Chapter 1

Who Am I?
Philosophical Journey to
Discovering the Self

May Marcell Corneja, RPm

Instructor
 Learning Objectives:
1.Discuss the different representations and
conceptualizations of the self from various
disciplines and perspective.
2.Compare and contrast how the self has been
represented across different disciplines and
perspectives.
3.Examine the different influences, factors and
forces that shape the self.
Philosophy of understanding the self
• Theories
• Concepts
• Self- awareness
• Self- conception
What is Self According to Psychology?
• Private self-awareness is defined as the self
looking inward at oneself, including emotions,
thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. All of these
cannot be discovered by anyone else.
• Public self-awareness is defined by gathering
information about your self through the
perceptions of others.
 The Self

One’s self perception is defined by their

self- concept, self- knowledge, self- esteem
and social- self.
Socrates (469-399 BC)
 Know Yourself
 “ An unexamined life is not worth
living”
 Man’s existence was first in the realm
of ideas and exists as a soul
(knowledge) or pure mind.
 Dialectic method (Socratic method)
exchange of question and answer that
ultimately aims to remember all the
knowledge that a man has forgotten.
 Question:

What pattern have you created in your life? It

may be your daily pattern, pattern in decision
making or the pattern of what types of people you
choose to be part of your life.
Plato (427-347 BCE)
• The Ideal Self, the perfect Self
• He believed that human beings are
composed of two things, a body and a soul.
• Soul is the true self, the permanent,
unchanging self.
• Body is the changing self, what we see in
material world, replica of our true self, a
sort of prison.
• Contemplation: way to free ourselves from
imprisonment. Communion of the mind
 Question:

How would you describe the relation of

your Self to your body.
Augustine (354-430)
• Love and Justice as the foundation of the
Individual Self
• Differentiated the real world (where there is
permanence and infinity) and temporary
world (world of materials)
• Sees God as the ultimate expression of love
• Eternal law which should be universally
followed because this is coming from the God
himself
• Law of conscience: small still voice that tells
us whether our actions are morally good or
bad.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
• Father of modern philosophy
• Cogito ( cogito ergo sum): emphasizes the
consciousness of his mind which leads to
an evidence of his existence
• His essence lay in being a purely thinking
being
• Echoes the dualism of Plato( mind and
body are separate/ distinct to one another)
• Also believes that the mind is conjoined
with the body
• The essence of self is being the mind more
than the body.
John Locke ( 1632- 1704 )
• Holds that Personal Identity (The Self)is a
matter of continuity
• Personal Identity is the concept about
oneself that evolves over the course of
individuals life.
• Included person’s memory in the
definition of self
• Memory Theory: We are the same
person as we were in the past for as long
as we can remember something from
that past
 Question

Do you agree with Locke? If such is the case, what will

happen to your existence when we forget what we have
been doing three days ago?
David Hume (1711- 1776)
• The Self is the Bundle Theory of Mind
• Believes in the existence of the mind and
what’s inside the mind is divided into
two: Impressions (perceive through our
senses) and ideas (create in our minds
even though we are no longer
experiencing it)
 Question
Do you agree with Hume that if we look at what is happening
in our minds, we will not be able to find a permanent self? In
light of Hume’s answer, how shall we respond when somebody
tells us please don’t change
Immanuel Kant ( 1724-1804)
• Respect for Self
• He believes that man is a free agent,
capable of making decision for himself
• Inherent dignity of a human being
• Man is gifted with reason and free will
• Each individual is capable of thinking
that we must give them respect by
treating every individual as ends in
themselves and never as means.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
• Father of Psychoanalysis
• His works center on the mind
• Tripartite divisions of man’s mind:
the id(internal desire), ego(reality)
and superego(moral)
• The battle is taking place in the
subconscious/unconscious
 Gilbert Ryle

• Minds are things, but different sorts of

things from bodies
• The mind is not distinct from the body,
but rather refers to certain aspects of
our bodies.
• The concept of the mind expresses the
entire system of thoughts, emotions,
actions which make up the human self
Paul Churchland

• We do have an organ for understanding

and recognizing moral facts. It is called
brain
• The term mind is deeply affected by
the state of our brain
• Brain works for us to understand how it
creates the self
Maurice Merleau-Ponty

• We know not through our intellect

but through our experience
• Person is defined by virtue of
movement and expression
• I am the sum of all that I make my
body do
• the self is a product of our conscious
human experience
Thank you for listening