TOPIC 1: PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE

Dr. Kathlyn Mata, RGC

“To find yourself, think for yourself.” – Socrates

In efforts to appreciate and understand reality, and

retort to persistent questions of inquisitiveness,
including the inquiry of self, it was the Greeks
who earnestly probed legends and folklore, and
turned away from them.

This topic on the philosophical perspective of the

self (which will utilize 3 hours) will then allow
you to reexamine its key movers for you to be able
to identify the most imperative assumptions made
by philosophers from the ancient to the
www.thoughtco.com contemporary times.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

1. cite highlights in the life of the philosophers that influenced their concepts
and principles;
2. identify and differentiate the philosophers’ perspectives of self; and
3. create your own concept/ theory of the self.

PHILOSOPHERS’ PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

The way you choose to spend your life contributes to the development of your
identity and self-understanding. Your past is a contributory factor to who you are
today, but who you will be tomorrow greatly depends on your perspective about
yourself.

1. SOCRATES (470-399 B.C.)

believes in immortality;
there is life after death
body - physical realm
He explored his philosophy of
soul - ideal realm immortality in the days following his
trial and before his sentence to death was
executed.

According to him, an unexamined life is

not worth living. This statement is
reflected in his idea of the self.
 He believed in dualism that aside from the physical body (material substance),
each person has an immortal soul (immaterial substance).

The body belongs to the physical realm and the soul to the ideal realm. When you
die, your body dies but not your soul. There is a life after the death of your
physical body. There is a world after death.

According to him, in order for you to have a good life, you must live a good life, a
life with a purpose, and that purpose is for you to do well. Then there you will be
happy after your body dies.

2. PLATO (428/427-348/347 BC)

self is immortal He was greatly affected by Socrates’

death. Socrates was Plato’s teacher.
He believed that the self is immortal
and it consists of 3 parts:

a. Reason – the divine essence that

enables you to think deeply, make
wise choices and achieve an
understanding of eternal truths;

b. Physical Appetite - your basic

biological needs such as hunger,
thirst, and sexual desire and;

c. Spirit or Passion – your basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition,

aggressiveness, and empathy.

The 3 components may work together or in conflict. If human beings do not live
in accordance with their nature/function, the result will be an injustice.
serves the bishop of Hippo
and writes books & letters 3. ST. AUGUSTINE (354-430)

He was a great explorer in his youth and

the BODY - slave of the soul
- spouse of the soulyoung adulthood; he spent great times
attached from one another with his friends and up to the extent of
fathering an illegitimate child.
believe that body - is united from the soul
to be entire & complete His explorations led to his conversion to
Christianity wherein he spent the
"I doubt therefore I am" remainder of his day serving the bishop
of Hippo and writing books and letters
 including his idea of the self.
self seeks to be united with God
thru faith & reason At first, he thought the body as the “slave” of the soul but ultimately, regarded the
body as the “spouse” of the soul both attached to one another. He believed that
humanity is created in image
the body is united with the soul, so that man may be entire and complete. His first
& likeness of God; God is
supreme, everything good principle was, “I doubt, therefore I am.”
created by Him is good
The self seeks to be united with God through faith and reason and he described
"I doubt therefore I am" that humanity is created in the image and likeness of God, that God is supreme
and all-knowing and everything created by God who is all good is good.

4. RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650) "I think, therefore I am"

a scientist and a Devout Catholic
Descartes was a scientist in his
during his time professional life and during his time,
people believe that when the scientists believed that after death the
physical body dies, hence physical body dies, hence the self also
the self also dies but he; dies.
believe to Immortal souls
He was a devout Catholic who believed
& eternal life; have the idea
of thinking self & physical in the immortal souls and eternal life.
body By having the idea of both the thinking
self and the physical body, Descartes
was able to reconcile his being a
scientist and a devout Catholic.
self is a thinking thing
distinct form the body The self is a thinking thing, distinct
from the body. The thinking self or
thinking self (soul) - non- soul is nonmaterial, immortal, conscious while the physical body is material,
material, immortal, conscious mortal, non-thinking entity, fully governed by the physical laws of nature.

body - material, mortal, non-

thinking entity, governed by “Cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I Am) is the keystone to his concept of the
physical laws of nature self. The essence of existing as a human identity is the possibility of being aware
of oneself.

5. JOHN LOCKE (1634-1704)

The intolerant and charged atmosphere

in England kept Locke to stay abroad
human mind at birth is and freedom from political intrigues
a tabula rasa/blank slate and duties allowed him to develop his

self/personal identity is philosophy.

developed thru experiences
According to Locke, the human mind at
birth is a tabula rasa (“blank slate”).
personal identity is made by self-
consciousness; to find out what it means to be a person

person have an ability to think(reason&reflect)

 consciousness is awareness
that a person is thinking

The self or personal identity is constructed primarily from sense experiences

which shape and mold the self throughout a person’s life.

