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66-468: The meaning of the Sanskrit root of the word swami is "[he who is] one with his self " ( swa stands for "self"), and can roughly be translated as "he/she who knows and is master of himself/herself". The term is often attributed to someone who has achieved mastery of a particular yogic system or demonstrated profound devotion ( bhakti ) to one or more Hindu gods . The Oxford English Dictionary gives

132-432: A dialectical determination of the nature of the soul. He begins by conceding that attempting to define the soul is one of the most difficult questions in the world. But he proposes an ingenious method to tackle the question: Just as we can come to know the properties and operations of something through scientific demonstration, i.e. a geometrical proof that a triangle has its interior angles equal to two right angles, since

198-438: A Neoplatonic synthesis. The text was translated into Persian in the 13th century. It is likely based on a Greek original which is no longer extant, and which was further syncretised in the heterogeneous process of adoption into early Arabic literature. A later Arabic translation of De Anima into Arabic is due to Ishaq ibn Hunayn (d. 910). Ibn Zura (d. 1008) made a translation into Arabic from Syriac. The Arabic versions show

264-426: A [the column on the left side of the page], line number 1.) DA I.1 introduces the theme of the treatise; DA I.2–5 provide a survey of Aristotle’s predecessors’ views about the soul DA II.1–3 gives Aristotle's definition of soul and outlines his own study of it, which is then pursued as follows: DA II.4 discusses nutrition and reproduction; DA II.5–6 discuss sensation in general; DA II.7–11 discuss each of

330-436: A complicated history of mutual influence. Avicenna (d. 1037) wrote a commentary on De Anima , which was translated into Latin by Michael Scotus . Averroes (d. 1198) used two Arabic translations, mostly relying on the one by Ishaq ibn Hunayn, but occasionally quoting the older one as an alternative. Zerahiah ben Shealtiel Ḥen translated Aristotle's De anima from Arabic into Hebrew in 1284. Both Averroes and Zerahiah used

396-416: A corresponding thinking-organ. And since all the senses have their corresponding sense-organs, thinking would then be like sensing. But sensing can never be false, and therefore thinking could never be false. And this is of course untrue. Therefore, Aristotle concludes, the mind is immaterial. Perhaps the most important but obscure argument in the whole book is Aristotle's demonstration of the immortality of

462-635: A fixed self, while stating that holding the view "I have no self" is also mistaken. This is an example of the Middle Way charted by the Buddha and the Madhyamaka school of Buddhism. That absence of a self definition is directed to avoid clinging to the "I", seek reality and attain detachment , and it is found in many passages of the oldest Buddha sutras , recorded in the Pali Canon , such as this: "Bhikkhus, form

528-538: A kind of convenient fiction , like a center of gravity , which is convenient as a way of solving physics problems, although they need not correspond to anything tangible — the center of gravity of a hoop is a point in thin air. People constantly tell themselves stories to make sense of their world, and they feature in the stories as a character, and that convenient but fictional character is the self. Aaron Sloman has proposed that words like self , selves , herself , itself , themselves , myself , etc. do not refer to

594-488: A kind of world soul ), has represented a hot topic of discussion for centuries. The most likely is probably the interpretation of Alexander of Aphrodisias , likening Aristotle's immortal mind to an impersonal activity, ultimately represented by God. In Late Antiquity , Aristotelian texts became re-interpreted in terms of Neoplatonism . There is a paraphrase of De Anima which survives in the Arabic tradition which reflects such

660-430: A knife had a soul, the act of cutting would be that soul, because 'cutting' is part of the essence of what it is to be a knife. More precisely, the soul is the "first activity" of a living body. This is a state, or a potential for actual, or 'second', activity. "The axe has an edge for cutting" was, for Aristotle, analogous to "humans have bodies for rational activity," and the potential for rational activity thus constituted

726-443: A living being, and while claiming that it did not exist apart from the body, he considered its so-called " intellect " part to be immortal and perpetual, in contrast to its organism-dependent vegetative/nutritive and perceptual functions. In his theory of causes and of act and potency , Aristotle emphasizes beings in relation to their actual manifestation, and in turn the soul was also defined by its actual effects. For instance, if

