Socrates Plato Descartes

Socrates believed that the Plato argues that the soul is really an Descartes's concept of
“self” exists in two parts: entity distinct from the body. the self revolves around
Nevertheless, in Plato's concept of the the idea of mind-body
1. the physical, self, we have the idea that when the dualism. For Descartes, a
tangible aspect of human person dies, the soul departs human person is
us. This is the part from the body leaving the latter to composed of two parts,
that is mortal and decompose. And because the soul is namely, a material body
can be/is immaterial and indestructible, it and a non-material mind.
constantly cannot die. It is eternal. In other words, for
changing. Descartes, it is the mind
2. the soul, which he that makes us humans.
believed to be Thus, for Descartes, the
immortal. The soul “mind” is the “real self”.
is the part that is
unvarying across
all realms .

P1 Class #5
Theories of the self
Comparison tables
Thomas Aquinas begins his
theory of self-
Aquinas knowledge from the
claim that all our self-
knowledge is
dependent on our
experience of the
world around us. But,
instead, Aquinas
argues, our awareness
of ourselves is
triggered and shaped
by our experiences of
objects in our
environment.
Augustine of Augustine's sense of
self is his relation to
Hippo God, both in his
recognition of God's
love and his response
to it could not achieve
inner peace without
finding God's love.
Hobbes Thomas Hobbes, the
seventeenth century
philosopher, believed
that human beings
always acted from self-
interest. On one
occasion Hobbes was
seen giving money to a
beggar. When asked
why, he explained that
he was trying to relieve
his own discomfort at
seeing the beggar in
need.
Rousseau Rousseau claimed that
human beings are
possessed of two types
of “self-love.” The first,
amour de soi, is simply
the interest we take in
our own survival and
comfort. The second,
amour-propre, is
inherently relational.
Locke John Locke holds that
personal identity is a
matter of psychological
continuity. He
considered personal
identity (or the self) to
be founded on
consciousness (viz.
memory), and not on
the substance of either
the soul or the body.
Keywords: Personal
Identity,
Consciousness, Self,
Memory, Survival after
death.