Lesson 1

THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL

PERSPECTIVES

I. Introduction:

What is Philosophy?

-study of acquiring knowledge through rational thinking and inquiries that involves in
answering questions regarding the nature and existence of man and the world we live in.

PHILOSOPHERS

A. SOCRATES - First martyr of education, knowledge, and philosophy. His philosophy underlies in the
importance of the notion "knowing oneself". A person's acceptance of ignorance is the beginning of
acquisition of knowledge. But, possession of knowledge is a virtue; ignorance is a depravity (evil,
corruption, wickedness). Knowing ourselves lies in our own abilities, and wisdom. Understanding
ourselves is through internal questioning or introspection (understanding our strengths and weaknesses,
like vs. Dislike)
His way of teaching called Socratic Method or Socratic conversation (role of both the teacher and the
student is known to the world; asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw
out ideas and underlying presumptions). However, he was charged with corruption of minors and died as
a martyr that fought against ignorance and narrow-mindedness.
But for him, men's goal in life is to obtain happiness. It motivates us to act towards or avoid things that
could have negative effects in our lives. As such, by fully knowing oneself a person will be able to
achieve happiness.

B. PLATO – He is a student of Socrates that is the reason he followed the idea of Socrates in knowing
thyself. He was called the Father of academy (a place where learning and sharing of knowledge happens;
later became one of the pillars and basis of what schools and education is now in the present). He also
wrote several literatures that tackles politics, human nature and established the idea of virtue and
intelligence.
According to Plato, a person who is a follower of truth and wisdom will not be tempted by vices and will
always be correct/moral/ethical. He believed in the division of a person's body and soul which forms the
person as a whole aside from the material things and that could be observed and associated with a person.
He believed that the soul is divided into 3 different parts that has different views, leading to different
behaviours
1. Appetitive soul - the part of the person that is driven by desire and need to satisfy oneself. This
satisfaction involves physical needs, pleasures and desires, objects, and situations
2. Spirited soul- courageous part of a person. One who wants to do something or to right the wrongs that
they observe. This is very competitive and is very active. Competitiveness drives one to expect positive
results and winning.
3. Rational soul- the drive of our lives. The part that thinks and plan for the future (the conscious mind).
It decides what to do, when to do it and the possible results one could have depending on their actions.

C. ST. AUGUSTINE - A saint and a philosopher of the church. He follows the idea that God
encompasses us all, that everything will be better if we are with God. He believed that God and his
teachings affect various aspects in life (that everything is better if we devote ourselves in mending our
relationship with God). His idea of a man and how to understand who we are as a person is related to our
understanding of who we are and how we question ourselves. He also relates our existence to God being
modeled in his likeness though being alive means that we are still far from god and has yet to be truly
with him. But he rejected the doubtfulness of the academy in which one cannot or should not accept ideas
from others. St. Augustine emphasized that we may not be able to give our agreement to everything other
people tell us, but we can still agree to those who we are from our own perception. His believes that
teaching the church and establishing our sense of self with God identifies the essence of our existence and
role in the world (the reason for this is because our bodies are limited).

D. RENE DESCARTES – a French philosopher known to be the father of modern philosophy because of
his radical use of systematic and early scientific method to aid his ideas and assumptions. He believed in
modern dualism or the existence of body and mind and its importance to on e's existence were presented
with the evidences from experiments as well as philosophical reasoning.
Descartes is known to be the proponent of the "methodical doubt" (continuous process of questioning)
doubting, asking questions are part of one's existence. He defined the roles of the mind and body to the
notion of one's existence and sense of self.
He is known for the statement "cogito ergo sum" (I think therefore I am) and according to him, a person is
comprised of mind (thinks and questions what the body has experienced) and body (perceives from the
different senses). The body and its perceptions cannot fully be trusted or can easily be deceived (for
example: there are times that we feel that a dream is real before actually waking up or having different
perception of size based on an objects distance from the viewer).
Descartes believes that we should focus on the mind in order to perceive as who we are or the essence of
our existence because we cannot always trust our senses. He explained that the more we think and doubt
what we perceived from our senses and the answer that came from such thin king or doubting leads to
better understanding of ourselves. He also emphasizes that being in constant doubt regarding one's
existence is proof that a person exists

E. JOHN LOCKE – An English philosopher and physician. He is the Father of Classical Liberation. His
works paved the way to several revolutions to fight the absolute powers of monarchs and rulers of his
time that led to the development of governance, politics, and economic system that we now know. He
works on the self is most represented by the concept "tabula rasa" (blank slate).
The experiences and perceptions of a person is important in the establishment of who that person can
become. Locke does not disregard the experiences of the person in the identification and establishment of
who we are as a person. He stated that a person is born with knowing nothing and that is susceptible to
stimulation and accumulation of learning from the experiences, failures, references, and observations of
the person
F. DAVID HUME – A Scottish philosopher. He focused his work in the field of empiricism, skepticism,
and naturalism. He explained that the Self is the accumulation of different impressions and does not
exceed the physical realm. For him, there is no permanent self because impressions of things are based
from our experiences where we can create our ideas and knowledge. Thus, it may improve or totally be
replaced.

