The cornerstone of Socrates’s philosophy was the Delphic Oracle’s command to “Know thyself.” But what exactly does that mean? Who exactly is your “self”? What are the qualities that define it? What differentiates your particular “self” from all others? What is the relation of the “self” you were as a child to the “self” you are now? What is the relation of your “self” to your “body”? How does your “self” relate to other “selves”? What happens to a “self” when the body dies? In what ways is it possible for you to “know” your “self”? In what ways might you never fully know your “self”? What do you mean when you say, “I don’t feel like myself today” or when you encourage someone else to “Just be yourself!”
As with many themes and issues in philosophy, the nature of the self is a subject that most people take for granted. Many people simply live, assuming the existence of their personal self-identity. And when they do think about their self, their concerns are typically practical rather than philosophical: How can I make myself happy? How can “I” (shorthand for my “self”) develop fulfilling relationships with other selves? How can I improve myself? And so on. Yet when we go searching for our self with a philosophical lens, we soon discover that what we thought was a straightforward and familiar presence is in fact elusive, enigmatic, and extraordinarily complex.
Developing insight into the nature of the human self in general and into your self in particular is a daunting task, underscored by the less-than-successful efforts of the best human thinkers for nearly 3,000 years. Yet if we are to fulfill Socrates’s exhortation to live an examined life, a life of purpose and value, we must begin at the source of all knowledge and significance—our self.
“We are unknown, we knowers, ourselves to ourselves; this has good reason. We have never searched for ourselves—how should it then come to pass, that we should ever find ourselves?” Friedrich Nietzsche
Begin your explanation of your “self” by responding to the questions in the Thinking Philosophically Box, Do You Know Yourself? The difficulties that you may encounter when completing those questions are an indication of the philosophical challenges posed by the concept of self. As your philosophical understanding becomes deeper and more sophisticated, your appreciation for the profound nature of these questions will grow as well. Those people who provide simple, ready-made answers to questions like these are likely revealing a lack of philosophical understanding. (“Of course I know myself . . . I’m me!”) So don’t be concerned if you find that you are beginning to get confused about subjects like the self that you thought you understood—such confusion is the sign of a lively, inquiring mind. As the newspaperman and writer H. L. Mencken noted: “To every complex question there’s a simple answer—and it is clever, neat, and wrong!”
Your responses also likely reflected the cultural and religious environment in which you were raised. Cultures that originated in Europe have tended to use a common religious and philosophical framework for understanding the self that was first introduced by Socrates and Plato in ancient Greece. For example, did your responses reflect the belief that your self
is a unique personal identity that remains the same over time?
is synonymous with your “soul”?
is a very different sort of thing from your “body”?
can be understood by using your reasoning abilities?
will continue to exist in some form after your body dies?
is able to connect with other selves in some personal way?
If you found that your responses reflected some (or all) of these beliefs, don’t be surprised. These beliefs form the basic conceptual framework for understanding the self that has shaped much of Western religious and philosophical thought. So to fully appreciate the way our most fundamental views regarding ourselves have been formed, it makes sense for us to return to the birthplace of those views 2,500 years ago and then to trace the development of these perspectives up to the current century. As we journey on this quest for the self, we will also encounter some non-Western perspectives as well, such as the Buddhist concept of anatta or “no-self,” which is covered in this chapter. Buddhist doctrine believes that the notion of a permanent self that exists as a unified identity through time is an illusion. For Buddhists, every aspect of life is impermanent, and all elements of the universe are in a continual process of change and transition, a process that includes each self as well. The self can best be thought of as a flame that is continually passed from candle to candle, retaining a certain continuity but no real personal identity—a concept very different from the self of Western consciousness.