In the Meditations and related texts from the early 1640s, Descartes argues that the
self can be correctly considered as either a mind or a human being
, and that the self’s properties vary accordingly. For example, the self is simple considered as a mind, whereas the self is composite considered as a human being.
What did Descartes believe?
Descartes was also a rationalist and believed in the power of innate ideas. Descartes argued
the theory of innate knowledge
and that all humans were born with knowledge through the higher power of God.
What is the keystone of Descartes concept of self?
Thus, in addition to being the first principle of his epistemology,
cogito ergo, sum
is also the keystone of Descartes’s concept of self. The essence of existing as a human identity is the possibility of being aware of our selves: Being self-conscious in this way is integral to having a personal identity.
What is Descartes view on personal identity?
Descartes’ conception of a person as essentially a thing that thinks means, according to him, that the principle of mereological identity
is satisfied very easily by persons
. A mind has all the same parts from one time to another for the simple reason that a mind’s only part is itself.
What is self According to Rene Descartes and Immanuel Kant?
According to him, we all have an inner and an outer self which
together form our consciousness
. The inner self is comprised of our psychological state and our rational intellect. The outer self includes our sense and the physical world.
How did Hume conceived of self?
To Hume, the self is “
that to which our several impressions and ideas are supposed to have a reference
… If any impression gives rise to the idea of self, that impression must continue invariably the same through the whole course of our lives, since self is supposed to exist after that manner.
How does Paul Churchland define self?
Dualism asserts that the mind and the body are separate. Disagreeing with this is Paul Churchland, a modern-day philosopher who studies the brain. Rather than dualism, Churchland holds to materialism,
the belief that nothing but
matter exists. … Adding to this, the physical brain is where we get our sense of self.
What did Descartes mean by I think therefore I am?
A statement by the seventeenth-century French philosopher René Descartes. “I think; therefore I am” was the end of the
search Descartes conducted for a statement that could not be doubted
. He found that he could not doubt that he himself existed, as he was the one doing the doubting in the first place.
What were Descartes main ideas?
Scholars agree that Descartes recognizes at least three innate ideas:
the idea of God, the idea of (finite) mind
, and the idea of (indefinite) body.
Does Descartes believe in God?
According to Descartes, God’s existence is
established by the fact that Descartes has a clear and distinct idea of God
; but the truth of Descartes’s clear and distinct ideas are guaranteed by the fact that God exists and is not a deceiver. Thus, in order to show that God exists, Descartes must assume that God exists.
Do you agree with Rene Descartes about self?
Descartes’s concept of the self revolves around
the idea of mind-body dualism
. For Descartes, a human person is composed of two parts, namely, a material body and a non-material mind. … In other words, for Descartes, it is the mind that makes us humans. Thus, for Descartes, the “mind” is the “real self”.
How does Socrates define self?
And contrary to the opinion of the masses, one’s true self, according to Socrates, is not to be identified with what we own, with our social status, our reputation, or even with our body. Instead,
Socrates famously maintained that our true self is our soul.
What is Hume’s argument concerning Descartes idea of the self?
For Descartes, the self, like every other substance, is not directly apprehended; it is understood only through its properties. Hume also
claims that we never directly apprehend the self
. Unlike Descartes, he concludes from this that there is no substantial self.
What is the self according to Immanuel Kant?
According to him, we all have
an inner and an outer self
which together form our consciousness. The inner self is comprised of our psychological state and our rational intellect. The outer self includes our sense and the physical world. … According to Kant, representation occurs through our senses.
What is the contribution of Rene Descartes in understanding the self?
With his ties to dualism,
Descartes believed the mind is the seat of our consciousness
. Because it houses our drives, intellect, and passions, it gives us our identity and our sense of self. Very loud criticisms of Descartes’s views are found in the works of Gilbert Ryle. He called dualism a category mistake.
Who are the 8 philosophers in understanding the self?
Philosophy •
Socrates, Plato and Augustine to Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Freud, Ryle, Bandura
, A.
