I believe the self is not the physical body but the mind and soul with in. Everybody has a different soul and hence a different self. During our lives we are constantly interacting with the world around us and it shapes and alters our true selves. And therefore when we examine our selves we are some times deceived and only see an image of our selves. For example a new self is likened to a blank canvas. As the picture gets painted it covers the canvas and alters it’s appearance. Similarly the self is hidden by our upbringing, and therefore what we perceive is an illusion. Some times under extremely stressful situations we may be forced to show our true selves. For example when a Antarctica expedition is lost and running low on food they may resort to cannibalism to survive, and most people could never imagine themselves doing such a thing.
Another popular view of the self is presented by D. Hume in the book a treatise of human nature. Hume believes that the self is a collection of our perceptions. He argues that because we are constantly perceiving we are nothing more than our perceptions. “I never catch myself at any one time without a perception, and never can observe any thing but the perception.” Therefore ourselves is our collection of perceptions. Hume believed that a deep unified self exists only in our imaginations and such a self is on illusion. This view could be compared to the gathering of a bunch of people of the same interest is known as a club, the idea of the club is just an illusion. The club is nothing more than a bunch of people. similarly when the bunch of perceptions is gathered into a self, that concept of the self is an illusion.
Not only the self could be an illusion but the whole universe we live in could be an illusion. How do we know that what we are living in is the reality and not virtual reality? For all we know we could be in the matrix. How do we know that we are in the real world? For all we know “death” could be the passage in to the real world, and we will never know until we are there. All these questions we cannot answer. They may seem to be absurd and the answer obvious, but when you really consider the possibilities there is a definite chance that this whole “reality” could be a virtual reality. If we are living in this big illusion, the chances of us finding our true selves is almost nonexistent.
In all the examples mentioned above the self my very well be what we think it is. The true self may turn out to be an illusion. We may end up being in something like the matrix. All these possibilities we are not certain of, some say it’s this some say that. but one can’t deny the possibility that the self we have created in our minds could be an illusion.
Bibliography
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Hume D. 1739/1962, ‘of personal identity’ ,in A Treaties of human nature, Book 1, part IV, section 6, Fontana/Collins, London, p 239. (readings from core module 2).
- Simon Blackburn 1996, ‘Oxford dictionary of philosophy’ ,personal identity, p 283.
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Chuang–tzu. 1981, ‘the butterfly dream’, in Chuang–tzu: the seven inner chapters, trans. By A.C. Graham, Allen & Unwin, Pan, London, p59–61.
Hume D. 1739/1962, ‘of personal identity’ ,in A Treaties of human nature, Book 1, part IV, section 6, Fontana/Collins, London, p 239. (readings from core module 2).
Simon Blackburn 1996, ‘Oxford dictionary of philosophy’ ,personal identity, p 283.
