Key Idea: Topic 1.2 asks who the 'you' really is. Is there a single self sealed inside your head — or are you made, from the start, by other people? The self and the other is one of the strongest issues to reach for in Paper 1 Section A, the 25-mark essay on what it is to be human. This whole topic feeds it.
🧠 The six big questions, one card each
Topic 1.2 at a glance
- 1.2.1 · Is there a self? — Descartes: something must be doing the doubting, so there's a thinker. Vasubandhu (anattā): look inside and you never FIND a 'you', only passing thoughts. De Beauvoir: a self is real but never sealed and alone.
- 1.2.2 · Self vs non-self — Where does 'you' end? Sartre's Look: another person's gaze turns you into an object and hands you a self from outside. Hegel: to be a full self you must be RECOGNISED by another self.
- 1.2.3 · Solipsism — The worry that only your own mind is certain to exist. You can't disprove it — you only ever meet the outside of other people. But you can't LIVE it either: love and hurt already assume other minds are real.
- 1.2.4 · Intersubjectivity — The reply to solipsism: we share ONE world of meaning. Phenomenology (Husserl, Merleau-Ponty) says you're always already among others. Buber: meet a person as a 'you' (I–Thou), not a thing (I–It).
- 1.2.5 · Relations with others — Others shape you four ways — bodily, socially, in your mind, and in what you find meaningful. Even rebellion uses a language and ideas others gave you, so the self is relational all the way down.
- 1.2.6 · The relational self — The strong claim: relationships don't just shape a self that already exists — they MAKE it. Confucius (roles), Ubuntu ('a person through persons'), Ganeri (immersion, participation, coordination).
Watch the difference between shaped by and made by others. Everyone agrees relationships shape you. The bold, exam-winning claim is the relational self: that other people don't just decorate a ready-made 'you' — they constitute it. Being clear which claim a thinker makes is what separates a top answer from a vague one.
✍️ Bring it together — a Section A question
Stimulus — A first-year student writes home: "Away from everyone who knew me, I thought I'd finally find out who I really am. Instead I feel like no one — as if there's no 'me' left once you take away my family, my friends, my whole town." With explicit reference to the stimulus and your own knowledge, explore a philosophical issue related to what it is to be human.
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Important: Describing views instead of arguing them. Don't just say 'Descartes thinks X, Confucius thinks Y.' Give each view a reason, test it with an objection, then decide. A name earns nothing without its argument — and a top answer always reaches a reasoned conclusion, never 'it's just opinion'.
✅ Check yourself
If you can answer these six, you have the spine of the whole topic.
Descartes' answer to 'is there a self?' Something must be doing the doubting, so there has to be a thinker behind the thoughts — an inner self you can't doubt.
What is anattā (no-self)? Vasubandhu: look inside and you never find a fixed 'you', only a changing bundle of thoughts, feelings and sensations.
Sartre's 'Look' — what does it show? Caught peeping, you feel another's gaze turn you into an object — the Other hands you a self from outside, not just from within.
Why can't solipsism be lived? You can't disprove that only your mind exists, but the moment you love someone or feel hurt you already treat other minds as real.
I–It vs I–Thou (Buber)? I–It treats a person as a thing to use or size up; I–Thou meets them as a genuine 'you'. Only I–Thou is a real encounter.
What is the relational self? The view that relationships don't just shape a self but constitute it — Confucius (roles), Ubuntu, Ganeri (immersion, participation, coordination).
Exam Tips
- Section A is a 25-mark essay on the core theme — 'the self and the other' is a strong issue, and this whole topic feeds it.
- Turn the stimulus into a question about the self and others, then explore → evaluate → conclude.
- Name a thinker ONLY with their argument — a name on its own earns no marks.
- Always weigh at least two views and end on a reasoned conclusion, not a list.