Rene Descartes Concept of Self Essay

It's my first time watching this movie, and I can truly say that it helped me discover new things and come to even more new conclusions. At first, I was perplexed, and I could not figure out what was going on, but as the film went on, somehow everything seemed clearer to me. This film has many plot twists, a cliffhanger finale, and also several unanswered questions and theories. It's one of the best films I have seen so far as it showcases our reality — the reality of how magical, confusing, and painful love can be, the reality of the endless uncertainties and doubts we face, the reality of how important making a choice or decision is, and the reality of the unending discoveries that our lives may bring every day, affecting our existence. This film didn't entirely focus on romance; it also depicted different aspects and factors of life which some we can relate to or some occurrences that maybe, we are yet to experience. I would like to write my reflection by reflecting on each of the characters I learned something from.

First, I would start with Rhiannon, who is the primary character in the movie. I find her name unique and beautiful, just like what A told her, which she did not appreciate at first. Well, that is a sad reality; some people do not appreciate what they have and what they are because of their reasons, and I can relate to that. There are times when I don’t believe certain compliments from other people because of my low self-esteem, or sometimes, just because I don’t think their opinions matter. However, I realized that I should be grateful because those compliments made me love and value myself more and made me realize that there are people who appreciate me and accept me for what I am. Back to Rhiannon, at first, she pushes herself on Justin, and I saw that he just takes her for granted, and that’s when I truly understood that we should all know our worth and quit chasing people. We must first learn to love ourselves before we can love others because that is the most important love we can ever receive. When she was also perplexed, it is a good thing she did not trust A immediately because the circumstances are genuinely unbelievable, this is a fantastic lesson for all of us because sometimes, it is easy for us to trust someone we do not know right away and end up facing consequences because of it. So, as early as now, we should be aware that we need to learn more about a person first before accepting them into our lives.

With regards to Rhiannon's family, when she was possessed by A, her relationship with her family grew stronger as they became closer to each other. This just shows that even a small change can either improve or destroy something, and I am glad that it is the former for Rhiannon and her family. Right now, some children can’t afford to spend time with their families anymore, solely because they are focused on other things. We should not confine our lives to the four corners of our rooms, avoiding interactions with other people, especially our families, and simply going about our everyday lives at home because we must remember that our true home is with our families. Even small talk can lead to a non-stop conversation, a quick interaction can be a wholesome memory, and such small things will do as long as we make an effort. Things will work if we make them work. It all comes down to our choices, and every decision we make affects our lives and our relationships with others, particularly our families.

Moving on, I would like to reflect on another character in the film, and that is A. What he experienced is a lot of things to reflect on. Imagine being in someone’s body, where we can do anything we want and surpass the limits, which I am sure may sound like an amazing experience, but in reality, it is not. Even though A was not told about any rules regarding his situation, he chose to keep it in the right things and chose to not push the limits, as he did not want to cause any damage. To risk is something very hard to do. I know for sure that A knows that their relationship will somehow come to an end someday, but that does not stop him from loving Rhiannon. He chose to choose her. Even though he knows the consequences and how it will greatly affect both of them, he still goes for it. Sometimes life is like that, we choose to risk what we want to fight for. He gave all of his efforts to make Rhiannon happy and to be with her. He even risked not to change his identity even though he might disappear. He showed that the impossible can also be possible.

A is such a selfless person, to the point where he chooses to give up his first and greatest love for good. This is one of the hardest parts when it comes to love, sacrificing for your loved ones, making them happy, and choosing to do what’s best for them, even if you will end up getting hurt. I admire him because in every situation that he is in, either when it comes to his relationship with Rhiannon, or when it comes to dealing with his situation, he always chooses to make selfless decisions. He has other choices, he can use his situation as an advantage and do all the things he wants, yet he did not choose to. He can choose to stay with Rhiannon because she makes him happy, but he chooses to let her go even if he is hurting. He could just stay with her but he chose to leave so it would not be harder for them. There are really times when something cannot be enough, no matter how hard you try, at the end of the day, you still have to give up something, no matter how painful it is. Their love story is not exactly a tragic one because A changed Rhiannon’s life the moment he entered it. He let her go away from a toxic relationship, made her more interested in studying, made her know her self-worth, and made a great change in her relationship with her family. He did all of that because of his love for Rhiannon. In our lives, there will always be someone who will change our lives, it could be for the better or worse, but one thing’s for sure all of those changes will leave us a great lesson that we can bring throughout our journey in life.

