PL 100 Philosophy and the
Human Condition
A
Discussion about Human Nature and the Self
From: Journal of
Consciousness Studies, 4, No.5/6, 1997, pp. 405-28, Author: Galen
Strawson Jesus College, Oxford OX1 3DW, UK (permission to
copy granted)
‘THE SELF’
- I
know that I exist; the question is, what is this ‘I’ that I know?
(Descartes 1641)
- The
soul, so far as we can conceive it, is nothing but a system or train of
different perceptions. (Hume 1739)
- What
was I before I came to self-consciousness? . . . I did not exist at all,
for I was not an I. The I exists only insofar as it is conscious of
itself. . . . The self posits itself, and by virtue of this mere
self-assertion it exists. (Fichte 1794–5)
- The
‘Self’ . . . , when carefully examined, is found to consist mainly of
. . . peculiar motions in the head or between the head and throat. (James
1890)
- The
ego continuously constitutes itself as existing. (Husserl 1929)
- Any
fixed categorization of the Self is a big goof. (Ginsberg 1963)
- The
self which is reflexively referred to is synthesized in that very act of
reflexive self-reference. (Nozick 1981)
- The
self . . . is a mythical entity. . . . It is a philosophical muddle to
allow the space which differentiates ‘my self’ from ‘myself’ to
generate the illusion of a mysterious entity distinct from . . . the human
being. (Kenny 1988)
- A
self . . . is . . . an abstraction . . . , [a] Center of Narrative
Gravity. (Dennett 1991)
- My
body is an object all right, but my self jolly well is not! (Farrell 1996)
I: Introduction
“The substantival phrase
‘the self’ is very unnatural in most speech contexts in most languages,
and some conclude from this that it’s an illusion to think that there is
such a thing as the self, an illusion that arises from nothing more than an
improper use of language. This, however, is implausible. People are not that
stupid. The problem of the self doesn’t arise from an unnatural use of
language which arises from nowhere. On the contrary: use of a phrase like
‘the self’ arises from a prior and independent sense that there is such a
thing as the self. The phrase may be unusual in ordinary speech; it may have
no obvious direct translation in many languages. Nevertheless all languages
have words which lend themselves naturally to playing the role that ‘the
self’ plays in English, however murky that role may be. The phrase certainly means
something to most people. It has a natural use in religious, philosophical,
and psychological contexts, which are very natural contexts of discussion for
human beings.
“
A theory of human nature attempts to describe the general characteristics or basic constitution of a human being. It looks at qualities that go beyond biological/anatomical characteristics. A theory of human nature discusses what humans may have in common in terms of culture, knowledge, values, behavior, social structures. These characteristics or essential elements of being human would belong to anyone despite individual differences. Theories of human nature often attempt to define how we differ from and are similar to other species in terms of behavior, knowledge, values, culture, etc. For example, is the need for a source of meaning beyond the here and now often expressed through religion an integral part of what it means to be a human being? Is it part of human nature to express ourselves artistically? Are these cultural/religious/artistic yearnings universal and timeless? These theories also address issues such as the role that nature (what we are born with in terms of genetics, gender, race, ethnicity, historical period, etc.) and nurture (what we acquire through education and experience) play in understanding human behavior. Many psychological and sociological theories try to determine which of these is more important in shaping personality or what philosophers often call the “self”.
This course will look at various views of human nature found throughout the history of Western and other cultures. In the process, we will learn how to successfully read philosophy and question our own assumptions about what it means to be a human being.
Research Link: The American philosopher, John Dewey (1859-1952), described four main ways of looking at human nature in Western culture in an essay he wrote in 1932 in the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. This essay is available in the reference section of Manor’s library. You can also find selections on human nature in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and The Concise Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Also, check out Manor’s library and do a search on the Internet on the topics of "Human natur" and “Self” for more information. You can find links to these on the course website.
Prepared by Anne
Knop, Senior Associate Professor of Philosophy, Manor College