PT 1: Assignment/Activity

Complete the following matrix.

Philosopher Concept about the Self
1. Socrates Self is the soul and has two realms:
physical and ideal. The physical realm
contains the things that are imperfect,
changeable and transient like our body,
while the ideal realm contains the
unchanging, perfect and eternal such as
truth, goodness and beauty.
2. Plato Self is also a soul, distinct to man and it is
God-given. He’s viewpoint of the soul was
that it has three parts: the reason (make
us think deeply), the physical appetite
(our basic instinctual needs) and the spirit
or passion (basic emotions).
3. Aristotle Self is also a soul and Aristotle introduced
the soul’s three functions: vegetative
(basic maintenance of life), appetitive
(desires and motives) , and rational
(reason).
4. St. Augustine Self is also a soul but his definition of it
has a religious aspect. The only one who
mentioned God in the concept about the
self was him. Self can only be known
through knowing God. He’s viewpoint was
that we can only attain true happiness
and completeness in the presence of
God.
5. Descartes Self is the act of thinking or being self-
conscious. It is different from our body.
He has a phrase of cogito ergo sum
which means I think, therefore, I am.
6. Locke Self is the memory, the consciousness.
He’s concept was, ‘we were born as a
tabula rasa or a blank slate’ aka a blank
sheet that collects its contents through
experiences.
7. Hume There is no such thing as ‘self’ in David
Hume’s concept about the self also
known as “no self”. Based on my
understanding, the self for him is made
because of the experiences.
8. Kant His concept was the opposite of David
 Hume. The self is the one that makes
intelligible experience possible. The self
surpasses experiences. The self can
construct its own reality called rational
will.
9. Ryle Self is the behavior. He believes that our
mind is only an interpreter of our
behavior. He’s view point is quoted as “I
act, therefore, I am,” different from Rene
Descartes.
10. Merleau-Ponty Self is based on the phenomena of
experience like the saying, “We make our
own destiny.”
11. Churchland Self is the brain. If there’s no brain, then
there is no self.