Week 2 - Philosophical Perspective On The Self

LESSON 1
The Self from Various Philosophical Perspectives

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the learner will be able to:
1. explain why it is essential to understand the self;
2. describe and discuss the different notions of the self
from the points of view of various philosophers across
time and place
3. compare and contrast how the self has been represented
in different philosophical schools; and
4. examine one’s self against the different views of self that
were discussed in class.
GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

ACTIVITY: What is in a NAME?
Rationale: Very often the first piece of information

we have about a person is their name. It’s often the
first thing you learn about someone. Sometimes it
convey their personalities.
Instructions: In a piece of paper, kindly write your

given name. Explain why did your parents give you
that name? What is the origin and meaning of your
name? You may share it to the class.

Trigger Questions:
• 1. Does your name represent who you are as a person? In
what way does it represent you?
• 2. If you change your name, does it change also your SELF?
Will you still remain YOU despite the changing of your
name?

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

• Note: A name, no matter how
intimately bound it is with the
bearer, however, is not the
person. It is only a signifier. A
person who was named after a
saint most probably will not
become an actual saint. The SELF
is thought to be something else
than the name. The SELF is
something that a person
perennially molds, shapes, and
develops. Everyone is tasked to
discover one’s self.

• The history of philosophy is replete with men and women who inquired into the
fundamental nature of the self. The different perspectives and views on the SELF can be
best seen and understood then by revisiting the important conjectures made by
philosophers.

SUBJECT MATTER
PHILOSOPHY is man’s attempt to think most

speculatively, reflectively, and systematically about the
universe in which he lives and his relationship to that
universe.
…such questions will be “Who am I?”, “What is the
meaning of life?”, “Where do we come from?”, Why is
there something instead of nothing?”.
Why use epochal in understanding the
different philosophical perspectives of the
• In the history of the philosophy, SELF ?
philosophers are classified and
organized based on their epoch.
• Their philosophy is somehow
identified based on the influences of
the prevailing characteristics of the
era
• the evolutionary phase or
development of the human mind in
the history

GED0019
EPOCHS OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
Pre-Socratic Medieval Modern
Ancient Early Modern Contemporary

Major Figures
in the History
of Philosophy

Pre-Socratic Philosophy
• is characterized by the
rejection of the
mythological explanation
on the nature and
phenomena in the universe.
• search for the “true essence
of things” through looking
on the basic stuff that
composed everything.
THALES (624-546 BC)
 He became known for positing that water is

the single element that comprised all things
in the universe.
 He also made famous the aphorism, “The
most difficult thing in life is to know
yourself.”

ANAXIMENES
• He designated air as the primary substance
from which all things come from.
• RAREFACTION AND CONDENSATION
• “Although air is invisible, we live only as long

as we can breathe, and just as our soul, being
air, holds us together, so do breath and air
encompass the whole world.”

HERACLITUS
• THE PROBLEM OF CHANGE (All things are in
flux)
• You cannot step twice into the same river.
(SOUL)
• FLUX AND FIRE: To describe change as unity

in diversity, Heraclitus assumed that there
must be something which changes, and he
argued that this something is FIRE.
Democritus of Abdera (460—370 B.C.E.)
• He is known as “the laughing
philosopher” – that he never
appeared in public with out
expressing his contempt of human
follies while laughing;
• expanded the atomic theory of
Leucippus. He maintained the
impossibility of dividing things, ad
infinitum.

Ancient Philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy opened the

doors to a particular way of thinking that
provided the roots for the Western
intellectual tradition.
“Great Greek Triumvirate”

“All I know is that I
Socrates (469-399 BC) know nothing.”
• Unlike the Pre-Socratics, Socrates was

more concerned with another subject,
the problem of the SELF.
• He was more concerned with
understanding one SELF rather than how
the world works.
Socrates affirms that the
unexamined life is not worth living.

• He is challenging everyone to question
their presuppositions about themselves
and about the world, particularly who
they are. He challenges everyone to
KNOW THYSELF.
• Socrates took it upon himself to serve
as a gadfly that disturbs Athenian men
from their slumber and shakes them off
in order to reach the truth and wisdom.

• For Socrates, every man is composed of
body and soul.
• It means that every human person is
dualistic, that is, he is composed of two
important aspects of personhood.
• This means all individual have an imperfect,
impermanent aspect, the body, while
maintaining that there is also a soul that is
perfect and permanent.

