Personal Identity versus Social Identity
The personal identity phenomenon has been attracting philosophers throughout history and has been recognized as one of the central philosophical issues. At first sight, personal identity equals to the awareness of the individual self. Therefore, some medieval thinkers, including Descartes, considered personal identity as a soul, which makes people who they are. However, one significant difference between Descartes’ and others’ perception lies in his doubts regarding the veracity of sense perception and respectful knowledge of them that can be deceptive and misleading.
Descartes laid the foundation for Cartesian philosophy, which represented a culture of reason and confidence in thought’s supreme power. The human mind, according to Descartes, can elevate and glorify people. Moreover, he claims that it is impossible to come up with something of what people are not thinking. This thesis lays the foundation of Descartes’ definition of personal identity ‒ I think, therefore I am ‒ as an appeal to question everything, both visible and perceived, as well as to consider it as non-existent, including the individual self.
Cartesian philosophy attracted many proponents. Even Pascal, who was harboring resentful feelings toward Descartes, supported his contemporary’s opinion that any person …show more content…
According to Descartes, the thought helps realize who a human being is. Furthermore, it does not need anything else except itself as the reason of self-consciousness, which turns out the only obvious reality. In particular, the explanation of all objects of the external world is expressed through the correlation with self, regarding identity. In short, personal identity appears to be the reason and inception of everything happening in the world. At the same time, the cognitive skills of an individual limit the
The personal identity phenomenon has been attracting philosophers throughout history and has been recognized as one of the central philosophical issues. At first sight, personal identity equals to the awareness of the individual self. Therefore, some medieval thinkers, including Descartes, considered personal identity as a soul, which makes people who they are. However, one significant difference between Descartes’ and others’ perception lies in his doubts regarding the veracity of sense perception and respectful knowledge of them that can be deceptive and misleading.
Descartes laid the foundation for Cartesian philosophy, which represented a culture of reason and confidence in thought’s supreme power. The human mind, according to Descartes, can elevate and glorify people. Moreover, he claims that it is impossible to come up with something of what people are not thinking. This thesis lays the foundation of Descartes’ definition of personal identity ‒ I think, therefore I am ‒ as an appeal to question everything, both visible and perceived, as well as to consider it as non-existent, including the individual self.
Cartesian philosophy attracted many proponents. Even Pascal, who was harboring resentful feelings toward Descartes, supported his contemporary’s opinion that any person …show more content…
According to Descartes, the thought helps realize who a human being is. Furthermore, it does not need anything else except itself as the reason of self-consciousness, which turns out the only obvious reality. In particular, the explanation of all objects of the external world is expressed through the correlation with self, regarding identity. In short, personal identity appears to be the reason and inception of everything happening in the world. At the same time, the cognitive skills of an individual limit the