MODULE 1 – SECTION 2:

WHAT PHILOSOPHY SAYS ABOUT THE SELF

PHILOSOPHY
 is often called the mother of all disciplines simply because all fields of
study began as philosophical discourses.
 the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence,
especially when considered as an academic discipline.
SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY
 is the study of questions about social behavior and interpretations of
society and social institutions in terms of ethnical values rather than
empirical relations.
ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY
 is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the natural environment
and humans' place within it. It asks crucial questions about human
environment relations such as “What do we mean when we talk about
nature?”
PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
 is philosophy in the informal sense, as a personal philosophy, whose
focus is resolving the existential questions about human condition.
SELF
 unified being, essentially connected to consciousness, awareness, and
agency (or, at least, with the faculty of rational choice).

CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
KNOW THYSELF
 from the Greek word “gnóthi seautón”.
 was aphorism (principle) if Socrates’s guiding principle that he imparted
to his students.
PSYCHE
 also called as Soul.
 which Socrates believed that the real self is not the physical body, but
rather the psyche (soul).
PLATO
 Socrates’s prized student, who thoroughly expounded on Socrates’s
ideas of the self.
PHAEDRUS
 Plato's conceptualization of the self was profoundly introduced in his
dialogue.
 TWO FORMS OF PHAEDRUS:
1. Metaphysical
2. Physical
METAPHYSICAL
 realm (mind).
PHYSICAL
 world (body).
ONTOS
 also known as Ideal.
 the ultimate reality which tends to be permanent and spiritual.
PHENOMENA
 refers to the manifestation of the ideal.
 Imperfect, impermanent, and inferior.
ARISTOTLE
 suggested that the ideal is subsumed in the phenomena.
ESSENCE
 as what Aristotle called ideal.
 provides meaning and purpose to the matter.
MATTER
 as what Aristotle called phenomena.
 provides substance and solidity to essence.
ESSENCE and MATTER
 as Aristotle emphasized the two co-exist and are co-dependent.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE SELF IS DEFINED THROUGH TWO DISTINCT LENS:
1. Empiricism
2. Rationalism
 EMPIRICISM
 there is no such thing as innate knowledge; instead, knowledge is
derived from experience either perceived with the five sense or
processed with the brain.
RATIONALISM
 argues that there is innate knowledge.
 explains self from the standpoint of what is “ideal” and “true” and not
rooted in what is felt by the sense or body.
IDEALISM PHILOSOPHERS:
1. Socrates
2. Plato
EMPIRICIST PHILOSOPHERS:
1. Aristotle
2. John Locke
3. David Hume
4. Immanuel Kant
5. Gilbert Ryle
6. Patricia Chruchland
7. Maurice Merleau-Ponty
DOMINANT PHILOSOPHER:
1. Rene Descartes
PHILOSOPHERS ORIENTATION PHILOSOPHY DESCRIPTION
CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
Socrates Idealism Socratic Philosophy  Knowledge is the
personification of
good while
ignorance is that
of evil.
 Self-knowledge is
the ultimate
virtue. As the
ultimate virtue, it
will lead to
ultimate
happiness.
Plato Idealism Dualism and  Moral virtue is
Idealism rooted in the
intellect and
leads to
happiness.
 Wisdom and
knowledge lead
to virtue which
will lead to
happiness.
Aristotle Empiricist Aristotelian  Ideal is found
Philosophy inside the
phenomena and
the universals
inside the
particulars.
 Ideals are
ESSENCE and
phenomena is
MATTER.
 Matter has no
form. Essence
has no mass.
 Matter and
essence need
each other.
MIDDLE AGES

St. Augustine Platonism Neoplatonism  All knowledge

leads to God.
 Only the pure in
heart can see
God.
  Love of God, faith
in Him, and
understanding of
His Gospel will
ultimately lead to
happiness.
RENAISSANCE

Rene Descartes Rationalist Mind-Body Dualism  “I think, therefore,

I am”
 The mind and
soul can exist
without the body.
 Establishing the
distinction of soul
from the body
can make people
believe in the
afterlife and the
soul's
immortality.
John Locke Empiricist Theory of Personal  It is in
Identity consciousness
alone that identity
exist, not in the
body and soul.
 There is a
distinction
between man
and person.
 The soul may
change, but
consciousness
remains intact.
David Hume Empiricist Skeptical Philosophy  All knowledge
passes through
the sense.
 Separate ideas
can be joined in
the mind.
 There is no self,
only a bundle of
perceptions.
Immanuel Kant Rationalist/Empiricist Metaphysics of the  Reason is the
self final authority of
morality.
 There is inner
self and outer
self.
 The inner self
includes rational
reasoning and
psychological
state.
 The outer self
includes the body
and physical
mind, where
representation
occurs.
MODERN TIMES

Gilbert Ryle Empiricist The Concept of Mind  “I act, therefore, I

am. “
 The mind is not
the seat of self. It
is not a separate,
parallel thing to
our physical
body.
 The mind is a
category mistake,
brought about by
habitual use. The
only way it can
affect the other is
through the
external world.
Patricia Chruchland Empiricist Neurophilosophy  A fully matured
neuroscience will
eliminate the
need for beliefs
since “they are
not real.”
 The physical
brain gives us a
sense of self.
 Maurice Merleau- Existentialist/Empiricist Phenomenology of  Both empiricism
Ponty Perception and
intellectualism
are flawed in
nature.
 “We are our
bodies.”
 Our bodily
experiences do
not detach the
subject/object,
mind/body,
rational/irrational.

