Deck 6: Self

Question 1

Leibniz argued that mental events and physical events do not really interact but, in fact, stand in a "preestablished harmony" with one another.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Most philosophers find it necessary to embrace some version of the theory of solipsism.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Emotions are not simply feelings but also require some reference to the situation and the person's engagement in it.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

According to Hegel, we discover our true selves only when we break through social conventions and become individuals free of society's influence.

Question 5

One difficulty for John Locke's memory theory of self-identity is that if Jones were to wake up with Smith's brain after a brain transplant, even though Jones would have Smith's memories, Jones probably wouldn't be able to say which self she is.

Question 6

Philosophers who defend a holistic conception of self reject reducing questions of the mind and body to questions about the brain.

Question 7

Jean-Jacques Rousseau defended a version of individualism when he claimed that humans were naturally good but became corrupt through the influence of society and social conventions.

Question 8

Aristotle located emotions in the id ("it")as opposed to the ego, suggesting that they threatened the integrity of the self rather than being part of it.

Question 9

If philosophical behaviorism is true, then pains and other sensations are simply identified with the dispositions to behave in a certain way.

Question 10

Functionalists argue that mental states are functions of the brain and can have no other material embodiment.

Question 11

If Sartre's existential account of the self is true, then the self is an unfinished process until the end of our lives.

Question 12

John Stuart Mill's argument from analogy begins by assuming that other persons have minds like your own.

Question 13

What we think of ourselves and what we think of as significant about ourselves depend, to a great extent, on the context in which we are trying to explain who we are.

Question 14

Being "attractive" or "good-looking" makes sense only in the context of a particular society.

Question 15

According to Sartre, bad faith ( mauvaise foi )is our betrayal of our true, core selves.

Question 16

Identity theorists point to the way "wet" and "cold" water are also the same as "H 2 O" as an example of how something can be identical but have two different descriptions.

Question 17

A person's self-identity is separate and independent of the way he or she characterizes his or her essential self.

Question 18

David Hume agreed with Descartes that there was a single self, but disagreed with him about the nature of this single self.

Question 19

If we know our own mind directly and without any doubts, it follows that we can know other people's minds directly as well.

Question 20

Søren Kierkegaard thought that one's most important mission in life was to cultivate the self by cultivating one's passions, in particular, a passionate commitment to God.

Question 21

Functionalists argue that mental states are functions that

A)can be embodied in different materials, including brains and computers.
B)have no physical embodiment.
C)can occur only in brains.
D)are identical with different behaviors.

Question 22

A person's self-identity consists in

A)only a particular description, such as "I am from Toledo."
B)only a general description, such as "I am a human being."
C)both a general and a particular description.
D)neither a general nor a particular description.

Question 23

For a behaviorist, if being in love is a mental state, it would have to be

A)a sequence of behaviors, such as agitation in the presence of the loved one, writing long letters in the middle of the night, etc.
B)an inner feeling.
C)an aspect of an underlying mental substance.
D)impossible to observe.

Question 24

The essential self consists in

A)the various descriptions of ourselves that we produce for various occasions.
B)the set of characteristics that defines a particular person, beneath the various descriptions of ourselves that we produce for various occasions.
C)whatever we believe ourselves to be.
D)whatever others believe us to be.

Question 25

Hegel, Marx, and Heidegger are in agreement on the fact that human selves are primarily social beings.

Question 26

In Spinoza's dual-aspect theory, the mind and the body are

A)two different substances that are in a preestablished harmony.
B)two aspects of one and the same substance.
C)two aspects of an underlying mental reality.
D)two aspects of a nonsubstantial reality.

Question 27

The sense of shared identity we feel on a team is a good example of the "us versus them" approach to understanding relationships.

Question 28

Mill's argument from analogy begins with the fact that

A)solipsism is necessarily true.
B)the other's bodily movements and mental states are correlated.
C)your mental states and your bodily movements are correlated.
D)there are no minds, only bodies.

Question 29

To say that emotions have intentionality is to say that they

A)are about or "directed toward" people, things, or states of affairs.
B)are purposeful and deliberate.
C)intend either good or evil.
D)are simply physiological states of the body.

