UNDERSTANDING

THE
SELF

PART 1: THE SELF FROM

VARIOUS PERSPECTIVE
PART 1: THE SELF
FROM VARIOUS
PERSPECTIVE
OBJECTIVES

• Compare and contrast the different philosophical

foundations and conceptualization of self
THE SELF FROM
THE PERSPECTIVE
OF PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy

• Defined as the study of knowledge or wisdom

• Came from the Latin roots philo (love) and Sophia
(wisdom)
• The Queen of All Science

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SOCRATES (470-399 BCE)
“An examined life is not worth living.”

• stonemason; not a writer; Mentor of Plato

• Wanted to discover the essential nature of knowledge,
justice, beauty and goodness

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Sophist

• first teachers of the West; Athenians who were skilled in

discussions and debates

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Socratic Method or Dialectic
Method
• search for the correct and proper definition of a thing
• bring the person closer to the final understanding
• It aims make people think, seek and ask again and
again
• Socrates did not lecture, he instead would ask
questions and engage the person in a discussion.
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Delphic Oracle (Know
Thyself)

• The foundation of Socrates Philosophy

• Socrates would like to emphasize that knowing or
understanding oneself should be more than the
physical self, or the body

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 SELF

PHYSICAL IDEAL
REALM REALM
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Physical Realm

• The best example of the physical realm is the physical

world.
• The physical world is consisting of anything we sense –
see, smell,feel, hear, and taste. It is always changing and
deteriorating.

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Ideal Realm

• This includes the intellectual essences of the universe like

the concept of beauty, truth, and goodness.

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PLATO (428-348 BCE)

• Real name is Aristocles; philosophy is the way of life

• Plato’s metaphysics = Theory of Forms

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Theory of Forms

• forms refer to what are real; can only be grasped

intellectually

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Plato’s Three Components of
the Soul or Three Part of the
Self
• REASON – rational; motivation for goodness and truth
• SPIRITED – non-rational; will or drive toward action;
initially neutral but can be influenced or pulled in to two
directions
• APPETITES – irrational; lean towards desire for pleasures
of the body
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ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

• Christian philosopher
• Wanted to know about moral evil and why it existed in
people, his personal desire for sensual pleasures and
questions about all the sufferings in the world

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The Existence of TWO
REALMS

• God as the source of all reality and truth

• The sinfulness of man – man’s freewill is the cause of
sin/evil

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The Role of Love

• Love of physical objects lead to the sin of GREED

• Excessive love for other people lead to the sin of
JEALOUSY
• Love for the self leads to the sin of PRIDE
• Love for God is the supreme virtue and only loving Him
can man find real happiness 18
RENE DESCARTES
Cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am)

• Father of Modern Philosophy;

• one of the rationalist philosophers of Europe;
• introduced the Cartesian method.

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Mind-body Problem

• He considered the mind/soul (the self) as a substance

is separate from the body. Descartes believed that all
bodily processes are mechanical. The body, according
to him, is like a machine that is controlled by the will
and aided by the mind.

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JOHN LOCKE

• Born in Wrington, England and son of a Puritan lawyer;

interested in politics
• Believed that knowledge results from ideas produced a
posteriori or by objects that were experienced;
(process = sensation and reflection)
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Locke’s Key Points

• To discover the nature of personal identity, it is

important to find out what it means to be a person.
• A person is a thinking, intelligent being who has the
abilities to reason and to reflect.

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Locke’s Key Points

• A person is also someone who considers themself to be

the same thing in different times and different places.
• Consciousness as being aware that we are thinking—
always accompanies thinking and is an essential part of
the thinking process.
• Consciousness makes possible our belief that we are the
same identity in different times and different places.23
Tabula Rasa (blank slate)

• Ideas are not innate but rather the mind at birth is a

“Tabula rasa”

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 Locke’s Three Laws

Law of Opinion Civil Law Divine Law

(praiseworthy actions ( set by God on the
are “virtues” while (right actions are actions of man;
those otherwise are enforced by people eternally true law for
“vices) with authority) human behavior )

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DAVID HUME

• Born in Edinburgh, Scotland; “never entertained any

belief in religion”
• At the start of his philosophy, he relied on the scientific
method to explain human nature and workings of the
mind but he eventually discovered the limitations of
the mind and his optimism became skepticism
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Two Distinct Entities of our
Experience

1. Impressions are the basic sensations of our

experience, the elemental data of our minds: pain,
pleasure, heat, cold, happiness, grief, fear,
exhilaration, and so on.

