The Western Philosophy of Self

The Western Philosophies of Self encompasses all views of the self that
emanated from the European amd American continent, postulated by thinkers from these
regions.

Socrates: The First Moral Philosopher (470-399 B.C.E.)

Socrates believes that to understand the self is to "know thyself". The particular
characteristics of the self determine its identity. This assertion, imperative in the form,
indicates that man must stand and live according to his nature. Man has to look at
himself. This knowledge of oneself can be achieved only through the Socratic method
through the dialogue between the soul and itself or between a student and his teacher.
Without this work on oneself, life is worthless according to Socrates.

Aristotle: Father of Western Philosophy (384-332 B.C.E.)

The self is made up of the soul which is the core essence of a living being which
is not separated from the body. The soul is the one that acts within the body.
Aristotle, in his treatise On the Soul (peri psyche), posits three oinds of soul
("psyches"): the vegetative soul, the sensitive soul, and the rational soul. Humans have a
rational soul. The human soul incorporates the powers of the other kinds: Like the
vegetative soul it can grow and nourish itself; like the sensitive soul it can experience
sensations and move locally. The unique part of the human, rational soul is its ability to
receive forms of other things and to compare them using the nous (intellect) and logos
(reason) (Zalta, 2016).
For Aristotle, the soul is the form of a living being. Because all livings are
composites of form and matter, the form of living beings is that which endows them with
what is specific to living beings, e.g. the ability to initiate movement (or in the case of
plants, growth and chemical transformations, which Aristotle considers types of
movement). In contrast to earlier philosophers, but in accordance with the Egyptians, he
placed rational soul in the heart, rather than the brain. Notable is Aristotle's division of
sensation and thought, which generally went against previous philosophers, with the
exception of Alcmaeon (Mason, 1979).

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

To him the self is a thinking person. In his writing "Cogito ergo sum" (I think
therefore; I am). He stressed that the mind is a substance within the brain capable of
thinking (affirming,doubting,judging etc.) The self then, is regarded the one that makes
us aware to perceive the eternal world. Descartes emphasized the notion of self which is
made of consciousness (observer-observed) that forms of thinking and guides our
behavior. It is the self that perceives the world.

David Hume: Scottish Empiricist (1711-1776)

The self is nothing more than the mental perceptions which are available to our
memory. This perception relies on our previous experiences that five meaning based on
the principles of cause and effects. We view things as distinct but they are connected
together by resemblance, contiguity or causation. All perception of the mind is divided in
two distinct kinds, the "impression" and "ideas". Impressions are the original form of all
our ideas. The self-according to Hume can be explained further in the Bundle Theory of
Personal Identity". Hume said that the mind is simply a bonded of perceptions and
experiences linked by the relations and causations and remembrance.

John Locke: English Empirical Philosopher (1632-1704)

The self can be understood by examining one's mind, what constitute the mind.
Locke stressed that mind consists of memory where our consciousness (thoughts and
experience) resides. Locke suggests that the self (conciousness) is a thinking intelligent
being, that has reason and reflection and continuous to define one's personal identity.
Thus, the self can be equated with one personal identity. This consciousness determines
one's self that continues to grow and develop through times that form our personal
identity. For example, as far as our consciousness could remember the past experience
or thought, that determine this identity as a person, it is the same self now as it was
then. Memory therefore is a necessary condition of personal identity.
Sigmund Freud: Drive There of Self (1856-1939)
Freud believes that the self has three layers: The I'd, ego and superego.
The Id, which works on the pleasure principle, is the seat of our, passion, desires and
other intellectual drives. Like our bodily needs, want and impulses. (Example: Our sexual
and aggressive drives.)
The ego seeks to please the Id drives in realistic way. It is also the ego that
regulates our action. (Example: We can resist the urge of stealing money from others,
but instead we work to earn money.)
The super Ego, which works on the morality principle, is the seat of what is right
or wrong - as it reflects the internalization of cultural rules, set by the guidance and
influence of our parents.
The three layer of the self-interact with each other. The ego meditate between
the I'd and superego and whichever dominates from the other two structures, the ego
will act in reality. This is how our self determines our personality.