What does it take to be the "same" person while we experience little changes that accumulate throughout time? Are we physical beings? Psychological beings? What is "self"?
Thursday, November 6, 2008
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- dsm
- Biostatistician, Biology and Philosophy Faculty, Lacrosse Addict
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14 comments:
NABILAH KEYS
It is up to us if we change or stay the same. Think about it, some of us change because what people tell us, we change because we learn new things and we begin to think a certain way. Sometimes you may like a certain food but after u find out what it truely is you make that decision to not eat it anymore. From birth some believe we are like a blank piece of paper that the world inflicts different things on, I believe we have our own personality but it is altered by parents, friends, and others surrounding us. How many times do we hear from other "grow-up" Well, whats the true definition of growing up. I believe we are both physical and psychological beings. Your body grows regardless whether you want it to or not. Psychological because the mind is alter when we choose to believe what others have inflicted on us. Which leads me to add are people really stubborn just because they wont change who they are? Self is an identity that no one has yet found. There has yet to be a person that wasnt influenced by someone so technically we are tiny bits and pieces of others. Its kind of like "everything Im NOT made me everything I AM"
Liz Stern
After watching “Freaky Friday”; a movie where a mother and a daughter spend a few days in each other’s body, I was able to philosophically evaluate the movie and find where I stand with knowing what self is. I feel that we are the same person from birth to death no matter the amount of changes we make throughout our lifetime. The distinct experiences I have throughout my life makes me different from every other being because not one other person has experienced everything I have. My family, my friends, my teachers, my coworkers, my future friends, future family, future teachers and co workers are all a part of what makes me, me. Being the same person to me is necessary because you are who you are because of the people and experiences that have come into your life, even if you have amnesia, the experience that caused you to have amnesia is and will always be a part of you even if you don’t remember what happened 2 hours ago. When I was 9 I was baptized, I was told that I was a different person and that all my sins were washed away, I felt then and I still feel now that I am the same person and nothing could change that.
I believe that the human body is a shell that allows us to walk and talk and live on earth. I also believe that the human body dies but the sole does not. So, I guess what I believe is that we are psychological beings. I believe that our body is laid to rest while our soul lives on. I think that maybe our souls or minds will one day be like ants congregating together in infinite numbers, its just a thought. We will never know what happens after death and I am perfectly fine with that.
What is self? I guess self is what one person is. Self could pertain to the whole package, the body, the soul, the mind, the brain, the heart, and other organs. The whole package is self. Although all things change we are still the same self. Our body grows, our mind changes, some people need organ transplants, these things happen and it doesn’t necessarily change the self. So many people go through life changing events and even use the term “I’m a completely different person,” this is just a saying; a metaphor for “I will never view things the same.” I believe that the person is just trying to express what kind of impact that event had on their life. My sister just had her first baby and I said things will never be the same, I am babysitting about once a week and I have taken on more responsibility on top of everything else. This doesn’t change who I am, this is an experience that is going to help my self grow.
When a person changes usually its for the better. But what makes them change is an event or influence that made them see themselves in a different or wrong way. We are psychological beings because we think for our selves. No one tells you what to wear or what to do in a bad situation. Everything is upon you, the person, to make the world a better place. If people change because other people want them to, i dont see that person liking the change and in turn actually hurting them in an emotional and psychological way. For a person to truly change they have to see how theyre actions are affecting the people around them. SO as humans we have the right not to change but due so to make everyone around us more comfortable.
When we are born we are a body that has a brain, a heart, lungs, kidneys, and so on and as grow that body will change and our internal organs will grow appropriately and develop accordingly. Even though you are still learning and and your brain grows with knowledge you still have the same brain. Or even though you might have to have a heart transplant, or a joint replaced you are still the same person cause you have the same body or shell if you want to call it that.
I believe that we are both physical and psychological beings. We are physical beings because we can actually be touch our presence is known we are just not a figment of someones imagination, we have structure, you just can't walk right through. We are a psychological being because we think, we ponder upon things, and we can share our knowledge.
“Self” is what makes you who you are it is your body and all your internal organs that we can not see, it is your brain and all you thoughts that you process those that you share with others and those that you keep to yourself.
