Personhood, self, supreme being(s): an introduction to Metaphysics

Who am I?

Circle time:  Look at the posters. 

 Which one represents a part of you?  How?

You may have to share the poster with someone else.

"The unexamined life is not worth living."

Socrates (469 - 399 BCE)

Big Questions of Metaphysics: Presentation 

Self: Main ideas from text

How do you define the ''self''?

Notes from text.

Bundle Theory
Who: David Hume

• the "Bundle" refers to the collection of experiences that you carry around with you forever.
• the Bundle represents your experiences.
• It's a loose collection of PERCEPTIONS about your past experiences.

Project Theory
Who: Jean-Paul Sartre

• the "Project" refers to an ongoing, never-ending project, like the building of a bridge that never ceases.
• always evolving, your "self" is always changing, it's connected to the past (experiences) and the future.
• The exact nature of the project that Sartre refers to is connected to the soul, morals, conscious thinking.

Narrative Theory
Who: Ricoeur:

• The image of a "Book" comes to mind, somewhere to write your own story.
• The main character is created by one's experiences and present events.
• The story is related to other people too, and everyone's book intermixes.
• Your story never ends, even after death as your story continues to be written in other people's narratives (books).

Substance Theory:
Who: Descartes

• the "Substance" is a mental substance of the mind, NOT derived from material things.
• This is the opposite of the Bundle Theory.
• Experiences do NOT change the self, they only send the self in difference directions.
• This is analogous to a sail boat, e.g., "the HMS Self" - the wind are experiences that may change the boat's direction in the water but do not change the boat in any way.

Your turn!  Into your notes definitions for the following:

• idealist
• realism
• materialism
• monists
• dualists
• ontology
• determinism
• substance
• essence
• form