Key Questions in Philosophy about the Self
1) Who am I?
2) Why am I here? What is my purpose/mission in
life?
3) Where do I come from and where am I going to? ->
implies another question, namely:
-> What is
the nature of the world/ of reality?
Three
Major Strands in Philosophy: Monism - Dualism - Pluralism
Monism
From “mono” = ‘one’
* everything is an expression of one and the same
substance (i.e. spirit or mind or matter)
*
the fundamental nature of the universe is therefore unity
(cf. word “uni-verse” = ‘one’ &
‘turned into’ -> ‘all turned into one’
similar to Greek holon = ‘whole’)
Dualism
From
“duo” = ‘two’
*
dichotomy of world into two different substances,
i.e.: everything belongs either to one or
the other of two
*
this implies a fundamental separation or split
(for example into good vs evil, mind vs
matter or mind vs body; us vs them)
Pluralism
From
“plus, pluris” = ‘more [than one]’
*
world composed of many different substances
*
there is no one truth/ reality but many truths/ realities
*
all truth is therefore seen as relative
Monism in Philosophy Can Be
Subdivided into 3 Different Kinds
1) IDEAS
(which are an expression of the mind/spirit) are the basis for everything
else
=>
Idealism
Examples:
logos
a mental image
the
spoken word
2) MATTER (i.e. something that is
manifest in physical reality) is the substance that underlies everything else
=>
Materialism
Examples:
water
earth
air
3) Some
kind of ENERGY underlies everything:
Examples:
apeiron
= 'the undefined infinite' = something undefinable (Anaximander);
change
(Heraclitos)
some
eternal, static reality (Parmenides),
the
divine syllable Om,
the cosmic vibration that underlies all existence (Upanishads)
Please note: Pantheism and
Panentheism are both forms of Monism!
Panthesim:
“pan”
= ‘all’ – “theos”
= ‘ god’
everything
is a manifestation of the divine -> god is in everything
Panenthesim:
“pan”
= ‘all’ – “theos”
= ‘ god’ – “en” = ‘inside’
everything
is in god (i.e. god is all there is, and the universe & we all are all in
him/her)
-> Please look at the texts that we have read this class and figure out if you can see elements of Monism, Dualism, and/or Pluralism in any of them!
