Who am I The realization of ones self Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Who am I The realization of ones self - Essay Example Descartes Rene was a French philosopher who lived between 1595 and 1650. He was among the initial modern time philosophers to put in serious effort in ending numerous doubts on the negative ideas raised against knowledge. Alongside his interests in ancient mathematics, Descartes had interests in body and mind interrelations. Over the years, his ideas on the interrelation between body and mind have been of great significance to philosophy. Initially, his journals were in French but scholars later used them and made translations for easy understanding for the current generation. The meditation concepts that he came up with were the starting point for modern day philosophy. In addition, he tore down the notion that knowledge drew attribution from mental senses but instead focused on logic and credibility. In so doing, he developed the justification as to why things existed through his six meditation concepts. The objective of this paper shall be to outline the second meditation and draw relevant meaning to Descartes definition of ‘I’ and ‘self’. Secondly, it will dwell on other definitions of the two nouns then also bring out my definition of the same to illustrate whether other things actually do exist. Lastly, it will explore the implications of my definition towards the existence of others and carefully examine Socrates view on my perception. According to the second meditation of Descartes, the first step towards understanding ‘I’ and ‘self’ is through realization of the existence of an object or a being. Therefore, he starts by analyzing the two nouns that bring out his meaning. He gives the first as Cognoscere, which is a French word that means getting to know or discovering, or coming to a realization (Rene’ 9). The second word that he gives as part of the definition process is Cognitio that he refers to as the act of knowing because of the realization of the existence aspect. According to the second meditation of Descartes, the first step towards understanding ‘I’ and ‘self’ is through realization of the existence of an object or a being. Therefore, he starts by analyzing the two nouns that bring out his meaning. He gives the first as Cognoscere, which is a French word that means getting to know or discovering, or coming to a realization. The second word that he gives as part of the definition process is Cognitio that he refers to as the act of knowing because of the realization of the existence aspect. In essence, everything else exists beyond reasonable doubt mainly because he also exists at that particular time. Other thinkers, scholars, and publishers refer to ‘I’ as the individual aspect of a writer or a speaker when claiming ownership or existence. In other words, it is the active state of an individual in the present form. The complexity has seen diverse understanding and critics from scholars. It is different to ‘me’ in the sense that the latter is a result of mingling with others to internalize the ‘self’ aspect. ‘I’ shows reference to ones ego while ‘self’ is the claim to ownership to something. Self can also be the distinctive features that one has over all others. For instance, it is the process of identifying with the traits of oneself. However, my own understanding of ‘I’ would be that it is my own identity in terms of object possession. There are many other forms of identity, which includes personal names of an individual, but for me this word can also show reference to self. Predominantly, the ‘I’ factor is a symbol of individuality in that when I say, â€Å"I am alive† it means that for a fact I have acknowledged the fact of my existence. It is also a reference to self as people can only refer to an individual as ‘you’ and not ‘I’. More so, it is an introductory word used when one is trying to illustrate their names. In an example, a sentence starts with ‘I am’ then ‘so and so’. Therefore, the usage of any other word would be wrong in giving this description,