The chapter “I Inside, I Outside” raises questions of the self. This chapter, and book, can be viewed as Savater’s personal philosophical views on each topic that is introduced, but it is also left widely open to one’s own interpretation. While questioning the self may seem broad, Savater narrows it down. The existence of the self and soul, basic and preexisting knowledge, the mind, etc. are all brought into perspective. The philosophical issues with the self and everything that concerns it are frequently questioned and examined.
The Philosophical Issues of the Self
Throughout the chapter we are introduced to a few different issues in regard to the self and everything involving it. The first issue brought to us in the chapter is the questioning of what we know, “Can we really be certain of everything we know?” (p. 39). While yes, we can be certain of most; such as, two plus two will always equal four, the sky is blue and the grass is green, the Earth is not the center of our solar system, and so on and so forth. Even with a certain level of certainty comes a level of uncertainty. But even uncertainty can be based on personal experiences and beliefs. For example, the existence of God, or the …show more content…
Having a body and being your body is open to interpretation, it can also be said you have both. One example of this idea can be a person who is transgender. A person who is considered to feel like they belong in their body will say that they are in fact their body. That wouldn’t be the case with someone who is transgender. Most transgender people feel from an early age that their body is not their body, and they are just stuck inside of another body that they are meant to be someone they aren’t. Due to that fact, they undergo extensive treatments, and, in most cases, surgery. At the end of transitioning, one can finally say they are in the body they are meant to be