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792-613: A matter of characterizing the loose cohesion of one's personal experience. (Note that in the Appendix to the Treatise , Hume said without elaboration that he was dissatisfied with his account of the self, yet he never returned to the issue.) The paradox of the Ship of Theseus can be used as an analogy of the self as a bundle of parts in flux. Daniel Dennett has a deflationary theory of the "self". Selves are not physically detectable. Instead, they are

858-412: A soul, he concludes, will be that in virtue of which living things have life. Book II contains his scientific determination of the nature of the soul, an element of his biology . By dividing substance into its three meanings (matter, form, and what is composed of both), he shows that the soul must be the first actuality of a natural, organized body. This is its form or essence. It cannot be matter because

924-420: A special type of entity, but provide powerful syntactical mechanisms for constructing utterances that repeatedly refer to the same thing without tedious and obscure repetition of names or other referring expressions. The spiritual goal of many traditions involves the dissolving of the ego , in contrast to the essential Self, allowing self-knowledge of one's own true nature to become experienced and enacted in

990-532: A variety of ways. One standard scholastic interpretation is given in the Commentary on De anima begun by Thomas Aquinas . Aquinas' commentary is based on the new translation of the text from the Greek completed by Aquinas' Dominican associate William of Moerbeke at Viterbo in 1267. The argument, as interpreted by Thomas Aquinas , runs something like this: In every nature which is sometimes in potency and act , it

1056-467: Is a cognate word. This Hinduism-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Philosophy of self#Self in Eastern traditions The philosophy of self examines the idea of the self at a conceptual level. Many different ideas on what constitutes self have been proposed, including the self being an activity, the self being independent of the senses, the bundle theory of

1122-401: Is a distinction between the various features of a person and the mysterious self that supposedly bears those features. When we start introspecting, "we are never intimately conscious of anything but a particular perception; man is a bundle or collection of different perceptions which succeed one another with an inconceivable rapidity and are in perpetual flux and movement". It is plain, that in

1188-426: Is a manuscript of the treatise. It is designated by symbol P . Paleographically it has been assigned to the 14th or 15th century. It is written in Greek minuscule letters. The manuscript contains a complete text of the treatise. The text of the manuscript is eclectic. It represents the textual family σ in book II of the treatise, from II, 2, 314b11, to II, 8, 420a2. After book II, chapter 9, 429b16, it belongs to

1254-465: Is a manuscript of the treatise. It is designated by symbol T . Dated by a Colophon to the year 1496. It is written in Greek minuscule letters. The manuscript contains a complete text of the treatise. The text of the manuscript represents the textual family κ. The manuscript was not cited by Tiendelenburg, Torstrik, Biehl, Apelt, and Ross in his critical editions of the treatise On the Soul . It means

1320-625: Is also the surname of the Bairagi caste in Haryana , Uttar Pradesh , and Rajasthan . In Bengali , the word (pronounced [ˈʃami] ), while carrying its original meaning, also has the meaning of " husband " in another context. The word also means "husband" in Malay , in which it is spelled suami , and in Khmer , Assamese and Odia . The Thai word for "husband", sami ( สามี ) or swami ( สวามี )

1386-581: Is housed at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana (435 (H. 50)) in Milan . Codex Ambrosianus 837 is a manuscript of the treatise. It is designated by the symbol D . Paleographically it had been assigned to the 13th century. It is written in Greek minuscule letters. The manuscript contains a complete text of the treatise. The text of the manuscript is eclectic. It represents to the textual family σ, in I-II books of

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1452-551: Is necessary to posit an agent or cause within that genus that, just like art in relation to its suffering matter, brings the object into act. But the soul is sometimes in potency and act. Therefore, the soul must have this difference. In other words, since the mind can move from not understanding to understanding and from knowing to thinking, there must be something to cause the mind to go from knowing nothing to knowing something, and from knowing something but not thinking about it to actually thinking about it. Aristotle also argues that

