PHILOSOPHY & THE SELF

1. SOCRATES
- the first to focus on the full power of reason on the human self
- Every man is dualistic
- Composed of body and soul
Body - imperfect and not permanent
Soul - perfect and permanent
- Two dichotomous realms
Physical realm – changeable (body belongs to this realm
Ideal realm – unchanging, immortal (soul belongs to this realm)
- The soul strives for wisdom and perfection
- Reason is the soul’s tool to achieve a dignified state of life
- The person’s preoccupation with bodily needs as food, pleasure and material possessions keep us from attaining
wisdom
- A person can have a happy and meaningful life if he becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can be
achieved through constant soul- searching
2. PLATO
- A student of Socrates
- Believed in the existence of the mind and soul
- Three parts of soul:
Rational Soul (reason and intellect; divine essence that enables the person to think and achieve a real
understanding of eternal truths.
Spirited Soul (emotion and passion)
Appetitive (basic needs to live)
- Believes that true happiness can only be achieved by a person who consistently make sure that his reason is in
control of his spirit and appetite.
3. ARISTOTLE
- A student of Plato
- The body and soul are not two separate elements but are one thing
- The soul is simply the Form of the body, and is not capable of existing without the body
- The soul is that which makes a person a person. The soul is the essence of the self.
- He suggests that the rational nature of the self is to lead a good, successful, and fulfilling life.
- Without the body, the soul cannot exist.
- A change in the state of the soul produces a change in the shape of the body; and a change in shape of the body
produces a change in the state of the soul.
- Anything with life has soul
- The discussion about the self, focuses on the kinds of soul possessed by a man.
4. ST. AUGUSTINE - “knowledge can only come by seeing the truth that dwells within us”
- Integrated the idea of Plato and Christianity
- The human person reflects the entire spirit of the medieval world
- The soul is united with the body so that man may be whole and complete
- Humankind is created in the image and likeness of God.
- The human person being a creation of God is always geared towards the good
- The self is known only through knowing God
- Self-knowledge is a result of one’s knowledge of God.
5. RENE DESCARTES – “I think therefore, I am”
- The act of thinking about self – of being self- conscious – is in itself proof that there is self.
6. JOHN LOCKE –
- The human mind at birth is tabula rasa or blank slate
- The self is constructed primarily from sense experiences
7. PAUL CHURCHLAND - the self is the brain
- The self is inseparable from the brain and the physiology of the body
- If the brain is gone, there is no self
- The physical brain and not the imaginary mind gives us our sense of self
- The mind does not really exist
8. DAVID HUME – there is no self
- The self is only a bundle or collection of different perceptions
- The idea of personal identity is a result of imagination
9. GILBERT RYLE – The self is the way people behave
- Self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simple the convenient name that people use to refer to all the
behaviors that people make
- “I act therefore, I am” – the self is the same as bodily behavior
10. MAURICE MERLEAN-PONTY – The self is embodied subjectivity
- All knowledge of ourselves and our world is based on subjective experience
- The self can never be truly objectified or known in a completely objective sort of way
11. IMMANUEL KANT
- The self makes experiencing an understandable world possible because it is the self that is actively organizing all our
thoughts and perceptions.
- The self-constructs its own reality, actively creating a world that is familiar, predictable, and most significantly,
mine.
- The self is the product of reason, a regulative principle, because the self regulates experience by making unified
experiences possible.
- The self transcends experience because the mind can grasp aspects of reality which is not limited to the senses.