The Self

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the idea of the self. According to the paper, the idea of the self refers to the inner life of the individual, something that of necessity is isolated from the observations of others and often from the observations of the individual him or herself. The paper further discusses how the self includes the psychological realm, a realm assumed and sensed but not explained in early thought and often not clearly explained to this day.

From the Paper:

"The form of Augustine's work is a confession, while that of Descartes in the Meditations is a diary of a fictional intellectual retreat lasting six days, with each day addressed in its own Meditation. The climax is reached on the third day, not the sixth, for it is at that time that Descartes convinces himself that his idea of God is something real and existent. In the First Meditation, Descartes expresses doubt that he has an idea of any really existing thing. In the Second Meditation, he states that to be deceived by the demon there must be a medium of deception, which is thought, and if there is thought, then there must be a thinker, meaning himself. The question that is then possible is whether what we experience is really true, meaning that such experiences are known by the self but that what the self experiences may not be real."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Augustine. Confessions. New York: Penguin, 1961.
• Descartes, RenJ. Meditations on First Philosophy. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1960.
• Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. New York: Penguin, 1997.
• O'Connell, Robert J. St. Augustine's Confessions. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1969.
• "Works of St. Augustine of Hippo," New Advent (2005), http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02089a.htm.

More papers on The Self:

• Poem Review # 124198 : "Narration in "The Self-Unseeing"
• Term Paper # 149119 : "Personal Reflection on "The Self"
• Term Paper # 149735 : "The Self in Society and Personal Life"
• Analytical Essay # 132004 : "Different Aspects of the Self"

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