1518-412: Is not self.... is form permanent or impermanent?..." Both Western and Eastern civilizations have been occupied with self-knowledge and underscored its importance particularly citing the paradoxical combination of immediate availability and profound obscurity involved in its pursuit. For Socrates , the goal of philosophy was to " know thyself ". Lao Tzu , in his Tao Te Ching , says "Knowing others

1584-434: Is not-self. Were form self, then this form would not lead to affliction, and one could have it of form: 'Let my form be thus, let my form be not thus.' And since form is not-self, so it leads to affliction, and none can have it of form: 'Let my form be thus, let my form be not thus.'... Bhikkhus, feeling is not-self... Bhikkhus, perception is not-self... Bhikkhus, determinations are not-self... Bhikkhus, consciousness ( vijñāna )

1650-411: Is one, why not call it the soul straightway? But if it is divisible, reason again demands, what it is that holds this together? And so on ad infinitum . While he was imprisoned in a castle, Avicenna wrote his famous " floating man " thought experiment to demonstrate human self-awareness and the substantiality of the soul . His thought experiment tells its readers to imagine themselves suspended in

1716-466: Is partly derived from the fact that we view ourselves as rational agents . This school rejects that self-knowledge is merely derived from observation as it acknowledges the subject as authoritative on account of his ability as an agent to shape his own states. De Anima On the Soul ( Greek : Περὶ Ψυχῆς , Peri Psychēs ; Latin : De Anima ) is a major treatise written by Aristotle c.  350 BC . His discussion centres on

1782-472: Is the means to the highest bliss." Absolute perfection is the consummation of Self-knowledge." A theory about self-knowledge describes the concept as the capacity to detect that the sensations, thoughts, mental states, and attitudes as one's own. It is linked to other concepts such as self-awareness and self-conception. The rationalist theory, which Immanuel Kant has inspired, also claims that our ability to achieve self-knowledge through rational reflection

1848-426: Is wisdom. Knowing the self is enlightenment. Mastering others requires force. Mastering the self requires strength." The case is the same for the seers of Upanishads , who maintained that the ultimate real knowledge involves an understanding of the essence of the self and the nature of God. Adi Shankaracharya , in his commentary on Bhagavad Gita says " Self-knowledge alone eradicates misery". "Self-knowledge alone

1914-527: The 11th century. It is written in Greek minuscule letters. The manuscript contains the complete text of the treatise. It belongs to the textual family ξ, together with the manuscripts T E X P H . The manuscript was cited by David Ross in his critical edition of the treatise On the Soul . Currently it is housed at the Bibliothèque nationale de France ( Coislin 386) in Paris . Codex Vindobonensis Philos. 2

1980-418: The 12th or 13th century. It is written in Greek minuscule letters. The manuscript contains the complete text of the treatise. It belongs to the textual family ν, together with the manuscripts v U A U Q. The manuscript is one of nine manuscripts that was cited by Trendelenburg , Torstrik, Biehl, Apelt, and one of five cited by Ross in their critical editions of the treatise On the Soul . Currently it

2046-543: The Soul). Aristotle also believed that there were four sections of the soul: the calculative and scientific parts on the rational side used for making decisions, and the desiderative and vegetative parts on the irrational side responsible for identifying our needs. A division of the soul's functions and activities is also found in Plato's tripartite theory . The problem of one in many is also remembered by Aristotle, nonetheless: If then

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2112-489: The air, isolated from all sensations, which includes no sensory contact with even their own bodies. He argues that, in this scenario, one would still have self-consciousness . He thus concludes that the idea of the self is not dependent on any physical thing , and that the soul should not be seen in relative terms , but as a primary given , a substance . This argument was later refined and simplified by René Descartes in epistemic terms when he stated: "I can abstract from

2178-642: The beginning of Buddhist philosophy , several schools of interpretation assumed that a self cannot be identified with the transient aggregates, as they are non-self, but some traditions questioned further whether there can be an unchanging ground which defines a real and permanent individual identity, sustaining the impermanent phenomena; concepts such as Buddha-nature are found in the Mahayana lineage, and of an ultimate reality in dzogchen tradition, for instance in Dolpopa and Longchenpa . Although Buddhists criticize

