of self as “a bounded,
unique, more or less integrated
motivational and cognitive
universe, a dynamic center of
awareness, emotion, judgment, and
action organized into a distinctive
whole and set contrastively both
against other such wholes and
against its social and natural
background”.