philosophy is the endless search for the ultimate causes reasons and principles of everything

that there is acquired by the aid of human reason alone

this is not exactly a pursuit only of the intellectuals
● it is presented upon us the moment you try to inject faith into trying to answer these
things that is no longer philosophy that is theology

how did it start so philosophy began - the moment people or humanity started asking questions
wonder is the birth of philosophy or that philosophy began in wonder

LESSON 2
Socrates never wrote anything. Knowledge about Socrates is through second-hand
information from the writings of his student Plato.
● Socrates was known for his method of inquiry in testing an idea. This is called the
Socratic method whereby an idea was tested by asking a series of questions to
determine underlying beliefs and the extent of knowledge to guide the person toward
better understanding.
● Socrates was described to have gone about in Athens questioning everyday views and
popular Athenian beliefs. This apparently offended the leaders in his time. He was then
accused of impiety or lack of reverence for the gods and for corrupting the minds of the
youth. At 70 years old, Socrates was sentenced to death by drinking a cup of poison
hemlock ( poisonous plant in Athens).

Plato was the student of Socrates. He wrote the Socratic dialogue where Socrates was the
main character and speaker. Plato's philosophical method was what he identified as " collect
and division". In this method, the philosopher would " collect" all the generic ideas that seemed
to have common characteristics and then divided then into different kinds until the subdivision of
ideas became specific. he is best known for his theory of forms that asserted the physical world
is not really the real world because the ultimate reality exists beyond the physical world.

Saint Augustine also called Saint Augustine of Hippo is one of the Latin fathers of the
church, one of the doctors of the church, and one of the most significant Christian thinkers. His
philosophical approach to Christian thinking is the most influential theological system. His
written works are among the foundations of medieval and modern Christian thought. St.
Augustine held that the soul held the truth and was capable of scientific thinking. His concept of
the self was an inner, immaterial I that had self-knowledge and self awareness. He believed that
the human being was both a soul and body, and the body possessed senses, such as
imagination, memory, reason, and mind through which the soul experienced the world.

Rene' Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He is considered

the father of modern western philosophy. Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to
emphasize the use of reason to describe, predict, and understand natural phenomena based on
observational and empirical evidence.

● Descartes proposed that doubt was a principal tool of disciplined inquiry. His method
was called hyperbolical/ metaphysical doubt. Also sometimes referred to as
methodological skepticism. It is a systematic process of being skeptical about the truth of
one's beliefs in order to determine which beliefs could be ascertained as true.

John Locke
● John Locke, an influential Enlightenment thinker, expanded the concept of the "self"
beyond Descartes' definition as a thinking thing.
● Locke proposed that the "self" is identified with consciousness and is characterized by
the continuity of memory.
● According to Locke, the "self" remains the same person over time because of the
memories it retains, which provide a sense of continuity of experience.
● Locke's theory of personal identity, based on memory, serves as a basis for
accountability and self-recognition over time.

David Hume a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian during the Age of
Enlightenment. He was a fierce opponent of Descartes' rationalism. Rationalism is the theory
that reason, rather than experience, is the foundation of all knowledge. Hume, along with John
Locke and Bishop George Berkeley, was one of the three main figureheads of the influential
British Empiricism movement. Empiricism is the idea that the origin of all knowledge is sense
experience. It emphasized the role of experience and evidence (especially sensory perception)
in forming concepts while discounting the notion of innate ideas.

Sigmund Freud
● Sigmund Freud's significant contribution was psychoanalysis, a therapy aimed at treating
mental illness through dialogue.
● Unlike previous philosophers who viewed the self as an essence or unified entity, Freud
challenged this notion.
● He rejected the concept of a singular, unified self and instead focused on the totality of
the human psyche, including both conscious and unconscious aspects.
● Freud's work revolutionized psychology by providing new insights into the complexities
of the human mind and behavior.

Immanuel Kant
● made significant contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics,
influencing various philosophical movements.
● Kant's view of the self is "transcendental," meaning it is related to a spiritual or
nonphysical realm, separate from the body.
 ● While the self exists outside the body and does not possess the body's qualities, Kant
emphasized the interconnectedness between the self and the material world.
● According to Kant, knowledge serves as the bridge between the self and material things,
facilitating our understanding of the world around us.

Gilbert Ryle
● Ryle criticized Descartes' idea of the mind-body distinction in "The Concept of Mind"
(1949), rejecting the separation of mental and physical states.
● He labeled the distinction between mind and matter as a "category-mistake", arguing
that they are not terms of the same categories.
● Ryle coined the term "the dogma of the ghost in the machine" to describe the
misconception of a hidden entity or soul within the body.
● He refuted the theory of the mind as a separate space for mental images, asserting that
sensations, thoughts, and feelings are not separate from the physical world.
● Ryle suggested that our sense of self arises from behavior and actions rather than from
a distinct "self".

Paul Churchland
● Paul Churchland is known for his contributions to neuro-philosophy and the philosophy
of mind.
● He espouses a materialistic view, asserting that only matter exists and nothing beyond
sensory experience can be considered real.
● Churchland rejects the existence of the soul or mind, arguing that they cannot be
experienced through the senses.
● His philosophy, known as eliminative materialism, contends that common-sense beliefs
about the mind are false, and certain mental states that people commonly believe in do
not actually exist.

Maurice Merleau- Ponty

● Maurice Merleau-Ponty introduced the concept of "embodied subjectivity" to describe his
idea of the self.
● "Embodied" refers to the process of giving a body to an immaterial substance, such as a
soul.
● Subjectivity, in philosophy, denotes the state of being a subject, possessing conscious
experiences, perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires.
● A subject has agency and can act upon or affect other entities, known as objects,
causing real effects in the world.