2244-666: The body, but most cannot.) In 1855, Charles Collier published a translation titled On the Vital Principle . George Henry Lewes , however, found this description also wanting. The treatise is divided into three books, and each of the books is divided into chapters (five, twelve, and thirteen, respectively). The treatise is near-universally abbreviated "DA", for "De anima", and books and chapters generally referred to by Roman and Arabic numerals, respectively, along with corresponding Bekker numbers . (Thus, "DA I.1, 402a1" means "De anima, book I, chapter 1, Bekker page 402, Bekker column

2310-510: The complete text of the treatise. It belongs to the textual family ν, together with the manuscripts X , v, U , A , and Q. The manuscript was cited by Trendelenburg , Torstrik, Biehl, Apelt, and Ross in their critical editions of the treatise On the Soul . Currently it is housed at the Vatican Library (Vat. gr. 260) in Rome . Codex Vaticanus 266 is one of the most important manuscripts of

2376-434: The course of our thinking, and in the constant revolution of our ideas, our imagination runs easily from one idea to any other that resembles it, and that this quality alone is to the fancy a sufficient bond and association. It is likewise evident that as the senses, in changing their objects, are necessitated to change them regularly, and take them as they lie contiguous to each other, the imagination must by long custom acquire

2442-404: The essence of a human soul. He states: "Soul is an actuality or formulable essence of something that possesses a potentiality of being besouled", and also "When mind is set free from its present conditions it appears as just what it is and nothing more: this alone is immortal and eternal". Aristotle used his concept of the soul in many of his works; his main work on the subject is De Anima (On

2508-615: The etymology as: Hindi svāmī 'master, lord, prince', used by Hindus as a term of respectful address, < Sanskrit svāmin in same senses, also the idol or temple of a god. As a direct form of address, or as a stand-in for a swami's name, it is often rendered Swamiji (also Swami-ji or Swami Ji ). In modern Gaudiya Vaishnavism , Swami is also one of the 108 names for a sannyasi given in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati 's Gaudiya Kanthahara , along with Goswami , also traditionally used as an honorific title. Swami

2574-436: The family λ. The manuscript was not cited by Tiendelenburg, Torstrik, Biehl, Apelt, and Ross in rheir critical editions of the treatise On the Soul . This means the manuscript is not of high value. Currently it is housed at the Vatican Library (gr. 1339) at Rome . Codex Ambrosianus 435 is one of the most important manuscripts of the treatise. It is designated by the symbol X . Paleographically it had been assigned to

2640-433: The five senses (in the following order: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch—one chapter for each); DA II.12 again takes up the general question of sensation; DA III.1 argues there are no other senses than the five already mentioned; DA III.2 discusses the problem of what it means to "sense sensing" (i.e., to "be aware" of sensation); DA III.3 investigates the nature of imagination; DA III.4–7 discuss thinking and

2706-516: The immutable ātman of Hinduism , some Buddhist schools problematized the notion of an individual personhood; even among early ones, such as the Pudgala view, it was approached implicitly in questions such as "who is the bearer of the bundle?", "what carries the aggregates?", "what transmigrates from one rebirth to another?" or "what is the subject of self-improvement and enlightenment?". The Buddha in particular attacked all attempts to conceive of

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2772-410: The intellect, or mind; DA III.8 articulates the definition and nature of soul; DA III.9–10 discuss the movement of animals possessing all the senses; DA III.11 discusses the movement of animals possessing only touch; DA III.12–13 take up the question of what are the minimal constituents of having a soul and being alive. Book I contains a summary of Aristotle's method of investigation and

2838-410: The kinds of souls possessed by different kinds of living things, distinguished by their different operations. Thus plants have the capacity for nourishment and reproduction, the minimum that must be possessed by any kind of living organism . Lower animals have, in addition, the powers of sense-perception and self-motion (action). Humans have all these as well as intellect . Aristotle holds that

