UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

NAME: Clariz Jane B. Crescencio DATE: September 14, 2020

YEAR & COURSE: BSED-ENG 1 SCORE:

Understanding the Self Philosophers and their Concepts

ASSIGNMENT NO. 2

1. Who are the 8 philosophers in Understanding the self?

2. What are their concepts of the self from various various disciplinal perspective?
(Minimum of 3 concept each philosopher)

 SOCRATES

:concerned with the problem of self

:believed that “every person is dualistic”
:philosopher with a concept that man= body + soul
Individual= imperfect/permanent (body) + perfect/permanent (soul)

 ST. AUGUSTINE

:follows the view of Plato but adds Christianity

:believed that part of man dwells in the world (imperfect) and yearns to be
with the Divine
:formulated the concept that body- dies on earth; soul- lives eternally in
spirit bliss with “God”

 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

:believed that “the soul makes us human”

:believed that the body of human is similar to animals/objects, but what
makes us human is his essence
:formulated the concept that man= matter (hyle) + form (morphe)
 RENE DESCARTES

:believed that the only thing that one can’t doubt is existence of self
:believed that the body is a machine attached to the mind
:formulated the concept or quote “ I am a thinking thing. A thing that
doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, imagines, perceives”

 DAVID HUME

:is an emperist and believes tha “one can only know what comes from the
senses and experiences”
:believed that “the self is not an entity beyond the physical body”
:believed that “the self is nothing but the bundle of impressions and ideas”

 IMMANUEL KANT

:believed that self organizes different impressions that one get to his own
existence
:we need active inelligence to synthesize all knowledge and experience
:believed that self is not only personality but also the seat of knowledge
 GILBERT RYLE

: denied the internal, non- physical self

: believed that “what truly matters is the behaviour that a person manifests
in his day-to-day life”
:believed that the self is not an entity of one can locate and analyze but
simply the convenient name that we use to refer to the behaviors that we
make

 MERLEAU-PONTY

: phenologist who says that the mind-body bifurcation is an invalid problem

: believed that “one’s body is his opening towards his existence to the
world”
:believed that the living body, his thoughts, emotions and experiences are
all one.