Questions tagged [self]
The self tag has no usage guidance.
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Is gravity a natural manifestation of universal egoism? [closed]
What bothers me is the possibility that egoism could be an intrinsic trait of existence in general.
So we have gravity whereby masses pull each other towards themselves.
An objection could be that ...
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Which branch combines solipsism and monism?
Which branch of philosophy whole-heartedly accepts (and builds upon) that only self exists (solipsism) and the universe is the part/creation of self (monism) by eliminating the possibility of ...
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Does the self change iff there is a change in knowledge? [closed]
While still being distinct terms. And is there a term for this? Hope that’s enough to go on!
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Can you choose the things you want?
As a person who is not well-versed in philosophy at all, I have no idea how to phrase this properly. But basically, we all want things. I want to read that book, you want to become (e.g.) an engineer, ...
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Beyond the 'self', what remains? [closed]
The self and its illusory nature has become a central focus in modern philosophy and has been a concern in Eastern philosophy historically.
It may be said that the overall system governing all things ...
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What's (if anything) wrong with this argument for the non-existence of the self?
1: The self, if it exists, is a thing that receives and/or controls experience. Some aspects of experience it controls, other aspects it receives. But whether the experience is "controlled" ...
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Really confused regarding being reborn
I posted this the other day however, nobody has really explained. I want to dismiss the notion of a soul/spirit, and i believe when I die, my memories/personality/experiences will die with me.
However ...
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Distinction between two types of self
Teleporting persons and multiple "you's" are discussed in serious thought experiments in physics and philosophy.
I feel like most of the time these scenarios come up, I would not make the ...
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Is reincarnation inevitable?
My reasoning:
Suppose the universe is infinite in spacetime (both space and time have no bounds). In this spacetime, a cyclic appearance of particles occurs (cyclic big bangs). When I'm alive I ...
user52804
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What are the differences between idealism and notion of magical thinking?
I am now viewing a "documentary" called Enlightenment which is full of new age nonsense, but I am not able to make a good argument about some of the thoughts laid out there.
For example, one ...
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Why should Dasein be authentic when one knows that he/she will be responsible for his/her actions when he chooses authenticity over inauthenticity?
Answers except "to know about being yourself" are really appreciated because this is the question itself. What should I strive to know about myself when I am happy with my life right now, ...
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Can we do anything unselfish?
Can any person do any unselfish act at all in any regards?
Think about it honestly: Every single thing we do is more or less for the benefit of the self:
.Eating: self survival
.Helping others: self-...
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Is loving someone essentially selfish?
Isn’t loving someone ultimately selfish simply because you take pleasure from that relationship? Is there any kind of relationship in the world in which one does not expect to get pleasure when they ...
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Assigning "self-awareness" to qualia as a necessary attribute [duplicate]
The teleportation question which I'm sure most of you have researched,
If I replicate you atom for atom, which one of them will be you?
The issue of materialistic basis for consciousness posits a ...
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Rousseau, natural goodness, and solitariness?
With a group of friends, we are discussing the text from Rousseau (Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men) and in it, Rousseau explains that the human is good by nature, because he'...
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Does anyone talk about freedom from yourself?
The question may seem vague -- what do I mean by "yourself"? I googled it, and there's something by the Indian mystic Osho, and it's the title of a book on the Persian Islamic poet Rumi. But does any ...
user38026
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Am I nothing more than my Dasein?
I believe Dasein is the Being of a human life, and that Dasein essentially has Being-in-the-world.
I think I've finally got a handle on how to compare philosophy "East" and "West" and just need to ...
user38026
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On Kierkegard's definition of the Self: " a relation that relates itself to itself" ( question based on an SEP's quote)
In The Sickness unto death , Kierkegaard says in a sybilline way that the self is
(1) a relation that relates itself to itself
(2) a synthesis of finite and infinite.
Should I understand that " ...
user37859
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What is the self? [closed]
Let us accept that science has an answer. The self then would be a representation of one's own body in the context of the environment. However if that is true wouldn't it imply that something is aware ...
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Does personal identity (the self) have to belong to a conscious being?
How can what is empty know itself unless there is some intelligence present? It can't. That's like expecting the eye that can see so many objects, to see it self; it cannot. Likewise, the self cannot ...
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In the philosophy of Josiah Royce, is there a tension between the individual and society?
I'm reading through Josiah Royce's view on the self and this is what I think he believes the tension to be between the individual and society:
"The tension between the individual and society is ...
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Is the permanent self still tenable? [closed]
I wonder what a possible objection could be:
P1) The self is static in change;
P2) If P1 is true then change cannot be the self otherwise the self wouldn't be static;
C) Therefore, change is the ...
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The Immortal Jellyfish
I watched an episode of "The Blacklist" which is a popular show on the TV streaming service Netflix. In the episode, the main character refers to a very tiny marine creature commonly known as the "...
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For Mackenzie, what is the self? What role does the imagination play in forming/defining/altering the self?
I'm having trouble answering this question. The relevant reading is “IMAGINING ONESELF OTHERWISE” by Catriona Mackenzie.
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Is the fact that there are qualia something internal or external?
I'm struggling to digest the SEP article on qualia.
Is anyone saying that there being qualia is something about the world which exists independent of conscious awareness (knowledge and perception)?
...
user38026
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Does the real line mean that the start and end points of any line must exist?