LESSON 3
WESTERN THOUGHT

Ancient Greek philosophers see humans as the bearers of irreplaceable values. In medieval
times, the philosopher and saint Thomas Aquinas believed that the body constitutes
individuality. The individual was the focus of Renaissance thought, with Rene Descartes' famous
"I think, therefore I am" as the epitome of the western idea of self.

The western tradition is generally acknowledged to be " imbued with a style of thinking based on
dichotomy and binary opposition. There is an essential distinction between the notion of the
thinking subject ( an observer) in natural opposition to observable reality.

The psychiatrist and professor Frank Johnson, outlined four categories of how the term "self" is
used in the contemporary western discussion.

1. analytical - "the tendency to see reality as an aggregate of parts. The "self" is an observer
separate and distinct from external objects ( me vs. Others)

2 monotheistic- the tendency toward unitary explanations of phenomena and a closed-system

view of "self" as modeled after a unitary, omnipotent power ( man was created by God, in his
image)

3 individualistic- is a quality of western thinking where self-expression and self-actualization

are important ways of establishing who one is and finding satisfaction in the world.

4 materialistic/ rationalistic- western thinking tends to discredit explanations that do not use
analytic- deductive modes of thinking.

EASTERN THOUGHT

The earliest religious writings in the East are the VEDAS. It formed the Hindu philosophy and
DHARMA( the principle of cosmic order). The chants and hymns in the VEDAS illustrate the
eastern mindset of a nondual universe but rather a completely unified creation with the creator,
with no distinction. According to these sacred Hindu texts, the true nature of humans is
described as "BRAHMAN," which is the divine universal consciousness encompassing the
universe. The Brahman is the self that is all within us. Thus, one of the main points of Hinduism
is " change your perception of the world to perceive the brahman in oneself and in others.

Buddhism is composed of the teachings of Buddha. In Buddhist traditions, the "self" is not an
entity, a substance, or an essence. Rather, the "self" is a dynamic process. It is interdependent
and ever-changing. The Buddha taught a doctrine called ANNATA, which is often defined as "
no self or no soul". ANNATA is a concept that the sense of being a permanent, autonomous "
self" is an illusion. It is the teaching that there is no eternal, unchanging " self/soul" inhabiting
our bodies or living our lives.

Buddhist tradition holds that the human being's inborn erroneous view of "self" as an enduring
entity is the cause of his/her suffering because he/ she tries to hold on to that which is in
constant flux ( constantly flowing or constantly changing) and has no existence outside of
shifting contexts.

Thus a new corrective experience of the self is needed. Buddhism takes a great interest in how
people experience their "self" rather than just their abstract idea of it because Buddhist practices
are designed to lead a new( correct) experience of self. It takes arduous training to modify or
overcome the natural state of experiencing the "self" as persisting and unchanging.

In Confucianism, the quest for the "self" in terms of substance, of spirit, body, or of essence
does not exist. The form that Confucius wrote about the concept of "self" is that of personality.
The qualities that form a person's character are not something that exists inherently. Rather, in
Confucian thought, it is something that is formed through upbringing and the environment.

Confucian philosophy presented the idea that every person is born with FOUR BEGINNINGS.
However, these do not yet comprise the concept of "self," but when perceived together, it could
be explained in western terms as a "pre-self" or a " potential self". These four beginnings are:

Heart of compassion that leads to JEN- means goodwill, sympathy towards others, politeness,
and generosity.

Heart of righteousness that leads to YI - means rightness and the respect of duty ( you must
respect your position as a guardian toward nature and humanity)

Heart of propriety that leads to LI - means having the right to practice propriety in all you do.
Propriety involves demonstrating your inner attitude in your outer expression.

Heart of wisdom that leads to CHIH - means wisdom; this wisdom is expressed by putting jen,
yi, and li into practice.

TAOISM- rejects a hierarchical view of the self, society, or cosmos. Unlike Confucianism,
Taoism does not regard the "self" as an extension of ( or defined by) social relationships. Rather,
the "self" is but one of the countless manifestations of the Tao. It is an extension of the cosmos (
or the universe seen as a well-ordered whole). CHUANG-TZU, regarded as a mystic of
unmatched brilliance in china, gave an explicit negation of the centrality of the "self. According
to chuang-tzu. " the perfect man has no self; the spiritual man has no achievement; the truth has
no name." The ideal is, thus. Selflessness. In sum, chuan-txu's conception of selfhood entails
conscious self-transformation leading to the attributes of a balanced life in harmony with both
nature and society.

The Arabic word for the word "self" is NAFS, written in the holy Qur'an. It pertains to the psyche
( the totality of the conscious and unconscious human mind) or the soul. The Quran does not
ascribe any property of goodness or evil to the "nafs/self"; instead, the "nafs/self" is something,
which has to be nurtured and self-regulated so that it can progress into becoming "good" ( or
conversely, evil) through its thoughts and actions. The "self" in Islamic tradition is used both in
the individualistic and collective sense.

Eastern Thought Highlights:

● Hindu philosophy, rooted in the Vedas, emphasizes the unity of creation with the divine,
known as Brahman.
● Buddhism challenges the notion of a fixed self, teaching that attachment to a permanent
self causes suffering.
● Confucianism focuses on the formation of character through upbringing and
environment, emphasizing qualities like compassion, righteousness, propriety, and
wisdom.
● Taoism rejects hierarchical views of the self, advocating for selflessness and harmony
with the cosmos.
● In Islam, the concept of self, or "nafs," is dynamic and can progress towards goodness
or evil through thoughts and actions, emphasizing self-regulation and nurturing.