S.Q.Hall
Jessica Meza
Have you ever wondered if you will remain the same person you are today, as little as ten years from now? Until recently, I never even thought about what it takes to be the same person in the past, present and future. I personally don’t think it takes a whole lot of effort to continue to be the same person in a lot of circumstances. As time passes from the time when we are babies, adolescent children to adults then seniors’ people undergo many changes that are involuntary. For example, the fact that for the most part we are all born and brought into this world by a woman with enough essentials to live and that everyone goes through puberty, women experience menopause, men tend to have some sort of a mid life crisis in their lifetime and just as we are all created for this world we all also eventually die. Some effortless physical attributes that one can not control are one’s height, facial features, color of the hair, eyes and skin. Then as we get older besides wisdom old age comes with grays, wrinkles, sun spots, arthritis, and the loss of muscle mass. Therefore, I believe that human beings are more psychological beings opposed to physical beings granted our body is necessary for us to express our brains functions. However, what is on the outside is superficial and only protects what is on the inside which is our intellectual minds. Our brain is what commands our body and without the vital organ the human being would not be the same. The brain is what our society works hard at using it to learn and grow so it drastically changes beginning as early as childhood when we learn to speak the language that is spoken in our homes. We further develop it through education, social interaction as well as visual and hearing stimulation. Thus self is everything mixed up into one it is what makes us unique apart from everyone else and we are individuals because we aren’t just one giant person built up into one. My self, just to name a few, includes all my personal experiences, perceptions, knowledge, personality, opinions, likes, dislikes, feelings, physical attributes, organs, body, voice and all else that only belongs to me.
Jessica Southland
I would have to say tht no matter what changes we go threw we will always be the same person. We may have learned more about life, or a different way to do something, had different and life altering experiences; but we are still the same person. Over time being able to see the different types of beings that habitat this earth I would have to come to the conclusion that most of are physical beings and the ones that are not are lucky because they are able to see out side the box. I mean if you look at all the advertisement out there that tells us how we should look, what we should wear, what is the better foods to eat, ect. So when it comes to what "self" is, I believe and go along with the idea that Sartre thought, that self identity is entirely a matter of personal choice and existentialism.
We do not have to do anything that we do not want to so we make the choice to make our "self" they way we would like to be perceived by others.
The self is consciousness of the person and uses it to identify themselves.
As Descartes believed, self identity was in the mind through virtues and thinking. It is hard to explain if our consciousness really does depend on our physical beings.
In some cases it does not change who we are if we lost a leg. Perhaps the experience did change the view of taking it for granted, but as far as being the same person through it all it doesn’t really change who you are, just your views on life.
However, this being said, if we were to lose our memory being diagnosed with amnesia, then the memory that kept our self identity is lost and the experiences that made us that person are lost as well.
So memory does play a huge part in being able to identify one self. Also, our souls may change on how we view things and our memory keeps those alive for us being able to remember who we changed into throughout experiences.
We are both physical beings and psychological beings. I believe we need both, in order to function. Our physical body and consciousness were made to depend on each other. Very vaguely, I would include that the brain and the heart and how they work together to keep us alive.
Zabrina Ybarra
I believe that we are physical and psychological beings. Self is a combination of body, mind and soul. I believe that your “self” evolves and changes, but you are always identified as you. I know that there are significant changes and traumatic experiences throughout life; however, I don’t believe that you would be identified as anything but you, regardless of those changes. When people acknowledge that they “are not the same person”, I believe they are acknowledging significant changes that have accrued to evolve them. I don’t think that many would argue that you more or less keep the same body that you came into the world with, though it deteriorates. As far as soul goes, I look at it as a physical identity that lives on after death as your “body”. The mind is more complicated as your personality constantly evolves. That is easy to see when you look back to the time you were sixteen and the world was so much different then it is now. However, I still have the same memories and morals and values and emotions toward many people now as I did then. I am still the same, but I have evolved. “Self “ is everything that you know about you as well as how others perceive you. It is constant and same.
