Knowledge Of The Self

Knowledge starts with the internal awareness of the self. 

A highly influential philosopher named Descartes realized that one of the most foundational proofs he could ascertain was proof of his own existence.  Along with other a priori or logical truths, knowledge of the existence of one's own self forms the epistemological cornerstone of philosophy.  Descartes wondered if an extremely-powerful malevolent demon was deceiving him, manipulating his senses to perceive a misrepresentation of the actual external world.  He could at least reach 100% certainty of his own existence, but could he ever know if his sensory perceptions were correct?  At least he had discovered one of the most obvious facts about reality.

If I question my own existence I have already proven to myself that I exist, for I could not doubt my own existence unless I exist in order to doubt it.  Even the proposition "I am doubting my existence" acknowledges that there is an "I" which is doubting.  However, this proves only that my mind exists.  This proof cannot demonstrate even that the physical body I seem to have is actually my real body, for that too could be part of the illusion.  But since I have no reason to believe I have a different body than the one I perceive, I will move on to other unknown dimensions of my being.

While I can use my sense of sight to survey portions of my body like my limbs and torso, I cannot know what my face appears like.  But haven't I seen my face in a mirror, I anticipate you asking?  Actually, I only have glimpsed my perception of my reflection.  I could compare an object like a vase on a stand in front of the mirror to its reflection in the mirror and see that the reflection is accurate, but I have nothing to compare my own reflection to.  The fallacy of composition prevents me from declaring that because the mirror was accurate when portraying the vase and other surrounding items then my own reflection must be correct--what is true of the part is not necessarily true of the whole.

Knowledge of the self is one of the few areas where I can have full, unhindered knowledge.  However, this only applies to some truths about myself, excluding not only knowledge of what the actual body housing my senses looks like but awareness of some internal aspects.  I still do not know much about my own motivations, desires, and nature.  There are times where I am not fully aware of what drives me or what I truly want from an experience on a personal level.  At times I have longings I cannot fully identify.  If someone asked me to distinguish what about myself I can change from what I cannot, I wouldn't be able to provide an immediate answer.  In short, knowing I exist does not reveal every truth about myself.  And even when introspection does reveal facets or layers of my inner being to my own mind, there is no guarantee I could ever be able to articulate certain details learned through this self-reflection to others.  Sometimes I am unable to fully communicate this self-knowledge to other people or to even translate it into any words to begin with.  People seem to encounter this inability to convey an inner awareness when they have certain emotional or spiritual experiences, for example.

Despite my inability to know exactly what my face looks like or the full depths of my psyche, there are distinct things I know about myself with absolute certainty beyond my mere existence:


I am a conscious being that possesses both sentience and self-awareness [1].

I can reason, and thus I do not merely react, and thus I have free will [2].

I have memories of past events [3].

I have senses that perceive a variety of sensations from external stimuli [4].


Christianity, of course, posits that I am made in the image of my transcendent creator and that thus my nature is somewhat similar to God's own. Therefore, in studying myself, I can learn to some degree about the nature God.  If I am designed in his image, understanding myself helps me understand God, and vice versa.  After all, I share characteristics like consciousness and free will with the Christian concept of God.

I want to know myself better than I do, but sometimes my unfortunate epistemic limitations prevent me from doing even that.  Often I find myself frustrated with the inescapable boundaries on my awareness of myself and everything external to me.  The most productive way to use this is to channel my frustration into energy that I can redirect into seeking to discover what I can know about myself, and this is the only rational way to handle the situation--for to know myself is to know a significant part of the foundation of epistemology.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/aspects-of-consciousness.html

[2].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/reason-refutes-determinism.html

[3].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-reliability-of-memory.html

[4].  See here:
A.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-reliability-of-senses.html
B.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/more-than-five-senses.html