Question 30

If John Locke's theory of the self as consciousness is correct, then

A)bodies do not exist.
B)someone who has amnesia about his life in the past could be said to be a different self.
C)only God knows who our selves are.
D)solipsism is true.

Question 31

I f substances cannot interact, then it must be true that either (1)mind and body do not interact or

A)(2)mind and body do not exist.
B)(2)mind and body are social constructions.
C)(2)mind and body are one.
D)(2)mind and body are not separate substances.

Question 32

The egocentric predicament begins with the assumption that

A)we are, at root, selfish beings.
B)we are destined to live always alone in the world.
C)we know our own mind directly and beyond any doubt.
D)we can have no knowledge of the external world.

Question 33

According to Aristophanes, love has its origins in the desire for completion and the search for the other half of oneself.

Question 34

From the moment we are born, we establish and reestablish bonds with others, not just particular people, but types of people.

Question 35

When William James argued that emotions were feelings, he meant that they were

A)irrational feelings.
B)the feelings caused by changes in the body.
C)similar to ESP.
D)feelings of a divine presence.

Question 36

Jean-Paul Sartre would argue that theories that identify the self with thinking or with memory are misconceived because

A)the self is identical with the brain.
B)there is no self.
C)the self is a pattern of behavior.
D)the self lies always in the future; it is what we aim toward, as we try to make ourselves into something.

Question 37

Our religious and philosophical traditions have taught us to emphasize

A)our mental and spiritual characteristics.
B)our physical characteristics.
C)our places of national origin.
D)our family history.

Question 38

An objection to the idea of cultivating our self through our passions or emotions is that

A)the self is a set of memories that define who we are.
B)our emotions are mental and not physical.
C)our emotions are physical and not mental.
D)our emotions sometimes make us misperceive the way things really are and motivate us to do things that, with just a moment's clear thinking, we certainly would not do.

Question 39

One objection to identity theory is that if mental states are identical with brain states, then

A)they should not be able to interact, which they can.
B)our physical descriptions of behavior are inaccurate.
C)they should both have the same properties, which they don't.
D)mentalistic language should be replaced.

Question 40

According to the authors of the text, our certainty that we are individuals demonstrates a core truth about our essential selves.

Question 41

What does identity theory say mental states are?

Question 42

What does Sartre mean by transcendence ?

Question 43

There are in general two broad conceptions of relationships: "us versus them" and

A)"me versus them."
B)"Spirit."
C)"us together."
D)"you."

Question 44

According to Sartre, the way I choose to respond to the facts of my life is my

A)facticity.
B)essence.
C)transcendence.
D)egocentric predicament.

Question 45

The notion that we find our self-identity within universal Spirit, as it struggles through human history to know itself as Spirit, is a conclusion arrived at by

A)Dewey.
B)Hume.
C)Sartre.
D)Hegel.

Question 46

What is Adam Smith's "invisible hand"?

Question 47

Buddhists and David Hume would agree that

A)there is no individual self.
B)there is a cosmic self.
C)there is an essential self.
D)the self is an aspect of consciousness and not the body.

Question 48

It can be argued that we recognize thoughts only because

A)we have the words and concepts of our language that allow us to do so.
B)those thoughts arise from a core, essential self.
C)we exist as individuals prior to our social context.
D)there is no self.

Question 49

The image of man as "an onion," with hundreds of different layers (selves)and no core, was developed by

A)Dewey.
B)Sartre.
C)Hesse.
D)Hegel.

Question 50

Why is it false to call emotions irrational or unintelligent?

Question 51

What does it mean for somebody to be in bad faith ?

Question 52

According to Jean-Paul Sartre, our relationships

A)begin in harmony, and then break down.
B)demonstrate the existence of a core self.
C)are really more about "we" than "us versus them."
D)are always characterized by conflict.

Question 53

Briefly explain why, according to Thomas Nagel, it's so difficult to understand what it's like to be a bat.

Question 54

Describe Aristophanes's fable or myth of the origins of love.

Question 55

What is solipsism?

