Year 10 - Religious education
Self: what makes us who we are?
Personhood: what does it mean to be alive?
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
Pupils will consider what it is that makes a person who they are by examining religious and philsophical explanations for self and conciousness. Next, they will examine the idea of sentience in animals before evauating whether non-human objects of nature, such as rivers, can be said to be alive.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain how the idea of self is interpreted differently in culture and philosophy.
Key Notes
- Most human cultures have the concept of a self which makes a person what they are.
- A distinction is sometimes made between western ideas of the self and ideas in South East Asia influenced by Buddhism.
- Julian Baggini is a philosopher who talks about the bundle theory of the self.
Vocabulary To Learn
- bundle theory: the view (from Hume and Baggini) that the self is a collection of changing experiences, not a fixed core
- Julian Baggini: a British philosopher who argues that the self is a bundle of experiences and a narrative we construct, not a fixed essence
- self: the concept of a person's identity — physical, psychological, or spiritual — that makes them who they are
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Students might assume that the Western idea of a fixed, continuous self is the "default" or most rational view.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Most human cultures have the concept of a self which makes a person what they are. A distinction is sometimes made between western ideas of the self and ideas in South East Asia influenced by Buddhism.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'bundle theory'
the view (from Hume and Baggini) that the self is a collection of changing experiences, not a fixed core.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Students might assume that the Western idea of a fixed, continuous self is the "default" or most rational view. Correction: This view is culturally specific, other traditions offer equally coherent but different models of the self.
More Lessons In This Unit
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