Questions tagged [self]

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2 votes
5 answers
320 views

Quid sit ego, what is the self?

From my little, torn, pouch of experiences, I present the following sentences, heard/read, it matters not. My body My brain My mind My soul Suggests, ex mea sententia, that, the ego (self) is not an ...
Agent Smith's user avatar
  • 3,206
4 votes
1 answer
76 views

What would be Gilbert Ryle's necessary and sufficient conditions for being a human being?

One of my students asked me this question and I can't answer it. I thought it was a great question. Any suggestions on an equally good answer? (I'm not a trained philosopher, I'm a historian. I teach ...
Patti Kleeb's user avatar
5 votes
10 answers
445 views

Is there any evidence to suggest that our conciousness regularly replaces itself?

I heard on some article that conciousness cannot persist through time and that every second ( or an even shorter duration ) it changes to a new one, is there any evidence to suggest this? Is our ...
Rayyan khan's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
164 views

Do I exist under the aspect of eternity?

Do I exist under the aspect of eternity? The work of art is the object seen sub specie aeternitatis; and the good life is the world seen sub specie aeternitatis. Wittgenstein on the unity of ethics ...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
74 views

What is this model of the world where people keep on selling ego to you?

I just got some cold pressed vegetable drink. It is supposed to be healthy, but it also tastes awful. It is expensive too, near US$6 a 16 oz bottle, so it could have problems selling. Then I notice ...
Stefanie Gauss's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
449 views

Is the temperance resulting from the socratic maxim "know thyself" always about knowing others?

I was just thinking about what good 'know thyself' means. There is something arguably narcissistic and unnecessary - or at least self absorbed - about examining your life just to know your own flaws ...
user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
50 views

Kant's transcendental apperception and 'ipseity' in phenomenology

In the writings of various phenomenologists, the concept of 'ipseity' is widely discussed. As far as I can make out from various sources (e.g. Zahavi, Subjectivity and Selfhood, esp. chapter 5), ...
Bird's user avatar
  • 31
0 votes
2 answers
59 views

Instant Gratification and Self-Sabotage [closed]

I notice that I often engage in activities that provide instant gratification and not do the work I am supposed to do. (I need to learn to delay gratification) I also fall prey to obsessive ...
Thinker's user avatar
  • 13
2 votes
10 answers
656 views

Is there any way for me to know if I exist, as such, do I exist?

Is there any way for me to truly know I exist? I mean, I think I exist, but I recently came across skepticism, which says to doubt everything, even one's own existence, so now I don't know if I exist. ...
Wase Eisen's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
49 views

What is neither material nor immaterial, is what? [closed]

Every history of a world begins to be written after the creation of this world, when a “brilliant mind” appears that realizes it, thus a language and a civilization appear. From this, one fantasizes ...
Maya Rahto's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
248 views

If our “self” is the sum of our parts, why do we feel continuity?

An introduction I've been feeling a very strong "death anxiety" for at least a week now. It's been really affecting my output, and - even though I understand it's irrational (maybe?) - I can'...
Jasper Lutz Severino's user avatar
-3 votes
1 answer
139 views

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 ...
exp8j's user avatar
  • 341
2 votes
2 answers
185 views

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 ...
tejasvi88's user avatar
  • 285
-1 votes
1 answer
173 views

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!
J Kusin's user avatar
  • 2,385
3 votes
4 answers
733 views

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, ...
ygtozc's user avatar
  • 39
1 vote
1 answer
145 views

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 ...
Warren van Rooyen's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
240 views

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" ...
Benjamin Grange's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
216 views

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 ...
Gillyboi's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
938 views

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 ...
J Kusin's user avatar
  • 2,385
6 votes
13 answers
5k views

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 ...
user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
159 views

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 ...
user's user avatar
  • 131
1 vote
0 answers
32 views

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, ...
Naranjan Rohra's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
75 views

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-...
Steve237's user avatar
  • 139
0 votes
6 answers
2k views

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 ...
Bharati Challa's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
38 views

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 ...
Weezy's user avatar
  • 379
2 votes
2 answers
183 views

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'...
Cyril N.'s user avatar
  • 121
1 vote
1 answer
162 views

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 ...
user avatar
-1 votes
5 answers
209 views

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 ...
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
658 views

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 " ...
user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
110 views

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 ...
Weezy's user avatar
  • 379
7 votes
3 answers
435 views

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 ...
James Brewer's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
150 views

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 ...
James Brewer's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
178 views

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 ...
urhen's user avatar
  • 89
4 votes
3 answers
627 views

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 "...
ferris's user avatar
  • 99
0 votes
0 answers
112 views

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.
James Brewer's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
404 views

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)? ...
user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
128 views

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, ...
user avatar
4 votes
8 answers
835 views

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 ...
Gashaw's user avatar
  • 41
2 votes
2 answers
156 views

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 ...
turnip's user avatar
  • 137
2 votes
0 answers
67 views

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 ...
user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
1k views

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 ...
azani's user avatar
  • 168
4 votes
2 answers
618 views

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 ...
Turkhan Badalov's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
73 views

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 ...
user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
4k views

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?
4pie0's user avatar
  • 83
1 vote
0 answers
69 views

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 ...
Clara's user avatar
  • 11
1 vote
1 answer
130 views

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 ...
user34949's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
290 views

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?
user's user avatar
  • 11
21 votes
16 answers
4k views

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 ...
present's user avatar
  • 2,490
0 votes
1 answer
495 views

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 ...
michael's user avatar
  • 526
1 vote
2 answers
216 views

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:)...
DukeZhou's user avatar
  • 463