The table shows how philosophers view the self from different standpoints. It must be
remembered that in studying the theories about the self, one should take into account
the philosphers' orientation and historical background. Many other scholars study and
explain the self. Through their ideas, you may examine yourself and determine whether
you fit into the given descriptions.
ABOUT THE PHILOSOPHERS:
SOCRATES

 was a classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of

Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher of the
Western ethical tradition of thought.
 Born: Alopece
 Died: 399 BC, Classical Athens
 Schools of thought: Ancient Greek philosophy
 Notable ideas: Socratic method, Socratic concepts
 Spouse: Xanthippe

PLATO

 was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient

Greece, founder of the Platonist school of thought, and the Academy,
the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Wikipedia
 Born: Classical Athens
 Died: Athens, Greece
 Movies: The War That Never Ends, banquet, more
 Influenced
by: Socrates, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Homer, Parmenides, Protagoras,
Aristophanes, more
ARISTOTLE

 was a Greek philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece,

the founder of the Lyceum and the Peripatetic school of philosophy and
Aristotelian tradition. Along with his teacher Plato, he is considered the
"Father of Western Philosophy.
 Born: 384 BC, Stagira, Greece
 Died: 322 BC, Chalcis, Greece
 Schools of thought: Aristotelianism, Peripatetic school
 Education: Platonic Academy (367 BC–347 BC)
ST. AUGUSTINE
 Augustine of Hippo was a Roman African, early Christian theologian and
philosopher from Numidia whose writings influenced the development of
Western Christianity and Western philosophy.
 Born: 13 November 354 AD, Thagaste
 Died: 28 August 430 AD, Hippo Regius, Annaba, Algeria
 Feast: 28 August (Western Christianity); 15 June (Eastern Christianity);
4 November (Assyrian)
 Parents: Saint Monica, Patricius Aurelius
RENE DESCARTES
 was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. A native of the
Kingdom of France, he spent about 20 years of his life in the Dutch
Republic after serving for a while in the Dutch States Army of Maurice of
Nassau, Prince of Orange and the Stadtholder of the United Provinces.
 Born: 31 March 1596, Descartes, France
 Died: 11 February 1650, Stockholm, Sweden
 Influenced: John Locke, Baruch Spinoza, Isaac Newton, Gottfried
Wilhelm Leibniz, more
 Education: University of Poitiers (1614–1616), University of
Franeker, University of Poitiers, more
JOHN LOCKE
 was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of
the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as
the "Father of Liberalism".
 Born: 29 August 1632, Wrington, United Kingdom
 Died: 28 October 1704, High Laver, United Kingdom
 Influenced by: Thomas Hobbes, René
Descartes, Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Baruch Spinoza, more
 Education: Westminster School, Christ Church, University of Oxford
DAVID HUME
 was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, historian, economist, and
essayist, who is best known today for his highly influential system of
philosophical empiricism, scepticism, and naturalism.
 Born: 7 May 1711, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
 Died: 25 August 1776, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
 Influenced: Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand
Russell, more
 Influenced by: René Descartes, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-
Jacques Rousseau, more
IMMANUEL KANT
 was an influential German philosopher in the Age of Enlightenment. In
his doctrine of transcendental idealism, he argued that space, time, and
causation are mere sensibilities; "things-in-themselves" exist, but their
nature is unknowable.
 Born: 22 April 1724, Königsberg
 Died: 12 February 1804, Königsberg
 Influenced: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur
Schopenhauer, more
 Influenced by: René Descartes, Aristotle, Plato, David Hume, John
Locke, more
GILBERT RYLE
 was a British philosopher. He was a representative of the generation of
British ordinary language philosophers who shared Ludwig
Wittgenstein's approach to philosophical problems, and is principally
known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the
phrase "the ghost in the machine."
 Born: 19 August 1900, Brighton, United Kingdom
 Died: 6 October 1976, Whitby, United Kingdom
 Influenced: John Searle, Daniel Dennett, J. L. Austin, A. J. Ayer, Clifford
Geertz, Wilfrid Sellars, more
 Influenced by: Ludwig Wittgenstein, René Descartes, Edmund
Husserl, more
 Education: The Queen's College, Oxford (1919–1924), Brighton College
PATRICIA CHRUCHLAND
 is a Canadian-American analytical philosopher noted for her
contributions to neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. She is UC
 President's Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of
California, San Diego, where she has taught since 1984.
 : 16 July 1943 (age 75 years), Oliver, Canada
 Spouse: Paul Churchland
 Education: University of Oxford
 Children: Anne Churchland
 Influenced by: Paul Churchland, David Hume, Willard Van Orman
Quine, Francis Crick
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
 Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty was a French phenomenological
philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin
Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his
main interest and he wrote on perception, art, and politics.
 Born: 14 March 1908, Rochefort
 Died: 3 May 1961, Paris, France
 Influenced: Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques
Lacan, Judith Butler, more
 Spouse: Suzanne Merleau-Ponty (m. 1940–1961)
 Education: University of Paris (1929), Janson de Sailly School (1923–
1924), more