The Western Subjectivity Thought :: Philosophy Papers

The Western baseivity ThoughtSince modern times subjectivity thought has been one of the fundamental contents and the significant achievements of western philosophy. It is faced with numerous difficulties in its development process and has been declared to have died, but I think that it indeed still has bright prospects of development.1. Historical Development of Western Subjectivity ThoughtThe word subject comes from the Latin word subjectum , which means something in front, or something constituting the foundations of other things. In Greek philosophy, at least in Aristotles philosophy, subject is not a philosophical category which belongs specially to human being or a person, but something which is opposite to attribute or contingency, and is opposite to maintain of a sentence. Such a subject is to a fault a affectionateness in Aristotles philosophy. For Aristotle, Socrates is a subject, a dog or a stone also is a subject. Up to Descartes age, the conception of subject as a philosophy category belonging to human being does not project over the worldwide conception of substance.In Descartes philosophy, what is called subject means ego, soul or mind. Ego, soul or mind, like a material body, is a kind of substance, but is assorted from the latter in essence. The essence of material substance is extension, whereas the essence of ego, soul or mind is thinking. Ego is not simply different from the material substance in essence, but also does not come from the latter. What does he call I think, therefore I am does mean that. It set downly puts forward the subjectivity question of human being.However because Descartes puts forward his theory of the subjectivity of human being within the framework of his mind-body dualism, his conception of the subjectivity of human being as such can not possibly contain any further and deeper intention. They are Leibniz, Kant and Husserl and so on who endow it some further and deeper intention.The monadology of Leibniz no t only calls monad as soul or entelechy, and considers the perceptive activity as the essential content of a monad, but also clearly declares that a manod is a center of metaphysical force, it has no any windows but intrinsically possesses a kind of appetition force which promotes the transition of a monad from the state of less clear perception to the state of clearer perception , and it is a mirror of the whole universe. All of these enable the ego (the subject) in Descartes philosophy to get a kind of sassy active quality.