This course looks at questions of the self and personal identity:

• how do we think?

• how do we know we are the 'same' person that we were one year or ten years ago?

• What is a unity of consciousness?

From awareness of self to awareness of other people we will explore how we know others exist or have the same feelings as we do.

Outline

This course is divided up as follows:

Section 1: Introduction to the Course - About studying / doing philosophy
Section 2: Me, Myself - Personal Identity
Section 3: Myself and Others - Other Minds
Section 4: Other People - Myself in the World

Within each section are a variable number of topics, each of which constitutes a weeks work:

Topic 1: Introduction

A look at what philosophy is and what it is not. Asking the question 'Why study philosophy?' Starting to look at the concept of personal identity.

Topic 2: Me, Myself - 1

We take a look at questions such as 'What is the self?', 'Are we simply a bundle of perceptions as the 18th century philosopher David Hume says?' and 'What is it to be me rather than anyone else?' We explore some ideas of personal identity and take a look at some of the ideas of philosophers through the ages.

Topic 3: Me, Myself - 2

An examination of the unity of consciousness. 'How do we know that we continue to be the same person that we were when we were babies?', 'How far do our imaginations or memories play a part in the unity of self?' and 'What is it that holds ‘me’ together?'

What are our natural beliefs about unity of consciousness; self-consciousness and the sub-conscious. If, being a person requires self consciousness then, who or what are we when we are asleep or unconscious?

Does being a person require self consciousness? If so does this depend on a unity of consciousness?

Topic 4: Me, Myself - 3

Epistemological questions about us. When we talk about minds we never ask how many minds are there in the room; or bodies except when people are dead. What makes a person a person?

Ontological questions. Descartes foundational position mind body distinction. How do we think? Can we think abut thinking?

Topic 5: Me, Myself - 4

The question of freedom versus determinism. Are we psychologically free or are we psychologically restrained by mental laws in the way that we are physically restrained by the physical laws of nature.
Rules and regularities what is the difference? Patterns of behaviour how free are we to change?

Topic 6: Myself and Others - 1

How do we know there are other people? How do we relate to other people? From I to us/we/them/you: the first two include me; the las two exclude me. Solipsism. How do we know other people? How can we explain our intuitions, feelings of compassion, empathy and the like toward other people? A quick look at Behaviourism - is this the answer? The social self. How do we know what others mean?

Topic 7: Myself and Others - 2

The contrast between the world out there and me in here. Subjectivity v Objectivity. Language and communication - how do we know what others mean?

Topic 8: Myself and Others - 3

Perception. How do we interact with other people? Private and public perception. Perspectives - the view from nowhere. This will include the issue of fate and destiny. The way things can be changed simply by our perception or by other people’s perception of them. How can our predictions and expectations affect or influence events outside ourselves. Leading to issues of whether we can choose our own destinies. To what extent are our destinies set out for us and what does it mean to say this?

Topic 9: Other People - 1

A look at the private language argument. Another look at the importance of language. Others without us. People we don’t know yet feel compassion for. Making connections between ourselves and others. How do we do this? Creativity, imagination, human nature or nurture?

Topic 10: Other People - 2

Artificial Intelligence. Are human minds complicated machines? Are our minds hard wired inside our brains in an analogous way to the software we feed into our computers? This has huge implications for our freedom and sense of responsibility and especially for whether human beings have free will or not.

Who should take this course?

There are no entry requirements.

This course is for anyone who has a general interest in philosophy or psychology. It is meant to be an introduction but it has been designed so that people at all levels and interests in education will be able to take part.

Follow on

This is an excellent starter course from which students can go on to study other aspects of philosophy. This course is equivalent to level 1 in HE.

You will need

Browser:
PC: Netscape version 4.5 and above, Internet Explorer 5 and above
Mac OS: Netscape version 4.5 and above, Internet Explorer 5 and above, or Safari. Browser must be set to enable cookies.

Other browsers should work as well: enrol on the free Fire Balloon course if you are unsure.

Plug-ins: Flash Player and Quicktime.

Network connection: 56K modem minimum.

Entry Requirements

Entry Requirements

How long is this course?

About duration hours, and we suggest you set aside about 4 hours week - but it's up to you!. You will have tutor support for ***months*** months. You wil have access to your course for a year.

Your tutor

Your tutor for this course is

Jenni Jenkins

. You can find out more about her on the Tutors page.

Further information

Read a leaflet for this course

 

Do you have any further questions? Visit our Contact Us page and ask away.