The last character that I would reflect on, would be Justin. He was Rhiannon's boyfriend, and he mostly showed bad things. However, in the first part we saw the good things that he did for Rhiannon. Sadly, some people think it is enough to settle for less or to hold on to something just because it is what we are used to. I believe that we can always be the best version of ourselves. Justin’s character made me realize that even if we have all the good things in life, we still tend to forget our priorities and take them for granted, which is completely wrong. It is better to be happy and content rather than just living our lives at a bare minimum.

To wrap up my reflection, this movie just showed us how we can never really know and determine what will happen in our lives, but remember that no matter what, we must keep moving forward and go on because that is what will always matter.

Descartes’ Understanding of the Self

What happened in the movie “Every Day” is an unusual thing and not most likely to happen in real life. About the identities of A, even though he is just possessing people, he is still living in a body that he does not own. According to Descartes, if someone thinks, then he exists. In the movie, we see that A can make decisions and think about every situation; he even can memorize and remember the happenings in the past. But if we look closer to it, he’s different from us since he is more of a disembodied spirit and only Rhiannon knows that A himself exists.

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Descartes also declares that the essential self—the self as a thinking entity—is radically different than the self as a physical body. This just shows that the self as a thinking entity or our soul is an entirely immortal, conscious being, independent of the physical laws of the universe. While the self as a physical body is a mortal, non-thinking entity, fully governed by the physical laws of nature. This applies to the movie because I am not sure if A’s self as a thinking entity and his self as a physical body both exist since he just keeps on possessing people and living in a body that he does not own. Yes, he does have a soul that possesses different people, but his own physical self, own physical body, I think is questionable. The other characters, however, are assured of having their souls and physical bodies.

Descartes also believes that dreaming is something that is characteristically done by human beings. In the movie, A did not mention having dreams, and I am not sure if he is just unaware of it or it could be that what A “experiences” can just be a simulation since he never tried to get scientifically tested.

Descartes also explained that, if you would be a real seeker of truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. This is also applicable in the movie since I think every character in the movie has their doubts running through their heads. Having doubts is completely understandable; it does not make us less human, and instead, it is somehow proof that we exist. A, doubting his existence, and Rhiannon doubting her worth just shows how they are true seekers of truth, just like what Descartes said.

Descartes’ principle, I think, therefore I am, talks about how Descartes is sure that no rational person will doubt his or her existence as a conscious, thinking entity, while we are aware of thinking about ourselves. I do believe that even if we are dreaming or hallucinating, even if our consciousness is being manipulated by some external entity, it is still ourselves that are dreaming, hallucinating, or being manipulated. Thus, in addition to his first principle, the essence of existing as a human identity is the possibility of being aware of ourselves, and being self-conscious in this way is relevant to having and finding a personal identity. Just like A, he decided to think that he exists because he is living and anticipates what is going on. He even gave himself a name so it could be like, “He thinks he is A, therefore he is A.”

If A read about Descartes, then he would probably understand more about himself and his existence. It is applicable since we can connect the thoughts to the plot of the story as stated above because of the way A thinks he had and found a personal identity that even Rhiannon knows.

Other Philosophers that Speak About Understanding of the Self

According to Aristotle, the soul is the essence of the self, we can apply this to the movie since A’s soul connects to the body he possesses too. It is like he is the life of the body and he makes them live. Without the soul of A, the identities cannot be able to live their life or do their daily routines. Every day he is transferred into new bodies to live and exist.

Another related study about this is Sigmund Freud’s The Self is Multilayered. In the part of the movie where they shared Nathan’s post-experience about the possession, his consciousness was able to slightly remember the happenings while he was unconscious. Having different POVs of consciousness gives different identities and personalities which somehow proves that our self is multilayered.

Also, Gilbert Ryle’s self is the way people behave, as we can see in the movie, the family or friends of the possessed ones easily identify their new or weird behavior simply because it is not the usual way they behave. This proves that our self is responsible for existing and living our life; it controls our body just as how A controlled the bodies of the people. All of us are mostly identified because of our behavior; most people we know especially our families know how we behave and act, that is because of our self, our mind. A had a different body but since he has a mind which is connected to his behavior, we can identify right away that there are no changes and even Rhiannon can tell if it is him or not.

Lastly, about Socrates’ unexamined life is not worth living, we can see that A is more of an unexamined life but he chose to prove that his life is still full of adventure and learning. He doubts his existence because he thinks that he is merely a disembodied spirit, yet he proves that no amount of doubt about his existence can affect his way of living. He lived his life and even met someone he loved. This proves that no matter what we have, life is always worth living, we just have to seek for the good things and be contented. For A’s experience, having one person know him is enough and helped him manage to live his life great. Before he even met Rhiannon, where no one knew that he existed, he still tried to do something where he could say he was living and having a good memory, and from then on he, himself became a part of the memories of the identities he used to possess.