2904-470: The manuscript has not high value. Currently it is housed at the Austrian National Library (Philos. 2) at Vienna . Codex Vindobonensis Philos. 75 is a manuscript of the treatise. It is designated by symbol S . Dated by a Colophon to the year 1446. It is written in Greek minuscule letters. The manuscript contains a complete text of the treatise. The text of the manuscript represents to

2970-429: The manuscript is eclectic. It belongs to the textual family μ to II book, 7 chapter, 419 a 27. Since 419 a 27 it is a representative of the family κ. The manuscript was not cited by Trendelenburg, Torstrik, Biehl, Apelt, and Ross in his critical editions of the treatise On the Soul . It means the manuscript has not high value. Currently it is housed at the Vatican Library (gr. 1026) at Rome . Codex Vaticanus 1339

3036-494: The mind (only the agent intellect) is immaterial, able to exist without the body, and immortal. His arguments are notoriously concise. This has caused much confusion over the centuries, causing a rivalry between different schools of interpretation, most notably, between the Arabian commentator Averroes and Thomas Aquinas . One argument for its immaterial existence runs like this: if the mind were material, then it would have to possess

3102-420: The mind's ideas which are able to be considered, and another which brings them into action, i.e. to be actually thinking about them. These are called the possible and agent intellect. The possible intellect is an " unscribed tablet " and the store-house of all concepts, i.e. universal ideas like "triangle", "tree", "man", "red", etc. When the mind wishes to think, the agent intellect recalls these ideas from

3168-537: The possible intellect and combines them to form thoughts. The agent intellect is also the faculty which abstracts the "whatness" or intelligibility of all sensed objects and stores them in the possible intellect. For example, when a student learns a proof for the Pythagorean theorem, his agent intellect abstracts the intelligibility of all the images his eye senses (and that are a result of the translation by imagination of sense perceptions into immaterial phantasmata), i.e.

3234-468: The powers of memory , imagination , and self-motion . Book III discusses the mind or rational soul, which belongs to humans alone. He argues that thinking is different from both sense-perception and imagination because the senses can never lie and imagination is a power to make something sensed appear again, while thinking can sometimes be false. And since the mind is able to think when it wishes, it must be divided into two faculties: One which contains all

3300-408: The principle of all scientific demonstration is the essence of the object, so too we can come to know the nature of a thing if we already know its properties and operations. It is like finding the middle term to a syllogism with a known conclusion. Therefore, we must seek out such operations of the soul to determine what kind of nature it has. From a consideration of the opinions of his predecessors,

3366-422: The same method of thinking, and run along the parts of space and time in conceiving its objects." In Hume's view, these perceptions do not belong to anything. Rather, Hume compares the soul to a commonwealth, which retains its identity not by virtue of some enduring core substance, but by being composed of many different, related, and yet constantly changing elements. The question of personal identity then becomes

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3432-588: The self, the self as a narrative center of gravity, and the self as a linguistic or social construct rather than a physical entity. The self (or its non-existence) is also an important concept in Eastern philosophy , including Buddhist philosophy . Most philosophical definitions of self—per Descartes , Locke , Hume , and William James —are expressed in the first person . A third person definition does not refer to specific mental qualia but instead strives for objectivity and operationalism . To another person,

3498-427: The soul ( psyche , ψυχή ) is the form , or essence of any living thing; it is not a distinct substance from the body that it is in. It is the possession of a soul (of a specific kind) that makes an organism an organism at all, and thus that the notion of a body without a soul , or of a soul in the wrong kind of body, is simply unintelligible. (He argues that some parts of the soul — the intellect — can exist without

3564-399: The soul is of its very nature divisible, what holds it together? Not the body, certainly: much rather the contrary seems to be true, that the soul holds the body together; for when it departs, the body expires and decomposes. If there is some other thing which makes it one, this other is rather the soul. One would then have to ask, concerning this other, whether it be one or of many parts. If it

3630-465: The soul is that in virtue of which things have life, and matter is only being in potency. The rest of the book is divided into a determination of the nature of the nutritive and sensitive souls. Some animals in addition have other senses (sight, hearing, taste), and some have more subtle versions of each (the ability to distinguish objects in a complex way, beyond mere pleasure and pain .) He discusses how these function. Some animals have in addition

