Question

The purpose of this discussion assignment is to reflect upon your understanding of different historical and philosophical approaches to the self. After completing your readings, write a 2–3-page paper explaining the avocado/essentialist idea of the self. As you develop your response, you might find some of the following questions to be relevant: What is the core essence human beings are said to share? What are some of the differences/similarities between the avocado and artichoke views of the self? What is the relationship between human and divine nature?

Answer 1

Have you seen an artichoke? An artichoke is a layered edible and cultivated plant, and it persists with the absence of a core. The artichoke without the presence of a core metaphorically implies that humans, as a result are dynamic creatures, changing rapidly with the passing moments. This is called as the artichoke/protean view of self.

Whereas, The avocado - a type of fruit - after the peeling of its layers, has a strong and enduring core, that persists and is common across all fruits; it could also be categorized as the innate components that are common to all humans and have a stabilized nature as a consequence. This is called the avocado/essentialist view of self. Now, Juxtapose these plants with human nature.

There exists two kinds of ideas of self across people, the avocado and the artichoke.

For a considerably long time it has been believed by virtue of a construct called gender, that females are understood to be inherently irrational creatures and men are believed to be rational beings.

Now, according to the existential, feminist and non western critique it is believed that people cannot be categorized into certain categories owing to their given associations with an identified construct of a group be it gender, cultural or ethnically oriented. Because, that means, by virtue of associations we impose certain irrationalities on these given groups, that we then superimpose on the entire given population of that group. When this is not case - people are different from each other, be they from the same group of association - in all rationalities and irrationalities.