Using the text and online resources in this module, summarize any video, and respond to one of the following focused questions in at least 500 words. (Be sure to cite online sources by author or title and date as well as Web address/URL.) Also, respond to two classmates (at least 100 words).
Focused Questions:
- Describe Locke’s empirical approach to the self as a tabula rasa. How is memory central to the notion of self-identity in Locke’s philosophy? What are the strengths and weakness of memory as the key to self-identity?
- Describe Hume’s argument that the self is a fiction or artificial construct. How does Hume’s argument compare to the Buddhist concept of anatta or no-self?
- Examine the changing perception of the personal identity from the ancients to contemporary eliminative materialists. How is the perception of the brain different than the perception of the soul?
- Browse through Chapter 4 (optional) and the Online Resources on Free Will and Determinism. How does freewill and determinism apply to our perception of the self?