Question 56

The authors of our text point out that our image of ourselves as individuals is paradoxical because

A)in fact selves do not exist.
B)it is an image that we have been taught by society, precisely because we are not mere individuals.
C)it implies we are always in bad faith.
D)the self is "Spirit," as Hegel says.

Question 57

What does behaviorism say about the nature of the mental?

Question 58

The idea that an "invisible hand" will guarantee the overall good of society through the workings of a free and competitive market is the invention of

A)Adam Smith.
B)David Hume.
C)Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
D)John Locke.

Question 59

Martin Heidegger believed that

A)all our relationships are essentially conflicts.
B)the social good will best be served by everyone pursuing his or her own interests.
C)every man falls in love with his mother and every woman falls in love with her father.
D)we are originally part of a community "with others," and our challenge is to learn to be "authentic" within this community.

Question 60

What is the argument from analogy for other minds?

Question 61

Develop a fictional dialogue in which two characters argue over whether the self is an individual or social reality. The two characters should construct arguments and offer criticisms of one another's arguments. They can agree to disagree, or find some areas of agreement.   The dialogue should address various conceptions of the self and self-identity, including self-identity; how the self relates to body; the self as consciousness and memory; the self as emotion; the self as social; and the self in relationships. You might also stage this dialogue as an oral presentation for your class, or make a video of it.

Question 62

Bill cuts himself and, feeling pain, cries out "Ouch."   Bill's experience seems to have both physical and mental dimensions-how can this be possible? Write an essay discussing Bill's experience in light of the various attempts to understand and resolve the mind-body problem. Focus on explaining the problem, and then present six solutions to it: Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, behaviorism, identity theory, and functionalism.   What are the pros and cons of each of these theories-does any one theory seem stronger than the others? Why?   Do the theories make any common assumptions about the nature of the mind and body?   Is there an alternative way of conceiving of these realities that is invulnerable to the mind-body problem?

Question 63

This is an exercise in experimental philosophy. Interview five to seven people, asking them (a)to list five or more qualities essential or significant for who they are as selves. (If they need help, you can give them a starter list that includes sex, race, body type, job, etc.)  Then create a sheet with short statements that present clearly and simply the major views on self in this chapter (e.g., self as body, self as consciousness, self as social, etc.). (b)Ask your interviewees to rank the viewpoints in terms of which they find most and least believable. (c)Ask them to briefly explain their rankings. Make sure you record the results of your interviews. How do the results from (a), (b)and (c)match up? Are the qualities thought to be essential to oneself (a)what one would expect in light of the answers to (b)and (c)?   Feel free to change these questions and/or to add additional questions. Write up your results and look for emerging patterns and interesting differences among the viewpoints of your interviewees.   What did you learn about how people "on the street" conceive of the self? How is this different from or similar to the way philosophers have thought about the self?

Question 64

What is it like to be a bat? Is there any way that you can know what it feels like to be a bat, or what a bat's experience feels like to the bat? If not, how much can you know, or how much can you empathize with, a bat or, in fact, any other living thing, including other human beings?    Alternatively, supposing that you were an intelligent bat, how could you communicate your experience to humans? If a bat could talk, would we (humans)be able to understand it? Construct an argument for your own viewpoint.   Develop at least two objections or counterarguments to your viewpoint and answer them. You can draw freely on resources in the chapter, but you're not limited to them. (You may want to consult David Foster Wallace's essay "Consider the Lobster," for example.)For "bat," you may substitute another name of a kind of being (including a human being), with permission from your professor.

Question 65

Write an essay addressing the question: What is the self?   The essay should discuss the various conceptions of the self and self-identity sketched in this chapter, including conceptions that relate self to body, to consciousness and memory, and to emotion. What are the pros and cons of these conceptions?   What conception (or combination of conceptions)is the strongest, and why?

Question 66

What does it mean to be a self?   Construct an argument for your own viewpoint.   You'll be arguing for some version of the conclusion "The self is X."   Develop one objection or counterargument and answer that objection.   Your essay can focus on key issues, such as whether the self is an individual, a body, social, etc. You can draw freely on resources in the chapter, but you're not limited to this. ​