3696-423: The supposition of all external things, but not from the supposition of my own consciousness." David Hume pointed out that we tend to think that we are the same person we were five years ago. Although we have changed in many respects, the same person appears present as was present then. We might start thinking about which features can be changed without changing the underlying self. Hume, however, denies that there

3762-433: The textual family ρ. The manuscript was not cited by Tiendelenburg, Torstrik, Biehl, Apelt, and Ross in his critical editions of the treatise On the Soul . It means the manuscript has not high value. Currently it is housed at the Austrian National Library (Philos. 75) at Vienna . Codex Vindobonensis Philos. 157 is a manuscript of the treatise. It is designated by symbol R . Paleographically it had been assigned to

3828-505: The thinking part of the human soul, also in Chapter ;V. Taking a premise from his Physics , that as a thing acts, so it is, he argues that since the active principle in our mind acts with no bodily organ, it can exist without the body. And if it exists apart from matter, it therefore cannot be corrupted. And therefore there exists a mind which is immortal. As to what mind Aristotle is referring to in Chapter V (i.e. divine, human, or

3894-419: The translation by Ibn Zura. Codex Vaticanus 253 is one of the most important manuscripts of the treatise. It is designated by the symbol L . Paleographically it has been assigned to the 13th century. It is written in Greek minuscule letters. The manuscript is not complete; it contains only Book III. It belongs to the textual family λ, together with the manuscripts E, F , L , K , and P . The manuscript

3960-430: The treatise On the Soul . David Ross did not use the manuscript in his own edition. Currently it is housed at the Vatican Library (gr. 266) in Rome . Codex Vaticanus 1026 is a manuscript of the treatise. It is designated by symbol W . Paleographically it had been assigned to the 13th century. It is written in Greek minuscule letters. The manuscript contains a complete text of the treatise. The Greek text of

4026-456: The treatise. In III book of the treatise it belongs to the family τ. The manuscript was not cited by Tiendelenburg , Torstrik, Biehl, Apelt, or Ross in their critical editions of the treatise On the Soul . Currently it is housed at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana (837 (B 7 Inf.)) in Milan . Codex Coislinianus 386 is one of the important manuscripts of the treatise. It is designated by the symbol C . Paleographically it had been assigned to

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4092-461: The treatise. It is designated by the symbol V . Paleographically it had been assigned to the 14th century. It is written in Greek minuscule letters. The manuscript contains a complete text of the treatise. It belongs to the textual family κ, but only to Chapter 8. of II book. Another member of the family κ: G W H N J O Z V W f N T . The manuscript was cited by Trendelenburg , Torstrik, Biehl, and Apelt in his critical editions of

4158-485: The triangles and squares in the diagrams, and stores the concepts that make up the proof in his possible intellect. When he wishes to recall the proof, say, for demonstration in class the next day, his agent intellect recalls the concepts and their relations from the possible intellect and formulates the statements that make up the arguments in the proof. The argument for the existence of the agent intellect in Chapter V perhaps due to its concision has been interpreted in

4224-405: The way an individual behaves and speaks reflects their true inner self and can be used to gain insight into who they really are. Therefore, the intentions of another individual can only be inferred from something that emanates from that individual. The particular characteristics of the self determine its identity . Aristotle , following Plato , defined the psyche as the core essence of

4290-402: The world. This is variously known as enlightenment , nirvana , presence, and the "here and now". Hume's position is similar to Indian Buddhists’ theories and debates about the self, which generally considers a bundle theory to describe the mind phenomena grouped in aggregates ( skandhas ), such as sense-perceptions , intellective discrimination ( saṃjñā ), emotions and volition . Since

4356-438: Was cited by Trendelenburg , Torstrik, Biehl, Apelt, and Ross in their critical editions of the treatise On the Soul . Currently it is housed at the Vatican Library (gr. 253) in Rome . Codex Vaticanus 260 is one of the most important manuscripts of the treatise. It is designated by the symbol U . Paleographically it has been assigned to the 11th century. It is written in Greek minuscule letters. The manuscript contains

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