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Two Distinct Entities of our
Experience

2. Ideas are copies of impressions that include thoughts

and images that are built up from our primary
impressions through a variety of relationships, but
because they are derivative copies of impressions, they
are once removed from reality.
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IMMANUEL KANT

• Lived all his life in the town of Konisberg in East Prussia (now
Western Russia)
• Founder of German Idealism (inspired by the philosophy of
David Hume)
• Wrote 3 books: Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical
Reason and Critique of Judgment
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View of the Mind

• The mind is not just a passive receiver of sense

experience but rather actively participates in knowing
the objects it experiences
• Instead of the mind conforming to the world, it is the
external world that conforms to the mind
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Transcendental Apperception

Transcendental apperception happens when people do

not experience self directly, instead as a unity of all
impressions that are organized by the mind through
perceptions.

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SIGMUND FREUD

• Australian psychologist; one of the pioneering figures

in the field of psychology
• Father and Founder of Psychoanalysis

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Psychodynamic Theory

• workings of the mind or one’s mental life impacts

strongly on the body resulting in either emotional
stability or psychological dysfunctions

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Dualistic View of the Self

Conscious Unconscious

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Dualistic View of the Self

1. The conscious self is governed by reality

principle.
2. The unconscious self is governed by pleasure
principle

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Topography of the Mind

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Components of the Mind
• pleasure principle
• demand immediate satisfaction and not hindered by
ID social expectations

• reality principle
• mediates between the impulses of the id and the
EGO restraints of superego

• Morality principle
• morality is largely dependent on childhood upbringing
SUPEREGO particularly on rewards and punishments
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Two Kinds of Instinct

• EROS (life instinct) – libido (energy) includes urges

necessary for individual and species survival lie
thirst. Hunger and sex
• THANATOS (death instinct) – behavior directed
towards destruction in the form of aggression of
violence
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GILBERT RYLE

• English philosopher; ideas contradicted Cartesian

Dualism
• Stigmatized the MIND a the “Ghost in the Machine”

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Two Types of Knowledge

Knowing That
facts; information;
empty intellectualism Knowing How
skill/technical abilities

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PATRICIA AND PAUL
CHURCHLAND

• Coined the term “Neurophilosophy”

• It seems that what and who a person is, is largely
determined by his neurons, hormones and overall
genetic make-up

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Neurophilosophy

• study of philosophy of the mind, the philosophy of

science, neuroscience and psychology
• aims to explore the relevance of neurolinguistic
experiments/studies to the philosophy of the mind.

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MAURICE MERLEAU PONTY

• French Phenomenological philosopher; philosopher of

the body
• At the center of his philosophy is the emphasis placed
on the human body as the primary site of knowing the
world.
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View of Human Nature

• Merleau-Ponty developed the concept of body-subject

and contended that perceptions occur existentially;
The consciousness, world and human body are
INTERCONNECTED

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Phenomenology

• provide a direct description of the

human experience

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Consciousness

• process that includes sensing as well as

interpreting/reasoning

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Reference:
• Arcega, A M., Cullar, D. S., Evangelista, L. D. &
Falculan, L. M. (2018). Understanding the Self.
Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House Inc.

• Gazzingan, L. B. et al. (2019). Understanding the Self.

Muntinlupa City: Panday-Lahi Publishing House, Inc.

• Alata, E.J.P., Caslib, B.N., Serafica, J.P.J., Pawilen, R.A.

(2018). Understanding the Self. Rex Book Store Inc.,
Sta Mesa Heights, Quezon City, Philippines
THANK YOU

Compiled by: Ms. Lhesley Anne L. Bulanier