Abstract
The analysis made in this article reveals that the self (also known as the “soul”, the “inner being”, or the “transcendental self”) which was thought to be beyond human sensibility can now be explained using modern knowledge. The self is reduced to Species-specific-body-pattern (SSBP), whose source lies in the phylogeny of the species and, therefore, is empirical in nature. It is postulated that the SSBP can serve as the empirical analogue of the transcendental self. An individual is considered as a mixture of genetic and epigenetic features and these two features together play an important role in orienting individuals to a meaningful existence in the empirical world. The attributes of the self seem to fall under two categories, humanizing and transcendental. For those attributes described here―such as cognition, knowledge, immortality and infinitude―it is postulated that memory that retains the history of the individual can serve as the empirical analogue of the transcendental self. The immortality and infinitude properties of the self are explained based on knowledge viewed against a background of the individual-society as a system (ISS). Knowledge that is retained in the memory of a society, which is reflected in culture and tradition of the society, is eternal and empirical, although it undergoes additions and revision as time passes.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Wittgenstein, L. 1922. 6.421.
- 2.
Kant, I. 2003.
- 3.
Husserl, E. 1981.
- 4.
Tymieniecka, A.-T. 2011, p. 4.
- 5.
Russell, B. 1972, p.4.
- 6.
See Baldwin, J. M. 1913.
- 7.
Kant, I. 2003, pp. 329–330.
- 8.
Kant, I. 2003, p. 331.
- 9.
James, W. 1890, Ch. X, p. 350.
- 10.
ibid.
- 11.
ibid.
- 12.
- 13.
Muller, F. M. 2003.
- 14.
- 15.
Maturana, H. R. and Varela, F. J. 1980, p. 13.
- 16.
Kanungo, K. 2010.
- 17.
Hamilton, E. and Cairns, H. (eds.), 2005, p. 63.
- 18.
Thibaut, G. 2004, p. xxviii.
- 19.
Muller, F. M, 2003.
- 20.
See Ramachandran, V. S., 2011; Damasio, A. 2010; Crick, F. and Koch, C. 2002.
These three books discuss consciousness from different standpoint; Ramachandran’s and Damasio’s publications discuss the activity of cerebral neurons under pathological conditions. Damasio discusses the neurological basis of the self and the mind. In addition, there are several books and review articles on Consciousness and its neurological basis. Since we are not concerned on consciousness per se here, I have omitted those from references.
- 21.
See Roediger, H. L. et al., 2007. Although different authors discuss the memory, most of it is speculative.
- 22.
Pinker, S. 2002, Ch. 13, p. 224.
References
Baldwin, J.M. 1913. History of psychology: A sketch and an interpretation, 2 vols. (Online CHP, URL: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Baldwin/History/)
Chakrabarti, K.K. 1999. Classical Indian philosophy of mind: The Nyaya dualist tradition. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Crick, F. 1994. The astonishing hypothesis: The scientific search for the soul. New York: Charles Scribner & Sons.
Crick, F., and C. Koch. 2002. The problem of consciousness. Science American 12: 10–17.
Damasio, A. 2010. Self comes to mind. New York: Random House.
Edelman, G. 1992. Bright air, brilliant fire: On the matter of the mind. New York: Basic Books.
Hamilton, E., and H. Cairns (eds.). 2005. The collected dialogues of plato. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Husserl, E. 1981. Pure phenomenology, its method and its field of investigation (First published, 1917). In Husserl: Shorter works, ed. P. McCormick and F.A. Elliston. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. (Online: http://onthewaytothought.blogspot.com/2005/11/husserl-inaugural-lecture-at-freiburg.html)
James, W. 1890. The principles of psychology. New York: Holt.
Kant, I. 2003. Critique of pure reason. Trans. N.K. Smith. New York: Macmillan. (First published in 1781).
Kanungo, K. 2009. Ancient philosophy and modern science: An inquiry into conceptual links. Delhi: Pencraft International.
Kanungo, K. 2010. The nature of existence. Indian Journal of Analytic Philosophy IV(# 1): 25–56.
Maturana, H.R., and F.J. Varela. 1980. Autopoiesis and cognition: The realization of the liviving. Boston: D. Reidel Publishing Co.
Muller, F.M. (Trans.). 2003. The upanishads, Part II, in the series: The sacred books of the east, vol. 15. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publisher. (First published, 1965).
Pinker, S. 2002. The blank slate: The modern denial of human nature. New York: Penguin.
Ramachandran, V.S. 2011. The tell-tale brain: A neuroscientist’s quest for what makes us human. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.
Roediger, H.L., Y. Dudai, and S.M. Fitzpatrick (eds.). 2007. Science of memory: Concepts. New York: Oxford University Press.
Russell, B. 1972. The history of western philosophy. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Thibaut, G. (Trans.). 2004. Vedanta-Sutras, Part I, with Sankara-Bhasya. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publisher. (First published, 1904).
Tymieniecka, A.-T. 2011. Transcendentalism overturned: Life’s geo-cosmic positioning of beingness. Analecta Husserliana 108: 3–10.
Wittgenstein, L. 1922. Tractatus Logico-philosophicus. URL: http://www.voidspace.org.uk/psychology/wittgenstein/tractatus.shtml
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kanungo, K. (2012). Can Transcendental Self Be Made Transparent?. In: Tymieniecka, AT. (eds) Phenomenology and the Human Positioning in the Cosmos. Analecta Husserliana. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4795-1_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4795-1_24
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4794-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4795-1
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)