In mathematics, a real number is a value of a continuous quantity that
can represent a distance along a line
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_number
We consider the set of real numbers, ...
user38026
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Can anyone recommend a good book on The Self?
I don't have any formal education on philosophy but I read some books including Think by Simon Blackburn that got me interested in this subject.
Thanks.
Edit:
Specifically, I was intrigued by Kant's ...
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Does all information about you belong to you? [closed]
This is a multi-faceted topic, one that sprawls many fields, from computer science to law, but I will attempt to be brief.
Does information about you belong to you?
In today's society, the topics of ...
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What is the strongest link made in the philosophical literature between privacy and civil liberties?
What is the strongest link made in the philosophical literature between privacy and civil liberties? In particular, an analysis which eschews 'democracy', or separates out democracy from 'civil ...
user38026
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What are some good English translations of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
I have acquired a desire to read Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, but I do not read Sanskrit and I do not know which translations should be trusted. What are high quality translations of the Brihadaranyaka ...
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Why do I doubt my logical reasoning?
I have been wondering for several years why I just can't trust my own proofs in math or when giving some logical arguments. I keep thinking I might be making a mistake at some step of the proof and ...
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Is there no basis for differentiating a personal from a historical narrative?
Is there no basis for differentiating a personal from a historical narrative? My narrative is a mess, so I'd like to get to grips with the question, ideally as it links to literature. Who in ...
user35983
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Why does Descartes think that we know our mind better than we know our body?
According to Descartes we know our own mind better than we know bodies. Why does he think so? How can this view be criticized?
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What Are Some Recurring Questions/Themes That Are Explored or Argued for in Renaissance Philosophy?
I suppose this is not necessarily a question, rather I'm looking for inspiration for writing a research paper.
I have been assigned with the task of: "Submit a research paper, using at least 3 ...
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Is there the creator overseeing us all. How does He do that? [closed]
Is there the creator overseeing us all. How does He do that?
Is that possible due to His omnipresence and being independent of 3+1D (x, y, z, ct) limitations?
My previous question and related to ...
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Can we look forward to being dead? [closed]
Can we look forward to being dead, self annihilation? Seems like we should be able to, but I'm not sure that we can without confusing ourselves about selfhood. Does anyone say we can't?
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Why am I this particular human being?
Some philosophers dismiss this as a question about a tautology: when Alice asks "Why am I Alice?", this is equivalent to her asking "Why is Alice Alice?", which is not an interesting question. But ...
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Where does the sense of self come from?
We human beings experience a sense of identity, an inner personality. I assume Machines and computers do not. Animals also seem to possess consciousness and some sort of sense of self.
Where does ...
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Conundrum of the self?
I've been thinking about this topic in relation to artificial consciousness. Specifically self-awareness.
(I can define terms precisely if requested, but usually prefer to be as general as possible:)...
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Collective Being
If, as a Collective of embodied selves (eSelves) we voted for ideas instead of individual eSelves - the objective being to construct a Reality that resonates with Existence itself - what would that ...
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What does Ortega y Gasset mean by "art is dehumanizing"?
In "Man and People", Ortega discusses the dehumanization of art, which is made confusing from his repeated switching between speaking literally and speaking philosophically, and by virtue of his work ...
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To whom are people talking when they talk to (in) themselves? [closed]
It's commonly said that one is talking to (in) his- or himself. Does that mean there are two of the person in question: the one who's talking and the one who's listening?
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How do I find a philosophy to define my current beliefs?
I recently went from Christianity to Agnosticism. I already know what I do and don't believe:
I don't believe in fate. I believe that people should respect each other because life is short. I don't ...
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What is the term for the belief that everyone acts entirely selfishly
There is a term I heard someone use to describe the idea that no none acts selflessly.
So under this belief, a mother giving some food to her child, and going hungry herself, only does so because the ...
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What areas within philosophy look at continuity of personality and self-hood?
I'm sure these kinds of questions fall within some fairly central fields of philosophy: what makes "me now" and "me 10 seconds, months, or decades ago", the same person? In what sense are these "the ...
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How does Kant rule out permanent soul in his argument for the existence of external world?
I have been studying Stephan Körner's intro to Kant's philosophy. I'm not sure if in the following excerpt I make sense of the reasoning quoted from Kant.
In fact, I wonder how the permanence must be ...
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What's the purpose of listening/share other people/own music?
For psychology and physics motivations, I'll never get the whole idea about a piece of music made by other peoples (it won't translate from his mind to my mind; even because what I'll listening, even ...
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Is it a good idea to write a Philosophical essay when you know the conclusion will not be satisfying? [closed]
Is it a good idea to write a philosophical essay when you know the conclusion will not be satisfying?
I have a dilemma (pun intended). I am asked to write an essay of just 1 page. Well, easy peasy ...
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Gender roles - do they matter?
This may well be too broad (spreading over into psychology too), I'll try to narrow it down as I outline my thinking but any advice is welcome.
I began by thinking about how its unfair if you ...
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Why does Nagasena reject Attributes + Dependence on Constituents Parts, as a Substance?
Source: p 362 Top. Introducing Philosophy for Canadians: A Text with Integrated Readings (2011 1 ed).
Nagasena's point? As it is with 'chariot', so it is with 'person'. Like 'chariot', 'person' ...