“Wise men speak
because they have
Plato (428-348 BC) something to say; fools,
• was a student of Socrates who became because they have to
known through his dialogues which contained say something.”
the presentation of his ideologies and
theories in conversational form.
“Man is the soul enclosed in a body.”
In addition to what Socrates earlier

espoused, Plato added that there are parts
or three components to the soul: the
rational soul, the spirited soul, and the
appetitive soul.

Plato’s Concept of the Soul
In the Republic, Plato describes the soul as having three parts.
REASON (awareness of a
goal or a value)
SPIRIT (drive toward
action)
APPETITE (desire for the
things of the body)
REASON (WISDOM)
Virtue as Fulfillment
of Function SPIRIT (COURAGE) JUSTICE
APPETITE (TEMPERANCE)
• The GOOD LIFE is the life of
inner harmony , of well-being,
of happiness.
• Each part of the soul has a REASON SPIRIT

special FUNCTION. If one will
use reason to control the spirit
and appetite, one can cultivate
the virtues of wisdom (reason),
spirit (courage), and appetite
(temperance)
APPETITE
“We are what we
Ancient Philosophy repeatedly do.”
Aristotle (384-322 BC)

 was a student of Plato and became known as the first
thinker to create a comprehensive system of philosophy,
encompassing Ethics, Aesthetics, Politics, Metaphysics,
Logic and Science.
The human soul combines in itself all the lower forms

of soul, the vegetative, nutritive, and sensitive, having
in addition to these the rational soul.
Man is a rational animal.

• Two composition of soul:
Rational and Irrational.
• The conflict between the
two elements in man is what
raises the problems and
subject matter of morality.
• Morality involves action.

(Olympics)
• Human action should aim
for proper end (the ultimate
end or the final end).
• Happiness is a working of
FUNCTION OF MAN the soul in the way of
excellence or virtue.

VIRTUE as
the GOLDEN
MEAN
• Virtue is
formed
through
performing
good habits.

Medieval Philosophy
This period was predominantly composed of philosophers who were concerned
with proving the existence of God and with reconciling Christianity/Islam with
the classical philosophy of Greece particularly that of Aristotle.

St. Augustine
• Following the ancient view of Plato and
infusing it with the newfound doctrine of
Christianity, he agreed that man is of
*bifurcated nature.
• There is an aspect of man, which dwells in
the world, that is imperfect and continuously
yearns to be with the divine while the other is
capable of reaching immortality.
*Bifurcated – divided into two branches or parts

PHILOSOPHY OF MAN
• God created man as his beloved
creation with rationality and free will.
• God has given as the option to freely

return to him through moral actions
prescribed by the Church.
• Man has the responsibility to be with

God.
• Evil is the absence of good. Thus,
God, who is the creator of all that
is good did not create evil.
The Problem
• There are two types of evil: (1)
of Evil physical evil and (2) moral evil.
The latter serves to be our daily
decisions to do what is good and
avoid what is evil

Man must attain the higher
Good who is God and avoid
focusing on temporary
pleasures.
The Higher
Good
One must concentrate his
reason and faith to God
because God can only give
us perfect happiness.
Medieval Philosophy
St. Thomas of Aquinas (1225 - 1274)
• was an Italian philosopher and theologian who

became a great influence on subsequent
Christian philosophies, particularly that of the
Roman Catholic Church.
“To one has faith, no explanation is

necessary. To one without faith, no
explanation is possible.”
He is the most eminent 13th century scholar and
stalwart of the medieval philosophy, appended
something to this Christian view.
Adopting some ideas from Aristotle, he said that
St. man is composed of two parts: matter and form.
Thomas Matter, or hyle in Greek, refers to the common

Aquinas stuff that makes up everything in the universe.
Form, or morphe in Greek, refers to the essence

of a substance or thing. Essence is what makes a
thing what it is.

• In the case of the human
person, the body is something
that he shares even with
animals.
St. Thomas • However, what makes a human
Aquinas person is his SOUL, his essence.
• To Aquinas, just as for Aristotle,
the SOUL is what animates the
body, it is what makes us
humans.

“God created man according to his
image and likeness.”
1. There is a God who is the creator.

A. IDEA
ABOUT 2. There is a man who is created by God.
MAN
3. The creation bears the characteristics
of his creator who is God.