G. IMMANUEL KANT – A German philosopher that is known for his works on empiricism and
rationalism. He established that the collection of impressions and different contents is what it only takes
to define a person. He believes that the awareness of different emotions that we have, impressions and
behaviour is only a part of ourselves.
He emphasizes that a person who fully understand the self has a certain level of consciousness or sense
that uses our intuition which synthesizes all the experiences, impressions and perceptions of ourselves
will pave the way to define and know who we are really are. But he argued that the sense called
"transcendental apperception" is an essence of our consciousness that provides basis for understanding
and establishing the notion of self by synthesizing one's accumulation of experiences, intuition, and
imagination.

H. SIGMUND FREUD – An Austrian psychologist and physician. The Father of psychoanalysis. Freud
is well known for his work on human nature and the unconscious. He believed that man has different
constructs of personality. He conceptualized about the different levels of consciousness that provides an
idea how a person develops a sense of self:
Man has 3 aspects of personality
1. Id- the child aspect of a person; attention is on satisfaction of one's needs and self-gratification. Driven
by the Pleasure Principle.
2. Super ego- the conscience of one's personality. Has the inclination to uphold justice and do what are
morally right and socially acceptable actions. Involved in the notion of right or wrong that is imparted to
us by our parents or people that took care for us during childhood
3. Ego - police or the mediator between id and super ego. Operates within the boundaries of reality,
primary function is to maintain the impulses of the id to an acceptable degree.
Introduced the Levels of Consciousness:
1. Conscious- where minority of our memories are being stored and the memories that are in the
conscious is easier to be to be tapped or accessed
2. Pre-conscious - the middle part of the entirety of our consciousness; the memories stored in this area
can still be accessed but with a little difficulty
3. Unconscious- this area is where majority of our memories since childhood are deeply stored. It is very
difficult to tap the memories. It would need a trained professional and several special techniques in order
to make some memories resurface
He believed that we are a by-product of our experiences in the past and that are actions are driven by the
idea of resisting or avoiding pain, and are molded from our need for pleasure or being happy.

I. GILBERT RYLE – He used behaviouristic approach to self. According to him, self is the behaviour
presented by the person. The behaviour that we show, emotions, and actions are the reflection of our mind
and as such as the manifestation of who we are. He does not believe that the mind and body are two
separate entities which is said to be evident in the unexplainable phenomenon or abilities of the mind
where the soul is considered; however, to some they can co-exist.
He explained that the self is exemplified in his "ghost in the machine" view (man is a complex machine
with different functioning parts, and the intelligence, and other characteristic or behavior of man is
represented by the ghost in the said machine. His idea is saying that the things that we do, how we behave
and react and all other components like the way we talk, walk and look is generally who we are as a
person.

J. PAUL CHURCHLAND - A Canadian philosopher whose focus is on the idea that people should
improve our association and use of worth in identifying the self.
The self is defined by the movement of our brain. A constant movement of the brain can be the basis on
whom the person is (emphasized by Churchland and his wife in the statement "the brain as the self"). He
focuses on the philosophy of "eliminative materialism" and understanding the different neural pathways,
how they work, and what implications are those movements to people is a measurable classification on
one's behavior.

K. MAURICE JEAN JACQUES MERLEAU-PONTY – A French philosopher. He is known for his

works on existentialism and phenomenology. He coined the idea of phenomenology of perception (unity
of the function of the mind and the body) which is divided into three divisions. Merleau-Ponty regarded
that the body and mind are not separate entities but rather those two components is one and the same. His
idea of perception follows the idea of Gestalt psychology (gives importance on the whole rather than the
sum of its parts). The perception guides our action based from our experiences. The body perceives while
our consciousness provides the meaning or interprets the various perceptions we have in the world and
the self could be established by the perceptions we have in the world. One's actions, behavior and
language used could be said to be the reflection of our united perception of the world.

L. THOMAS AQUINAS - The most eminent 13th century scholar and stalwart of the medieval
philosophy, appended something to this Christian view. He explained that Man is composed of two parts:
Matter or hyle in Greek refers to the “common stuff that makes up everything in the universe.” and Form
or morphe in Greek refers to the “essence of a substance or thing”.
In the case of human person, the body of the human person is something that he shares even with animals.
The cells in man's body are akin to the cells of any other living, organic being in the world. However,
what makes a human person a human person and not a dog, or a tiger is his soul, his essence. To Aquinas,
the soul is what animates the body; it is what makes us humans.
Write your philosophy in life. Express your ideas as completely and clearly as you can. Think deeply and
beyond superficialities and refuse to be satisfied with the first idea that you have.

Guide questions:

ACTIVITY I:
1. What do you most value in life? Why?
2. What gives your life meaning?
3. What is the purpose of your life?
4. What do you hope to achieve in your life?

Answer the following questions about yourself as fully and precisely as you can:

ASSESSMENT I
1. How would you characterize yourself?
2. What makes you stand out from the rest? What makes yourself special?
3. How has yourself transformed itself?
4. How is yourself connected to your body?
5. How is yourself related to other self?
6. What will happen to yourself after you die?

SUMMARY
The philosophical framework for understanding the self was first introduced by the ancient Greek
philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. In particular, Socrates: “Know thyself”. But what exactly does
“know thyself” mean that is self and the qualities that define it. The different views of prominent
philosophers regarding the nature of the self are discussed and while there are disagreements in how
philosophers view of the self, most of them agree that self-knowledge is a prerequisite to a happy and
meaningful life.