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Single Idea 8147

[filed under theme 16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self ]

Full Idea

There are two selves, the apparent self, and the real Self. Of these it is the real Self (Atman), and he alone, who must be felt as truly existing. To the man who has felt him as truly existing he reveals his innermost nature.

Clarification

'Atman' is a difficult word to translate

Gist of Idea

We have an apparent and a true self; only the second one exists, and we must seek to know it

Source

Anon (Upan) (The Upanishads [c.950 BCE], 'Katha')

Book Ref

'The Upanishads', ed/tr. Prabhavananda /Manchester [Mentor 1957], p.24

A Reaction

A central Hindu doctrine against which Buddhism rebelled, by denying the self altogether. I prefer the Hindu view. A desire to abandon the self just seems to be a desire for death. Knowledge of our essential self is more interesting. But see Idea 2932!

Related Idea

Idea 2932 'Know thyself' is impossible and ridiculous [Nietzsche]

The 29 ideas with the same theme [directly acquiring knowledge of our Selves]:

8147 We have an apparent and a true self; only the second one exists, and we must seek to know it [Anon (Upan)]
18463 Successful introspection reveals the substrate along with the object of thought [Porphyry]
21861 Self-knowledge needs perception of the affections of the body [Spinoza]
19362 We know the 'I' and its contents by abstraction from awareness of necessary truths [Leibniz]
5570 Self-knowledge can only be inner sensation, and thus appearance [Kant]
7543 We gain self-knowledge through action, not thought - especially when doing our duty [Goethe]
4191 What we know in ourselves is not a knower but a will [Schopenhauer]
21367 I know both aspects of my body, as representation, and as will [Schopenhauer]
19249 'Know yourself' is not introspection; it is grasping how others see you [Peirce]
20242 Things are the boundaries of humanity, so all things must be known, for self-knowledge [Nietzsche]
20249 Our knowledge of the many drives that constitute us is hopelessly incomplete [Nietzsche]
20378 Just as skin hides the horrors of the body, vanity conceals the passions of the soul [Nietzsche]
4551 Great self-examination is to become conscious of oneself not as an individual, but as mankind [Nietzsche]
22214 We never meet the Ego, as part of experience, or as left over from experience [Husserl]
22162 There is an everyday self, and an authentic self, when it is grasped in its own way [Heidegger]
7117 How could two I's, the reflective and the reflected, communicate with each other? [Sartre]
7123 Knowing yourself requires an exterior viewpoint, which is necessarily false [Sartre]
22225 My ego is more intimate to me, but not more certain than other egos [Sartre]
5322 Self-consciousness is not basic, because experiences are not instrinsically marked with ownership [Ayer]
3073 We see ourselves in the world as a map [Harman]
8129 Anti-individualism may be incompatible with some sorts of self-knowledge [Burge]
5671 Outer senses are as important as introspection in the acquisition of self-knowledge [Cassam]
5672 Is there a mode of self-awareness that isn't perception, and could it give self-knowledge? [Cassam]
5675 Neither self-consciousness nor self-reference require self-knowledge [Cassam]
20218 The self is known as much by its knowledge as by its action [Zagzebski]
18421 Proprioception is only immune from error if you are certain that it represents the agent [Cappelen/Dever]
18422 Prioprioception focuses on your body parts, not on your self, or indexicality [Cappelen/Dever]
18425 We can acquire self-knowledge with mirrors, not just with proprioception and introspection [Cappelen/Dever]
23519 The self is embodied, perspectival, volitional, narrative and social [Seth, by PG]