Modern Philosophy
The rise of Modern Philosophy can be attributed to certain

historical and cultural changes that happened between the Age
of Reason during the 17th century and the Age of
Enlightenment during the 18th century.

“We do not describe the
Early Modern Philosophy
world we see, we see the
world we can describe…”
RENE DESCARTES (1596 - 1650)
• French philosopher, mathematician, scientist

and writer of the Age of Reason. He has been
called the "Father of Modern Philosophy"

RENE DESCARTES
-a great mathematician and
the father of Modern
Philosophy
-On Meditations, he was not able to

distinguish what is real between the
DREAMING STATE AND his WAKING
LIFE.
He doubted the existence of

EVERYTHING and the FOUNDATION
OF KNOWLEDGE.

“I really don’t know anymore what is
real. I don’t know if a devil is
manipulating my mind to see
external objects or myself as real and
true.”
However, the only thing that I can be sure

of is that I am DOUBTING right now. One
can not DOUBT if you are not THINKING.
If I am THINKING, then there must be a
person who is considered to be the
THINKER. I am sure that I am the thinker.
“I think therefore, I exist.

(Cogito ergo sum)”

• I think therefore, I am. (cogito ergo sum)
“I am thinking about the chair.

Therefore, the chair exists.”
MIND AND BODY PROBLEM

• Mind does exist while body is doubtful.
• MIND (SELF) can exist without the body.

SOLIPSISM AND EGOCENTRIC PREDICAMENT
Given our seemingly intimate knowledge of ourselves,
we might wonder whether we can ever really know if the
experiences we have in our minds in fact correspond to the
world outside us—the problem of skepticism. This problem also
gives rise to the awful possibility of solipsism, the view that only
one’s own mind exists. What, then, of other people? This odd
question has been designated by philosophers as the
egocentric predicament.
SOLIPSISM is the view or theory that the self is all

that can be known to exist.

SOLIPSISM AND EGOCENTRIC PREDICAMENT
Egocentric because it begins with the claim that the
individual self is at the center of all our experience;
predicament because it is indeed an intolerable idea that we
cannot ever get beyond our own self to know the existence
of others. In recent Anglo-American philosophy, the same
problem has been called the “problem of other minds,”
which is, essentially, “How can I ever know of the existence of
any mind other than my own?”
IMPLICATIONS:
1. Nobody can tell me that they truly understand what I am thinking and feeling
right now.
2. Nobody can know the real “me”. What is the use of getting to know each other
if we can know the other person through our own interpretation.

David Hume (1711—1776)

• Scottish philosopher and empiricist who
argues that the SELF is not an entity over
and beyond the physical body.
• The SELF is nothing but bundle of
impressions. If one tries to examine his/her
experiences, he finds that they can all be
categorized into two: impressions and ideas.


1. Impressions are the basic object of our experience or
sensation. They form the core of our thoughts. They are vivid
because they are products of our direct experience with the
world.
2. Ideas are copies of impressions. They are not as lively and

vivid as our impressions. When one imagines the feeling of
being in love for the fist time, that still is an idea.

Modern Philosophy
The SELF is simply “a bundle or collection of different

perceptions, which succeed each other with an
inconceivable rapidity, and are in perpetual flux and
movement”
Men don’t have a unified, coherent SELF. In reality,

what one thinks as unified SELF is simply a combination
of all experiences with a particular person.

Contemporary Philosophy
The present period in the history of

Western philosophy beginning at the
end of the 19th century with the
professionalization of the discipline.
Major school of thoughts: rise of
analytic and continental philosophy,
postmodernism, structuralism, etc.

Karl Marx (1818–1883)
Modern Philosophy
• best known not as a philosopher but as a
revolutionary, whose works inspired the
foundation of many communist regimes in the
twentieth century; known for his criticism of
the capitalist society
• “The philosophers have only interpreted the
world, the point is to change it”
• Communism is a society in which each person
should contribute according to their ability and
receive according to their need.

