The Philosophical

Perspective of the Self

PREPARED BY:
MS. LIEZEL P. MOISES MA, RPM, RPSY
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, students should be
able to accomplish the following objectives:

• Identify and explain the different

philosophical perspectives about the self.
• Evaluate the different philosophical views
of the self and how these can be
contextualized in their own lives.
• Clarify one’s own moral character and
personal values
What is considered to be
the greatest ignorance?
L. MOISES, ADAMSON UNIVERSITY
“The greatest ignorance is the ignorance of oneself.”

This Anaxagoras’ notable quote reminds us that it is not the state of

What is
being naive of the basic to complicated matters in this world, which
makes the person ignorant, but it is the ignorance of oneself.
considered to be
the greatest
A person may ask, “who am I and how would I come to the complete
understanding of my total being?” It is highly inviting to be mindful of
ourselves.
ignorance?
To be mindful of what we are capable of becoming, doing, and
adjusting. We may begin to answer the fundamental questions from
various philosophical thoughts.

L. MOISES, ADAMSON UNIVERSITY

 • It is often called the mother of all disciplines, simply
because of all fields of study began as a
philosophical discourses.

PHILOSOPHY • Ancient philosophers have striven to explain natural

and social phenomena, giving their own definitions
DEFINED of how the world works and what factors contribute
to such phenomena.

• Thus, it was inevitable that they would derive

various conceptions of what it means to be human,
and in doing, the definition of self.
SOCRATES
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

• Reflections of oneself is a reflection of life

itself.
• Life is full of experiences, and that is where
we should begin in our search for
understanding of ourselves.
• It is essential to understand that ignorance of
what is good is the culprit to wicked life.

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PLATO
“The Self as an Immortal Soul”

• “Good is above god”

• The spiritual aspect of the self to know the good life.
• The ultimate goal of the self is the moral duty to be good. Thus
the development of moral character is the soul of the self.
• Human soul is bestowed with intelligence.
• The soul is invisible and rules over the body, although to begin
with, before “it is encased in a mortal body”, it is without
intelligence, reaching its full potential only with time, as man
develops and grows.

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ARISTOTLE

• He contemplated the importance of the function of sensory

experiences to have something in the mind.
• He believed that the soul and the body are functioning
complementarily.
• Thus, the body is the dwelling place of the soul.
✓ Firstly, by the soul, he refers to the processes by which a
living thing actually lives. In the opening lines of The
Metaphysics, he rejects Plato’s skepticism of perception;
✓ Secondly, there is something more than perception in
humans.
✓ There is a rational faculty, which although natural must be
understood in a wholly different light(Rollins, 2006).
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RENE DESCARTES
“I think; therefore, I am (Cogito Ergo Sum)”

• Denied that the rational operations of the mind were

causally brought about by material or biological
processes.
• Descartes's mind-body dualism provides a
mechanistic explanation of human body functions in
producing emotions.
• Within the Cartesian framework the passions are
caused by animal spirits flowing from the pineal gland.

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John Locke
“The Self is Consciousness”

• A person is a “thinking intelligent being, that has

reason and reflection.
• This he does only with consciousness, which is
inseparable from thinking;
• “A person is a single center of consciousness”
• Personal identity does not consist in substance,
be it matter or mind, but in consciousness (and
memory).

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David Hume
“There is No self”

• “If there is no God, it is important for man to invent HIM.”

• The self is constructed as collection of sensory input forming
meaning into what a person can become (perception).
• Contents of their experience: impressions and ideas.
• Impressions are basic sensations of people’s experience such as
hate, love, joy, grief, pain, cold and heat (strong and lively)
• Hume further posits that different sensations are in constant
continuum that is invariable and not constant.
• Hume argues that it cannot be from any of these impressions
that the idea of self is derived and consequently, there is no self

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Jean Jaques Rousseau
“Man as Inherently Good at Birth”

• Has position man into his finite destiny of living in harmony

and peace with each other.
• Despite of human adversity, and the presence of evil and
suffering in the world, he had high hopes that the goodness of
man shall prevail against all odds and adversity.
• It is apparent in the history of human nature to have been
inclined towards aggression and suppression of other people’s
rights.
• For him, he argued that man though born good at birth is
vulnerable to be corrupted by an evil society. An evil society
is the culprit for man’s evil deeds.

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Thomas Hobbes
“Man is not Born Evil at Birth”

• Hobbes believed that Man is not born evil at birth.

• He claimed that it is inherent in human nature to act in
ways that are evil and aggressive, which could be
destructive and anti-social.
• He proposed to change and transform man into law abiding
citizen through formal education with the end in view of
forming and instilling moral character.
• Thus, formal education is primordial to every man in order
to build good character towards the attainment of moral
rectitude and uprightness.

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John Paul Sarte
“Man is Condemned to Freedom”

• An atheist Philosopher and an existentialist who said that

man is condemned to freedom.
• Thus, the self is a product of the freedom one makes and
the consequence of this exercise.
• Man could not be otherwise than what he really is, if it is
not a product of his own choice.
• With freedom inherently attached to human existence, he
should assume fully responsible for his own destiny.
• Freedom and responsibility and their co-existence will
make existence onerous and burdensome.

L. MOISES, ADAMSON UNIVERSITY

Ayn Rand
“Act of Selfishness is a Moral Act”
• Has strongly protested the negation of self in view of the
greater welfare of the majority.
• Love of self should be above all human values.
• To be moral, one must acknowledge that the love of self
or selfishness is not socially and morally vicious.
• But instead for her the act of selfishness is a moral act, for
one cannot truly give what one does not have.
• According to Rand, we should admire persons who have
shown extraordinary talents as scientist, entrepreneurs,
capitalist rather than admiring the martyrs, and those who
have shown the act of creative suffering.

L. MOISES, ADAMSON UNIVERSITY

Thank you!

L. MOISES, ADAMSON UNIVERSITY

MAIN REFERENCE:
Malabuyo, T., Moises, L., Varela, R., Zarraga, I. (2019). Understanding
the Self, Adamson University, Manila, Philippines.

L. MOISES, ADAMSON UNIVERSITY