The Philosophical View Of Self

Socrates: Know Yourself

 He considers man from the point of view of his inner life.

 The famous line of Socrates, “Know Yourself,”

Virtue is the deepest and most basic propensity of man.

Plato: The Ideal Self, the Perfect Self

 Man was omniscient or all-knowing before he came to be born into this

world.

Immanuel Kant: Respect for Self

 Man is the only creature who governs and directs himself and his

actions, who sets up ends for himself and his purpose, and who freely orders

means for the attainment of his arms.

 Every man is thus an end in himself and should never be treated merely

as a means – as per the order of the Creator and the natural order of things.

Renē Descartes: “I think, therefore I am”

 Descartes states that the self is a thinking entity distinct from the body.

His first famous principle was “Cogito, ergo sum,” which means “I think,

therefore I am.”

John Locke: Personal Identity

 John Locke holds that personal identity (the self) is a matter of

psychological community. For him, personal identity is founded on

consciousness (memory), and not on the substance of either the soul or the

body.

 Personal identity is the concept about oneself that evolves over the

course of an individual’s life.

The Holy Bible

“God created man in His image; in the divine image He

created him; male and female He created them. God

blessed them, saying, “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth

and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the

birds in the air, and all the living things that move on the

earth.”

Sigmund Freud: The Psychoanalytic Theory of Self

PARTS OF PERSONALITY

• Id (internal desires). Also called internal drives or instinctive drives, it consist

of body’s primitive biological drives and urges which are concerned only with

achieving pleasure and self-satisfaction. Id lives completely in the

unconscious.

• Ego (reality). Is the “I” part of the individual that gives him/her the sense of

his/her own identity. The ego is the rational part of the personality.

• Superego (conscience). It is the part of the personality concerned with

morals, precepts, standards, and ideas.

Freudian Stages of Psychosexual Development

1. Oral. From birth to the end of the first year, the mouth becomes the part

of the body through which gratification is secured.

2. Anal (exclusive phase). From the age of 2 to 3 years, the child derives the

feelings of pleasure or pain from defecating. It covers the toilet-training period.

3. Phallic. From the age of 3 to 6 years, the child gets curious about his/her

genitals and becomes attached to the parent of the opposite sex. The attraction

of a boy to his mother is called Oedipus complex, while that of a girl to her

father is called Electra complex.

4. Latency. From the age of 7 to puberty, sexual motivations presumably

recede in importance as the child becomes preoccupied with developing skills

and other activities.

5. Genital. After puberty, the deepest feelings of pleasure presumably come

from heterosexual relations.

The Beginning of Life

Fertilization refers to the meeting of the female sex cell and the male

sex cell. These sex cells are developed in the reproductive organs called gonads.

The male sex cells are

called spermatozoa (singular: spermatozoon) are produced in the male gonads called testes.

On the

other hand, the female sex cells called ova are produced in the female gonads known as ovaries. The
fertilized egg cell known as zygote contains all the hereditary potentials from parents.

Both male and female chromosomes contain several thousands of genes. Genes are small

particles in a string-like formation. They are true carriers of hereditary characteristics of the parents.

Within the gene is a substance called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) which is the code of heredity. It

contains information and instructions about the newly created organism, and programs the traits that

should be inherited. Maturation is the unfolding of the inherent traits.

1. From the lesson, we talked about the Philosophical view of Life and there are 5 contributors in
this aspect. First, Socrates his famous line is ‘Know Yourself’. He believes that man came from
the point of view of his inner life. Where Socrates ethics are the concept of virtue and
knowledge. Because of the virtue all of man have their own thinking and the knowledge is all the
source of our wisdom. Next, Plato his famous line is ‘the Ideal Self, the Perfect Self’. He is the
student of Socrates. He believes that man know everything before she/he born in this world.
Third, Immanuel Kant he believes in ‘Respect for Life’. From his belief, it means that man has
only creature that governs themselves. He also believe that man must don’t treat themselves
merely. While Rene Descartes contribute from the Latin phrase Cogito ergosum means ‘I think,
therefore I am’. For him, the act of thinking about oneself or being self-conscious is proof that
one exists. Lastly, John Locke he believes that the Philosophical view of Life is Personal Identity.
He believes that identity which is self, Personal Identity is founded on consciousness and not in
soul or body.
2. The biblical view of self, from our lesson I remember from the lesson Genesis 1:24-28. It means
that God created man & woman in the Image of God not only in our appearance but also in our
moral, spiritual and intellectual.
3. From my own past, I experience Id, ego and super ego. I was junior high school on that year and
I want to win DSPC in journalism. My desires/ Id really drive me that you don’t have to practice
you will get it like my mind because of desire said everything can get easily and everything that
you want can get easily. One day I fail to win that competition and I wait for another year to try
and my coach said that it takes time to win, it is not like candy that if you want you will easily get
it. It is not the way you think. Everything needs hard work. It makes my mind experience super
ego which tells me the reality of life and because of that my ego works that I need to choose if I
will follow my desire or the reality of life. Id is like the devil side while super ego is the angel
side. It means that the ego is you, you have decide which one you follow.
4. Sigmund Freud believed that events in our childhood have a significant impact on our adult lives,
shaping our personalities. A person goes through a series of psychosexual stages, including oral,
anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Oral Stage where a baby's libido is centered in his or her
mouth. Anal Stage it is the child's libido is now focused on the anus, and he or she finds great
pleasure in defecating. For the Phallic Stage it mean sensitivity is now concentrated in the
 genital area. While the libido is dormant during the Latency stage. The child's energy is focused
on school, friendships, and hobbies. Lastly, Genital stage is the final stage of personality
development, which begins at puberty. Adolescent sexual experimentation is prevalent.
For Erik Erickson, His theory of personality development included eight stages, beginning with
birth and ending with death. Unlike Freud's focus on basic human urges, self-development
emphasizes social aspects. Freud's Theory focused on psychosexual development, whereas
Erikson's focused on psychosocial development.
5. I am really concern for my health. For me from my experience I know that I am physically fit. At
morning I always do home work out for about 15 minutes. I eat 3-4 times a day and drink 2 liters
of water a day. I don’t let myself wasting time in social media. I always do productive things that
can help my improvement and I have a checklist for my things to do for a day. I feel productive
and motivated every day. Lastly, we cannot avoid problem and stress but remember we don’t
have to drown ourselves in problem. Always think positive and look at the bright side of the
situation.