Part I

tHE self from various perspectives

KYLE MARIE A. BENEDICTO
Instructor
Learning outcomes
1. Discuss the different representatives and
conceptualizations of the self from various disciplinal
perspectives.
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.
4. Demonstrates critical and reflective thought in analyzing
the development of one’s self and identity by developing
a theory of the self.
5. Develop your own philosophy of the self.
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PHILOSOPHY
❑ Philosophy is defined as
the study of knowledge
and wisdom
❑ Philo (love) and Sophia
(wisdom) – Greek term
❑ “The Queen of All Sciences”

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PHILOSOPHY IS ABOUT:
Finding answers to serious questions
about ourselves and about the world
we live in:
▪ What is morally right and
wrong? And why?
▪ What is a good life?
▪ Does God exist?
▪ What is mind?
▪ …and much, much more
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What will you get
out of philosophy?
The skills are:
▪ Critical Thinking
▪ Argument skills
▪ Communication
▪ Reasoning
▪ Analysis
▪ Problem Solving…
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What will you get
out of philosophy?
Which allow you to:
▪ Justify your opinions
▪ Spot a bad argument, no matter
what the topic
▪ Explain to people why they are
wrong and you are right
▪ Philosophy basically teaches you to
think! 6
PYTHAGORAS

➢ the first to use

the term
philosophy

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 QUESTIONS TO
PONDER
• Why do philosophers
differ in their
explanations of the
self?
• How has the concept of
the so called “self”
changed over the
centuries when human
nature remained
basically the same? 8
Ancient Greek philosophers

SOCRATES PLATO ARISTOTLE

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“an unexamined life is
not worth living” -SOCRATES
SOCRATES’ VIEW OF HUMAN
NATURE
⊹ Every man is dualistic – body and soul
⊹ Two important aspects of his personhood
• BODY – imperfect and impermanent
• SOUL – perfect and permanent

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❖Socrates was the first
thinker to focus on the
full power of reason on
the human self: who we
are, who we should be,
and who we will
become.

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A person can have a meaningful and
happy life only if he becomes virtuous
and knows the value of himself that
can be achieved through constant soul-
searching.
For him, this is best achieved when one
tries to separate the body from the soul
as much as possible.
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“
• A student of Socrates
• Philosophy of the self can be
explained as a process of self-
knowledge and purification of the soul
• He believed that in the existence of
the mind and soul

PLATO • Mind and soul is given in perfection

with God
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PLATO’S VIEW OF
HUMAN NATURE
SOUL HAS THREE PARTS:

Appetitive

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❑ 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.
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 ARISTOTLES’ KINDS OF SOUL
“

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⊹ Integrated the ideas of Plato and
Christianity
⊹ Augustine’s view of the
human person reflects the
entire spirit of the medieval
world
⊹ The development of the self for St.
Augustine is achieved through self-
presentation and self-realization.
⊹ The self is known only through knowing God

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ST. AUGUSTINE’S VIEW OF HUMAN
NATURE
1. God as the source of all reality
and truth
2. The sinfulness of man

Man’s end goal is HAPPINESS

RENE DESCARTES
❖Father of Modern Philosophy

❖Soul/mind (self) is separate to

the body (mechanical)
❑ The human mind at birth is tabula
rasa or blank slate
❑ Knowledge results from ideas
produces a posteriori or by objects
that were experiences
❑ Two forms: Sensation and Reflection

The Self is Consciousness

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 ⊹ Locke theorized that when they are
born, all babies know absolutely nothing.

In essence, he argued that the inside of a

baby’s brain was empty – ready to learn
everything through experience.
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 LOCKE’S VIEW ON HUMAN NATURE
Virtues – morally
good
Law of Opinion Vices – bad/immoral
behavior

Actions are
THREE LAWS Civil Law enforced by people
in authority

Set by God on the

Divine Law
actions of man

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 DAVID HUME: There is no self
• Scottish philosopher and an empiricist
• Empiricism is the school of thought that espouses the
idea that knowledge can be possible if it is sensed
and experienced. Men can only attain knowledge by
experiencing.

TWO TYPES OF PERCEPTIONS

1. Impressions are immediate sensations of external
reality. These are more vivid than the ideas it
procedures.
2. Ideas are recollections of these impressions
“ ⊹ THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
According to Hume, the ideas of cause and effect arise
only when people experience certain relations between
objects thus it cannot be a basis for knowledge.

⊹ HUME’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

There is “NO SELF” – all we know about ourselves are
just bundles of temporary impressions

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➢ He wrote three books: Critique of Pure
Reason, Critique of Practical reason
and Critique of Judgment
➢ Self is not juts what gives one his
personality but also seat of knowledge
acquisition for all human persons.
➢ The self constructs its own reality
creating a world that is familiar and
predictable
➢ Transcendental Apperception –
people do not experience the self
directly but as a unity of all “WE
impressions that are organized by the CONSTRUCT
mind trough perceptions
THE SELF”
GILBERT RYLE: The Self is the Way
People Behave
❖ Self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the
convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviors
that people make.
❖ “I act therefore I am”
❖ Ghost in the Machine – mind never separate from the body

RYLE’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE AND KNOWLEDGE

Two Types of Knowledge
1. Knowing – that
2. Knowing – how

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THE SELF IS THE BRAIN
• Neurophilosophy (Philosophy of Neuroscience) – is the study of
the philosophy of the mind, the philosophy of science,
neuroscience and psychology.
• “There isn’t a special thing called the mind. The mind just is the
brain”
“The philosophy of neuroscience is the study of the
philosophy of the mind, the philosophy of science,
neuroscience and psychology.”
• Patricia claims that the man’s brain is responsible for the
identity known as ‘the self’
• The biochemical properties of the brain according to this
philosophy is really responsible for man’s thoughts, feelings and
behavior

PATRICIA & PAUL CHURCHLAND

MAURICE MERLEAU – PONTY
The Self is Embodied Subjectively
• Center of his philosophy is the emphasis
placed on the human body as the primary
site of knowing the world
• According to Merleau-Ponty, the world and
the sense of self are emergent phenomena
in the ongoing process of man’s ‘becoming’
• In addition he stated that perception is not
purely the result of sensations nor is it
purely interpretation. Rather, consciousness
is a process that includes sensing as well
as interpreting/reasoning
Thanks!
Any questions?

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