Views on Self by Descartes, Locke, and Churchland Essay

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Philosophers, scientists, scholars of the different epochs, from different countries, possessing different religious, cultural, moral, ethical, philosophical, and political beliefs had many issues to be regarded. One of the most famous statements of RenĂ© Descartes is “I think, therefore I am” set on the issue of the notion of the individual subject, clear from the world around him or her. This is the most famous combination of dualism of the subject-object problem in the philosophical tradition of the Western studies. “This alternative to the assumptions of epistemological unity still has as its primary task the construction of a universal vision of the self” (Koch 56).

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The significant argument on the issue of the view of the self can be found in the studies of Western philosophy; it emphasized the importance of the self ground for different spheres of cognition, suchlike ethics. The notion of self becomes for the scientist a significant point; all certain experience and knowledge is to be obtained with reference to this principle. “Through a series of uncomplicated moves, the author redefines the self as the necessary basis for all certain knowledge”. Then the self becomes ‘an entity’ ontologically distinct from all others, it is the sole irrefutably real object, the necessary ground of epistemology, and thus the only legitimate foundation of thought and action in general” (Hill 14).

One more view of the self is represented by John Locke, who believed that during some mental or perceptional activities, suchlike feeling, tasting, seeing, meditating, smelling, willing to do something or hearing, we are just aware of the fact that we do so. The notion of consciousness is considered to act together with thinking, and this presupposes every one to be self. “Thus it is always as to our present sensations and perceptions: and by this every one is to himself that which he calls self; it is not being considered in this case whether the same self be continued in the same or divers substances” (Locke 183).

It is our conscious that is the indicator of the self, thus John Locke shared the opinion of Descartes. The process of feeling, understanding, and recognition by the senses is the process of defining the self. “Self is that conscious thinking, whatever substance made up of (whether spiritual or material, simple or compounded, it matters not), which is sensible, or conscious of pleasure and pain, capable of happiness or misery, and so is concerned for itself, as far as that consciousness extends” (Locke 183-184).

The notion of self-consciousness seems to be mysterious and extremely specific; it has been always intervened by impressions and feelings of a certain kind. The knowledge of the self presupposes not just awareness of the mental or physical state, but sensational experience of them. “To be self-conscious is to have, at a minimum, knowledge of oneself” (Churchland P.M. 73) Thus the self-consciousness can be represented as a process of understanding one’s inner world, the knowledge of mental and physical states.

“Recognition encourages a modest humility about the ultimate integrity of our current conceptions and convictions, while it fosters a modest optimism about our cognitive prospects in the centuries to come” (Churchland P.S. 25), thus self-conception is the notion that represents each human being as a self-conscious clear theory of propositional ideas.

Thus every philosopher who examined the concept of view of the self had particular ideas about this notion, though Descartes, John Locke, and Paul Churchland seem to have shared the same ideas about the self, self-consciousness, and self-conception. Thereby the process of comprehension of all mental activities and physical states can be considered the self.

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Works Cited

Hill, Timothy. Ambitiosa Mors: Suicide and Self in Roman Thought and Literature. Studies in Classics: Outstanding Dissertations. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Koch, M. Andrew. Knowledge and Social Construction. United States of America: Lexington Books, 2005.

Locke, John, and John W. Yolton. The Locke Reader: Selections From the Works of John Locke : With a General Introduction and Commentary. London: CUP Archive, 1977.

Churchland, M. Paul. Matter and Consciousness: a Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1988.

Churchland, Patricia Smith. On the Contrary: Critical Essays, 1987-1997. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1999.

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IvyPanda. "Views on Self by Descartes, Locke, and Churchland." November 25, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/views-on-self-by-descartes-locke-and-churchland/.

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