Are we who others think we are?

Are we who others think we are?

• Are we who others think we are?

• Are we ‘essentially’ known only to ourselves?

• …Even to ourselves?

• What does it mean to be ‘true to yourself’

• Is self-knowledge possible?

• Fred Mandell Self-Portrait

Picasso

• Picasso

• Self-portrait 1

• Age 15

Picasso

• Picasso

• Self-portrait 2

• Age 18

Picasso

• Picasso

• Self-portrait

• Age 20

Picasso

• Picasso

• Self-portrait 3

• Age 26

• 1650 to 1900

• From Descartes to Nietzsche

Voyages of discovery ( 1492 and ff )

• Voyages of discovery ( 1492 and ff )

• The Reformation (1517 and ff )

• The Copernican Revolution (1543)

• Advances in astronomy and physics

• The Renaissance

• Humanism

• The Enlightenment

• Romanticism

Philosophers

• Philosophers

• Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, Pascal

• Writers

• Montaigne, Voltaire, Diderot, Goethe

• Coleridge, Wordsworth

• Emerson and Thoreau

• Socialist Thinkers

• Fourier, Owen, Marx

“The world may have been created by God, but it was now in the hands – for better or worse – of humanity. The world was a human stage, with human values, emotions, hopes, and fears, and this humanity was defined, in turn, by a universal human nature.” Robert Solomon

• “The world may have been created by God, but it was now in the hands – for better or worse – of humanity. The world was a human stage, with human values, emotions, hopes, and fears, and this humanity was defined, in turn, by a universal human nature.” Robert Solomon

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;

• Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;

• The proper study of mankind is man.

• Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 1.

Romanticism represents a shift from the objective to the subjective

• Romanticism represents a shift from the objective to the subjective

• Science is WE

• Art is I

• Romanticism is a reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment

On the Enlightenment side:

• On the Enlightenment side:

• Heavy emphasis on science

• Universal principles

• Rationality

 

•  

• What is the place of mind in the world of matter?

•  

• What is the place of freedom in the world of mechanism?

• From: What exists?

• To: What (and how) can we know about what exists?

Before Descartes: Metaphysics took precedence over Epistemology.

• Before Descartes: Metaphysics took precedence over Epistemology.

• After Descartes: Epistemology took precedence over Metaphysics.

“But what then am I? A thing which thinks. What is a thing which thinks? It is a thing which doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, which also imagines and feels. . . . . I am a thing with desires, who perceives light and noise and feels heat…”

• “But what then am I? A thing which thinks. What is a thing which thinks? It is a thing which doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, which also imagines and feels. . . . . I am a thing with desires, who perceives light and noise and feels heat…”

“…it is certain that this I [that is to say, my soul by which I am what I am], is entirely and absolutely distinct from my body, and can exist without it.” (Meditation VI)

• “…it is certain that this I [that is to say, my soul by which I am what I am], is entirely and absolutely distinct from my body, and can exist without it.” (Meditation VI)

Greek Psyche (as in psychology)

• Greek Psyche (as in psychology)

• Plato: soul as incorporeal ‘essence’

• Aristotle: soul as ‘first activity’

• The Green Soul Khalid al Tamazi

• Genesis 2:7 states, "the LORD God formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul."

Descartes argued that human beings are a mysterious union of mind (or soul) and body

• Descartes argued that human beings are a mysterious union of mind (or soul) and body

• Of incorporeal substance and corporeal substance

“As a devout believer, Descartes has salvaged his faith from the threats of science.

• “As a devout believer, Descartes has salvaged his faith from the threats of science.

• As a scientist, he has freed science to progress without church interference, since scientific discoveries are about the body and have no real bearing on the soul.” (Douglas Soccio)

The official doctrine, which hails chiefly from Descartes, is something like this: With the doubtful exceptions of idiots and infants in arms every human being has both a body and a mind. Some would prefer to say that every human being is both a body and a mind. His body and his mind are ordinarily harnessed together, but after the death of the body his mind may continue to exist and function.

• The official doctrine, which hails chiefly from Descartes, is something like this: With the doubtful exceptions of idiots and infants in arms every human being has both a body and a mind. Some would prefer to say that every human being is both a body and a mind. His body and his mind are ordinarily harnessed together, but after the death of the body his mind may continue to exist and function.

• Gilbert Ryle

Mark Twain asked: How come the mind gets drunk when the body does the drinking?

• Mark Twain asked: How come the mind gets drunk when the body does the drinking?

Heidegger said:

• Heidegger said:

• to ask intelligent questions is the modern form of prayer…

“Consciousness alone unites actions into the same person.”

• “Consciousness alone unites actions into the same person.”

"as far as this consciousness can be extended backwards to any past action or thought, so far reaches the identity of that person" (II, xxvii, 9)

• "as far as this consciousness can be extended backwards to any past action or thought, so far reaches the identity of that person" (II, xxvii, 9)

Forgetting

• Forgetting

• False memory syndrome

• Drunkenness

“Whenever I look inside myself, there is no self to be found.” David Hume

• “Whenever I look inside myself, there is no self to be found.” David Hume

For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe any thing but the perception.

• For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe any thing but the perception.

“I openly confess, the suggestion of David Hume was the very thing, which many years ago first interrupted my dogmatic slumber….”

• “I openly confess, the suggestion of David Hume was the very thing, which many years ago first interrupted my dogmatic slumber….”

• das “ding-an-sich”

• (the thing-in-itself)

• The Transcendental Self

“Two things have always filled me with awe: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.”

• “Two things have always filled me with awe: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.”

things-in-themselves are unknowable

• things-in-themselves are unknowable

• only knowledge of one thing-in-itself is possible : self

• and the self is merely a manifestation of Will (aka blind striving)

He suggested three ways out of

• He suggested three ways out of

• this aimless striving:

• 1. sympathy for others

• 2. philosophic understanding

• 3. aesthetic contemplation

Nietzsche called the “Will To Power” the most basic human drive

• Nietzsche called the “Will To Power” the most basic human drive

• Übermensch

• homo superior

• (overman or superman)

SØREN KIERKEGAARD

• SØREN KIERKEGAARD

• Authentic existence…

"If a human being did not have an eternal consciousness, if underlying everything there were only a wild, fermenting power... what would life be then but despair?"

• "If a human being did not have an eternal consciousness, if underlying everything there were only a wild, fermenting power... what would life be then but despair?"

"I stick my finger into existence and it smells of nothing. Where am I? What is this thing called the world? Who is it that has lured me into the thing, and now leaves me here? Who am I? How did I come into the world? Why was I not consulted?"

• "I stick my finger into existence and it smells of nothing. Where am I? What is this thing called the world? Who is it that has lured me into the thing, and now leaves me here? Who am I? How did I come into the world? Why was I not consulted?"

'Existence precedes Essence'

• 'Existence precedes Essence'

• ‘condemned to be free’

• ‘acting in bad faith’

• Jean Paul Sartre

• …Existentialist…

Most simply, the notion that only I really exist…The rest of the world consists of my stage and my ‘extras’…

• Most simply, the notion that only I really exist…The rest of the world consists of my stage and my ‘extras’…

• Philosophically, the notion that I can’t really know anything except my own existence…

Hedwig and the Angry Inch performed The Origin of Love

• Hedwig and the Angry Inch performed The Origin of Love

• Based on the story told by Aristophanes in Plato’s Dialogue, The Symposium.