What issues does the film 'The Matrix' raise about our sense of self and knowledge of the world around us?
YouTube Clips;
How does Descartes go about doubting the senses and reasoning? What can we be certain of and why?
Resource: Philosophy Pages
What is Solipsism? Why is it particularly difficult to be sure that other people have minds?
Resource: IEP
‘How do I know I’m not alone?’
‘ME, MYSELF & I’
- what makes me ‘me’?
- Could I be ‘me’ all by myself? (i.e. without a language I share with others? Without relationships? Without belonging to a culture that shares beliefs and values?)
- what makes me ‘me’?
- Could I be ‘me’ all by myself? (i.e. without a language I share with others? Without relationships? Without belonging to a culture that shares beliefs and values?)
13 comments:
Well, genetics.
I'd be a totally different person if I had someone elses' DNA.
I think a lot of things make up a person. DNA has a lot to do with it, but in my opinion the mind and personality is developed through social interaction, ie. all the people we've met, the conversations we've had with people, tv shows we've watched, what we've learnt in school and our upbringing.
If we took all that away we'd still have our DNA but we'd be completely different people...would the core of our minds still be the same though??
Good point. Environmental issues probably affect us the most really. Music, TV and the media has a big effect on people. And would you have the same opinions and memories if you hadn't been brought up by your parents, but by someone else?
It would change most things about me, it would change my morals and my values and the way I do things, but it wouldnt change everything. A lot of people rebel against their upbringing because they disagree with the way their parents think. But then, sometimes a person rebels because of the parents they have I suppose, so maybe it's all still affected by their parents and they wouldnt have rebelled or acted so different from their parents if they hadnt have been with their parents their whole life.
I think religion has a huge factor too. Even if a person isnt religious, I dont think anybody in the world would be the same without religion, because it's been with us for thousands of years. It's hard to imagine a world without it, and how people would be. Most aspects of our lives are guided by it, in my opinion.Can you think of anything that would still be the same?
Religion shaped whole countries and always has, even people who aren't religious tend to celebrate holidays like Christmas, and even old pagan ones like halloween.
I definately think what makes you your own person is how other people have influenced you. How would you be if you'd been in isolation, e.g. Descartes' Cave, and never spoken to anyone before?
How would you communicate and express yourself, presumably you'd have no language?
Would you have anything to express?
That's a really difficult question, you'd think you'd have a lot of questions about the outside world and quite a lot to say, but actually...maybe there would be nothing to say. I dont know, human instinct would make us want to explore and see the world but because nothing would have been fed into our minds, and we'd have no language...we probably wouldnt have personalities at all,we'd be very primitive and only care about the basic things like food. But we'd probably want to have some kind of social interaction because it is instinctive to want to have friends and definitely to find relationships with the opposite sex.
you also couldn't come back to the cave and explain anything, communicate or express what you want to someone that hasn't left the cave, couldn't you say that in the cave it's a solopsistic world cause you are the only person to know what else is out there, others in the cave wouldn't even know they exist
but if you were one of plato's cave people and you'd never had any sense experience of relationships how could you want one?
would you even know what one is if it happened to you or you witnessed one on leaving the cave?
Our summary for the question "What makes me me":
"Higher order thinking defines your humanity, what you think defines your individuality, the two combined define your personality and makes you a person."
In my opinion it's what you grow up with, and your personal expiernces; nurture not nature. I belive your bioloigy and your genes do not define you as a person nor does it contribute to how you make your choices, and i belive it's the descions you make in your life that make you, you.
Without any infuences from your family and friends you would not be 'you' ans you would have no interactions.
Without language you would not be 'you' either becasue you could not have values, intrests or desires becasue you simply would not know what they were. You would not have that desire for anything more.You would'nt be able to expiernce anything so without expiernces you could not come to a conclusion about how you feel in that certain circumstance, thus giving you no opinion.
A big part in who you are, in my opinion, is what you belive, Weather that be in karma and or religion. And again without lanuage you would not belive in anything as you would have no influences to bring you to that conclusion.
if you were isolated in a patos cave esc mannou, away from any type of cultre, and again without language you would not devlop any type of personality.
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