TWO COMPONENTS OF THE "SELF":

INNER SELF

The “self” which you are aware of alterations in your own state. This includes your rational
intellect and your psychological states, such as moods, feelings, and sensations, pleasure,
and pain.

OUTER SELF

It includes your senses and the physical world. It is the common boundary between the
external world and the inner self. It gathers information from the external world through
the senses, which the inner self interprets and coherently expresses.

GILBERT RYLE

Philosopher and professor, Ryle produced a critique on Descartes’ idea that the mind is distinct from the
body.

RYLE’S POINTS AGAINST DESCARTES’ THEORY ARE:

•The relation between mind and body are not isolated processes.

•Mental processes are intelligent acts, and are not distinct from each other.

•The operation of the mind is itself an intelligent act.

If Ryle believed that the concept of a distinct “self” is not real, where do we get our sense of self: Ryle
asserted that it is from our behaviors and actions.

FOR EXAMPLE: You think of yourself as a kind person because of your acts of kindness.

In Ryle’s view, your actions define your own concept “self” (who you are).
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY

Emphasizing the body as the primary site of knowing the world, Ponty’s idea of
“SELF” is an embodied subjectivity.

Embodied – is a verb that means to give a body to (usually an immaterial substance

like a soul).

Subjectivity - is the state of being a subject, an entity that possesses conscious

experiences, such as perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires.

Object – a subject acts upon or affects some other entity.

Ponty argued that the body is part of the mind, and the mind is part of the body.

According to Ponty, the body acts what the mind perceives as a unified one.