Personal identity is made possible by self-consciousness. In order to discover the

nature of personal identity, you to have to find out what it means to be a person.
A person is a thinking, intelligent being who has abilities to reason and to reflect.
A person is also someone who considers itself to be the same thing at different
times and different places.

Consciousness means being aware that you are thinking; this what makes your
belief possible that you are the same identity at different times and in different
places. The essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself as thinking,
reasoning, reflecting identity.

encourage to take law but 6. DAVID HUME (1711-1776)

intrested in Philosophy
He left the University of Edinburg at
believe that there is the age of 15, to study privately.
NO SELF that it is just a
bundle of perceptions Although he was encouraged to take
passing thru the theatre of up law, his interest was philosophy. It
your minds is during his private study that he
began raising questions about religion.
humans desperately want to
believe that their is continuous
self/soul For him, there is no “self” only a
bundle of perceptions passing through
they use their imagination to the theatre of your minds.
construct a fictional self
mind is a Theatre According to him, humans are so
desperately wanting to believe that
the reasoning ability is a
they have a unified and continuous self or soul that they use their imaginations to
SLAVE to the passions
construct a fictional self. The mind is a theatre, a container for fleeting sensations
and disconnected ideas and your reasoning ability is merely a slave to the
hence, personal identity is just
a result of imagination passions. Hence, personal identity is just a result of imagination.

7. IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)

opposes the Idea of Hume Although Kant recognizes the

legitimacy in Hume’s account, he
believes that the self is a opposes the idea of Hume that
product of reason; self have everything starts with perception and
experiences
sensation of impressions, that’s why he
brought out the idea of the self as a
we construct the SELF; exist
independently of experience; response against the idea of Hume.
goes beyond experience
 For Kant, there is unavoidably a mind that systematizes the impressions that men
get from the external world.

Therefore, Kant believed that the self is a product of reason because the self
regulates experience by making unified experience possible.

We construct the self. The self exists independently of experience and the self
goes beyond experience.

8. SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939)

self is composed of 3 layers - Freud develops his theories during a

conscious, preconscious &
period in which he experienced heart
unconscious
irregularities, disturbing dreams and
periods of depression. He read William
Shakespeare in English throughout his
life.
conscious mind - the thoughts,
feelings & actions that you Based on him, the self is composed of
are aware of three layers, conscious, preconscious
and unconscious.
preconscious - mental activities
that stored in memory, not active
The conscious mind includes thoughts,
but can be recalled
feelings, and actions that you are
unconscious - activities that currently aware of; the preconscious
you are not aware of mind includes mental activities that are
stored in your memory, not presently active but can be accessed or recalled; while
the unconscious mind includes activities that you are not aware of.
there are thoughts, feelings, desires
& urges that conscious mind According to him, there are thoughts, feelings, desires, and urges that the
wants to hide, buried in conscious mind wants to hide, buried in your unconscious, but may shed light to
unconscious but may shed your unexplained behavior.
light to our unexplained
behavior
9. GILBERT RYLE (1900-1976) "I act therefore I am"

His father was a general practitioner but

his father passed his keen had a keen interest in philosophy and
interest in philosophy with astronomy that he passed it on to his
his children children; they had an impressive library
where Ryle enjoyed being an
viewed self as the way on omnivorous reader.
how people behave; composed
of a set of patterns He graduated with first class honors in
the New Modern Greats School of
for Ryle the self is the samePhilosophy, Politic, and Economics.
as your behavior
 His concept of the self is provided in his philosophical statement, “I Act therefore
I am.” Ryle views the self as the way people behave, which is composed of a set
of patterned behavior.

Basically, for Ryle, the self is the same as your behavior.

10. PAUL CHURCHLAND (1942)

the self is the brain; inseparable
from brain & body; Churchland became a professor at the
University of California where he later
brain gives the sense of self became the department chair and
member of the Cognitive Science
brain & self is as One, once
the brain is dead, hence the
Faculty, a member of the Institute for
self is dead Neural Computation. His membership
to these organizations prompted him to
dwell on the brain as the self.

Churchland’s theory is anchored in the

statement, “the self is the brain.” The
self is inseparable from the brain and
the physiological body because the
physical brain gives the sense of self.
In short, the brain and the self are one. Once the brain is dead, the self is dead
too.

11. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY (1908-1961)

won the Award of Outstanding
Achievement
When he won the school’s “Award for
Outstanding Achievement” in
Philosophy it traced his commitment to
the vocation of Philosophy.

His concept, “the self has embodied

his concept "the self has subjectivity” explained that all your
embodied subjectivity" knowledge about yourself and the
- all your knowledge about world is based on your subjective
yourself is based on your sub- experiences and everything that you are
jective experiences; everything aware of is contained in your
you are aware of is contained
in your consciousness consciousness.

For him, your body is your general

body is the general medium medium for having a world.
for having a world