The Approaches to Antiquity - Essay Example

Topic Philosophy Text Heading - Approaches to Self and Person in Antiquity(Summary) In this part of the text the mentions that definitely there is something called self and it can be collectively aimed at the owner of the body as well as the psychological feeling we undergo in ourselves. The author claims that the self can be an embodied consciousness with specific ownership attached to it According to the author, even the simplest form of animal has an embodied consciousness and owner of this consciousness.

The consciousness with its body, in order to practice self-preservation act against the world by creating a concept of “me “and “I”.A self is an individual owner of consciousness that view itself against the member of the world and acct in a particular way to defend and protect itself. This is the most important metaphysical description of the individual self. Every individual in their growing process, develop a picture about themselves, according to the role he plays in their life. This can be an identity of a male, female, daughter, baker, and doctor, or son as subjected to its previous life or fate.

“These pictures are not dictated by the metaphysical conception of self, which is too narrow to determine which picture will be determined”(Remes,13). It can be said that the self is free in its nature, and the picture or identity a self adopts largely depends on the predestined aspects of previous lives. So a self is not a brain, it is an energy that owns the consciousness with intellect and mind, and body to support it to create a human being to act on free will. Discussion of Text with Origin of Self by Daniel Dennett In this journal the author describes the self as a sort of immortal ghost who has possession of our body and controls the way we act.

But in reality, the self is not a ghost but is a consciousness with an owner, attached to mind, intellect, and body. It has the free will to decide its course of action but results are connected to its fate and predestined factors of its previous and present lives. The article centers on materialism, but in reality, it is spiritualism that is the center core of human existence. The animals of the simplest form possess a soul but they do not have free will and intellect to act upon. Since human beings are refined creation with intelligence, he is gifted with the free will to choose their activities and make decisions for themselves The self is not a ghost as the author claims but is a witness to the action of the mind, ego and intelligence.

The author is right in mentioning that a billion years ago there were only genderless creations and this can be related to the bacteria, plants, and algae’s existed solely before. They did have consciousness, but it was on a gross and unrefined level. They did not have minds or intelligence but acted on natural instincts. As the creation got more evolved, their physical structure and consciousness level got upgraded. Animals at lower levels act in a mechanical way and have no ego or free will like human beings.

Human beings are the most superior being and the final creation in the animal kingdom. In the article, it is mentioned that a self can have multiple identities as in the case of Multiple Personality Disorder. In this case, a person has three or more numbers of identities hidden in him which is hard to be understood or assess by any theologian or psychologist. But this psychological disorder is the delusion of the self because of ignorance or lack of knowledge of self and consciousness. A person is not necessarily born with multiple personality disorder.

But in the course of a lifetime, due to certain depression on frustration, one tends to take support from other identities to find joy and pleasure. This is also some kind of self-preservation technique undertaken by the self in order to protect its self and mental balance. Self-preservation is indeed a biological instinct and a person by nature wants shelter, food, sex, and clothing. The person gives utmost value to what is inside him rather than what is outside him. In an actual sense, the consciousness inside every human is the same but his ego, physical body, and intellect can vary according to his fate and per- destined factors.

A man is selfish in every sense, otherwise, his existence ceases to continue and he can face death. It is a fact that our existence or possession of self extends to the objects owned by us. We enlarge and shrink our thoughts at our convenience and comfort, but the single attention is only towards our “self” and its protection. Every creature on this planet has the instinct to protect itself, but a human being with a pure consciousness also can sacrifice himself for others if needed.