Many of you didn't really answer the questions that were asked. Are we physical or psychological beings, or both? Why? What makes us view ourselves as fundamentally the same even though we change over time?
Peter Ngor.
Self identity is one of the things that people are strugling many time. Sometime you feel like you know yourself until when someone else reveal to you that you do not really know yourself that well. well people always say things that will bring you down and i thinks that could be a healthy thing as well as a bad things. for me i do know that i learned to identify myself from within me as from other people complements on others things that i thought i known. To my knowldge i was not born with all the things that i know right now rather i learned them from parents and others people a round me. many time i do hear from peolpe that i am a friendly person and i knewn that in my heart i always wanted to be friendly to people and so that is one of my personal idnetity. However there are so many others things people identify me with that are not true of me as well. therefore do not depend on others people for yourself identity alone. In this regard i learned to trust my gut for who i am and that is where myself identity come from and that is within me.
Susan McCliment
People change, it's inevitable. We are nothing if not the sum of our experiences; since we are continually subjected to new experiences through time, we change. How then, do we view ourselves? What constitues "self", and how do we reconcile the person we were, the person we are, and the person we are going to become?
We are both physical and psychological beings. One need only look at the number of medications to treat our "selves" to know the physical nature of self. Antidepressants, antipsychotics and other mind-altering chemicals effect the make-up of our brains and our bodies. Traumatic head injuries can cause drastic changes in personality. Diseases that attack the brain, such as syphilis and alzheimer's disease are also known to impact personality by direct physical alteration of the brain.
Traumatic emotional events, such as the death of a loved one, also change people's personalities, their "selves". Everybody has specific moments, experiences in their life that are defining to their personalities. While we remember the major events, every experience we have adds into the sum, causing a change to who we are. These are purely psychological events, with no accompanying physical change.
Ultimately, "self", who we are, is the sum of our experiences as processed through our brain's physiology. Being "the same person" is impossible; the best one can hope for is that the person we were would respect the person we are, and the person we are remembers, appreciates and honors the person we were.
Ryan Keene
Being a specific person is a matter of what we decide to show. It is affected by many reasons and most of which in my opinion are social and genetic. It is possible to be the same person regardless of all of the aesthetic changes that occur throughout our lives. The person you are is anamorphic at all times just as if it were a clock changing time. The person that you are psychologically is the same if you choose to keep it the same, however it will mature over time. This does not mean that you will think differently about certain things, nor does it mean that you are a different person. We are physical and mental beings, and it is a symbiotic relationship, and also a separate one. Both depend on eachother and yet can work independanly. For instance, one can overcome being tired physically and stay awake. When someone is considered "brain dead" their body is still functioning. In a nutshell, we are who we want to be, and that is the choice in character that defines us as an individual, and it is what defines a person's self. A person's "self" is something that like character is always changing, however like the clock, will always go back to a certain point no matter what part of life they are in. It will always be specific to that person, and it will always be what defines that person as a "self". Without change, the mind and body become dormant, and that in my opinion is void of life, self, and character.
Change is invenible we will always be change and change our surroundings. Yes it is true that we can stay the same but it is hard to stay the same. Different things are always happening in the world we live in and we will absorb the change weather we like it ir not. For example, the USA economy is going through a difficult time and that is effecting everybody. People are not spending their money like they use to, an example of change that people have to absorb. We are both physical and psychological beings. We have the potential to change energy in all it forms, and our mind controls the body that does so. Self is what we make, also known as our personality.
Stephanie S.
Nicole Hahlen
I believe we are who we chose to be so if we chose to let ourselves change than we will, but if we chose to be the same person than our emotions will not take over and change us. Everybody changes for their own reasons some because they let people shape them into what they are and others to fit into groups. While there are still some individuals out there who are who they are because they chose to be that way. I personally feel we are the same person from when we are born to when we die. People experience alot of different things throughout thier life some worse than others although we as the person never physically change, the world around us is doing all the changing not the person. Thier are things in this world that alter who we are although do not physically change who we are we learn more and more daily although we never change. Things and people in our life change daily along with the world. New experiences are taught and different ways of doing things but the person themself are and will always be the same being in my personal opinion.
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