HUMAN NATURE AND
ALIENATION
• Human labor is what makes and

gives dignity and worth.
• It claims that man’s work, place of
work, time of work, and nature of
work determine his humanity.
• Marx is suspicious of capitalism
because it alienates man from his
work.
• Alienation - the state or experience of being isolated from a
group or an activity to which one should belong or in which
one should be involved.
• loss or lack of sympathy; estrangement.
• (in Marxist theory) a condition of workers in a capitalist
economy, resulting from a lack of identity with the products
of their labor and a sense of being controlled or exploited.
1. ALIENATION TO SELF
• The workers are not called by name, but

by numbers.
• Success is determined by numbers.

2. ALIENATION TO
NATURE
• Man is a social being.
 Man is a working animal.

• In the workplace,
individual
productivity is
In a capitalist
greater than
economy, workers
socialization.
must compete with
each other for jobs
• The
andsocial
raises.
animal
is domesticated
3. ALIENATION TO to be alone.
OTHERS
4. ALIENATION TO PRODUCTS OF THEIR LABOR
• The commodities that workers produce through their labor is
not their own but ultimately belongs to another and is
produced for another.
• If labor or work gives the
essence of being a man, it is
therefore a necessary condition
to make everything related to
work desirable.
WHAT IS A
• Elimination of the factors of
GOOD MAN? alienation
• “WORKERS of all nation unite,

you have nothing to lose
except your chains.”

Jean Paul-Sartre (1905-1980)
• He is commonly considered the father of
Existentialist philosophy, whose writings set the
tone for intellectual life in the decade
immediately following the Second World War.
• Characterized by a development of
classic phenomenology, but his reflection
diverges from Husserl’s on methodology, the
conception of the self, and an interest in ethics.
• Known for his dictum: “Hell is other people.”

“Existence precedes essence.”
-Sartre
“Man is challenged to create his meaning
with the choice he is going to make.”

Martin Heidegger (1889—1976)
In being involved with the things in the

world, a person is either being involved
with or along these things or entities.
1. being with = subjects

2. being along = equipment

Gazing towards death opens up new
possibilities for imagining our being.
-Heidegger
• Death is the end of dasein (man).

We are born without meaning. It is
up to us to create our definition
before we die. Knowing that all of
us are going to die, it creates a sense
of urgency to create our own
definition.

APPLICATION AND ASSESSMENT 1.0
1. With your respective group, create a epochal timeline of the
different philosophical perspectives of the SELF Prezi. (There is a
free option that you can use)
2. In your own words, state what is the meaning of SELF for each of
the following philosophers based on discussion in the Prezi
timeline. After doing so, explain how your concept of SELF is
compatible with how the philosophers conceived the self.
Additional points will be added to those who will include
philosophies that are not included in the discussion (but is in this
PPT). You may use symbols and things to represent as such.
3. Please send the LINK of your the Prezi presentation on the
CANVAS assignment tab. Only the LEADER of the group should
submit. Indicate the members’ names on the Prezi presentation.

Week 2 - Philosophical Perspective On The Self

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Week 2 - Philosophical Perspective On The Self

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

LESSON 1

The Self from Various Philosophical Perspectives

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

Rationale: Very often the first piece of information

Instructions: In a piece of paper, kindly write your

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

PHILOSOPHY is man’s attempt to think most

GED0017 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

Pre-Socratic Medieval Modern

Ancient Early Modern Contemporary

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

 He became known for positing that water is

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

• RAREFACTION AND CONDENSATION

• “Although air is invisible, we live only as long

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

• FLUX AND FIRE: To describe change as unity

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

Ancient Greek philosophy opened the

“Great Greek Triumvirate”

• Unlike the Pre-Socratics, Socrates was

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

In addition to what Socrates earlier

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

• Each part of the soul has a REASON SPIRIT

Aristotle (384-322 BC)

The human soul combines in itself all the lower forms

Man is a rational animal.

• Morality involves action.

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

*Bifurcated – divided into two branches or parts

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

• God has given as the option to freely

• Man has the responsibility to be with

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

St. Thomas of Aquinas (1225 - 1274)

• was an Italian philosopher and theologian who

“To one has faith, no explanation is

Thomas Matter, or hyle in Greek, refers to the common

Form, or morphe in Greek, refers to the essence

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

1. There is a God who is the creator.

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

The rise of Modern Philosophy can be attributed to certain

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

RENE DESCARTES (1596 - 1650)

• French philosopher, mathematician, scientist

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

-On Meditations, he was not able to

He doubted the existence of

GED0019 Understanding the Self / Philosophical Perspectives on the Self

However, the only thing that I can be sure