my bio teacher was explaining to the class that we're young [[15]] so we dont rly know who we really are yet as our self an individual person, i agree.
do you know who you are? if so how do you find out?
2007-04-14 20:23:41 · 21 answers · asked by anastasia l 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
the phrase "I am that" is false. So, whatever you can describe yourself as, is not you. "I am a body" is false. "I am a personality" is false. "I am a mind" is false.
There is no way to know what you are.
It's like...a tooth can't bite itself. Get it?
A tooth can't know itself by what it does...
basically, there is nothing we can do in order to know who or what we are. The only thing we can do is to stop thinking of ourselves as things that we aren't.
-Rob
2007-04-14 20:32:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Nobody really "knows who they are" because such a statement implies that there is nothing more to learn.
And there is ALWAYS something more to learn.
At 15, life has ripped up the instruction book for your body and mind and you are in the throes of writing a new one.
This will happen throughout your life, though not as severely as the period you are going through now.
When you go to University, college or to the full-time working world, the "who you are" will change.
When you get married, it will change.
When you have children, it will change,
If you catch a serious disease, it will change.
30, 40, 50, senior citizen, it will change at each step and in the intervening years, although the changes may be so gradual that you will not notice them.
"Who you are" is a moving target against an ever-changing background.
But it's a hell of a ride. You'll enjoy it of you let yourself.
2007-04-14 20:36:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Imagine a human mind being a computer - you can buy a computer that is blank, it has the limited ability think and follow and learn (current computers aren't). As life goes, it learns and learns and learns. As you learn more about the world, you learn more about how you see yourself in the midst of the world - when you're 15, you might not have a clearl definition of who you are when you're among many future stages of life - like you probably won't know much about yourself as what you're being a mother of two children and a wife. So, she is partially right.
And there is not clear stage or definition when someone knows who they are. You could say when you're in your thirties, you seem to be in a position to have done a good amount of learning about life and you can pretty much judge what kind of person you are. Your personality and core definition will change as you grow, grow and grow. Some people may stop change after a certain age with what they know about life and themselves at some point (imagine a man who decides to become a priest @ 25 years and decides to stay that way for the rest of life, having defined clearly to himself that he is a priest and that is what he is as a person), and some don't. I am 31, and I would still not say I know myself. I know some basic behavior of mine - but there is a lot more life left at my disposal and I don't want believe I know who I am yet and stay frozen at that point.
2007-04-14 21:07:53 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Age has nothing to do with it, a person never truly knows who they are because as human beings we are constantly learning and everything we learn has some sort of impact on what we think, feel etc. From the day we are born until we die we are learning and what we may feel is right one day can have a different spin put on it that changes the way we were thinking.
Hope this helps.
2007-04-14 22:55:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
i don't believe that there is a ME like people normally think of it...
i believe in a weird string of conscious experiences that are linked together by whatever *i* am, with a developed personality taken from my environment - since my experiences form my neural synapses and give shape to what i call "experience"
but from the perspective from which your teacher was talking, i'd say yes, i have learned "who i am" as we usually talk about it -- it took a lot of growing up and a lot of troubles and a lot of mistakes, but i have a certainty about my life that i lacked until i hit about 21 or so and continues to develop now (at 23) - just as i'm sure it will continue to do...
2007-04-14 22:44:18 · answer #5 · answered by Steve C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has nothing to do with age. I mean, it does not mean that when you are like... 50, you will know who you are. I doubt there is someone in this world who can understand/know himself exactly who his is because it is impossible to know exactly who you are. To find out, just continue being yourself, as an individual person - you.
2007-04-14 20:52:38 · answer #6 · answered by stac 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think age has nothing to do with it. You can never really know who you are because the thing that is doing the knowing -- namely your brain--is imperfect. So how can you be sure you are right even if you think you are? I think the important thing to be is comfortable with who you are so long as the person you feel comfortable being is a psychopath and hurts other people and/or him/herself.
2007-04-14 20:29:24 · answer #7 · answered by holacarinados 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As usual there goes another teacher spewing stupidity on the young. You know who you are. I knew who I was at 15 and I know who I was at 18, and 21, and 25. I changed from 15 to 25 but I always knew who I was at the time. You may not know who you'll be in 10 years but in 10 years you'll know who you are.Tell teacher to stick to biology and leave philosophy to some one who understands it.
2007-04-14 20:36:17 · answer #8 · answered by Sheriff of Yahoo! 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
The body which we think as we are is only an instrument for the self within each and everyone of us. Even the mind and intellect are really instruments for the self. You say 'my body', my mind, my intellect etc as you term 'my pen, my kerchief, my body etc. It is clear that we are really separate from all this. We don't say 'i body, i mind' etc. The self within all human beings are invisible but tremendous force which activate the entire universe.
2007-04-14 20:32:13 · answer #9 · answered by nagarajan s 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you don't find out, you grow into it. as you weed through the phases, and changes you find what you will become. kids go through different stages and don't ever completely know what or who they are. most people in general don't know who they are. its a matter of maturity and security. if you are secure then you know where you stand and what you are about. some people never find themselves. and ironically they don't see it because they haven't grown to the extent of gaining the knowledge of either one. they don't know why and they don't know who. they don't know why they haven't found themselves so they try to find their place on the general side of society, the ones who follow. and they don't know who because they follow. creating a snowballing effect on maturity, and having a sense of yourself. its all a matter of being realistic and grounded.
2007-04-14 22:06:35 · answer #10 · answered by Professor Crazyass 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm turning 16 this year and regardless of that, I'm a firm believer that I know exactly who I am. I know what I like, I know what I don't like, I know what I believe - vice versa. I'm pretty sure of everything in life and have been for a while (not one of those "I've been sure of myself for months!" I'd say I've been sure of who I am since childhood.
2007-04-14 20:32:14 · answer #11 · answered by Alley S. 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