WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL

PERSPECTIVES ON THE
 What is philosophy?

Etymology: Greek
Philos – love Sophia – wisdom “love of wisdom”
The study of the basic/fundamental principles of life, knowledge, reality,
existence, morality, human nature, etc., through the use of logic and reason
As an academic discipline, it does not provide ultimate answers, despite the
ultimate nature of philosophical ideas.
Opens the minds of people.
Encourages individuals to ask questions and to seek answers for themselves.
Encourages students to philosophize.
 History of philosophy?
 An Approach that can be Employed
 Grounds the ideas to the context of the philosophers
 Shows the development of philosophy alongside with the development of
human discovery and knowledge
 Grounds contemporary ideas
 Can provide an objective presentation of philosophical ideas
 Can be a ground/basis for other approaches.

Some Other Approaches

Branches of Philosophy
Comparisons and Contrasts
Different Aspects of the Self
Phenomenological/Experiential
Natural/Scientific
Question

How do you answer the

question, “Who am I”?
 PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE ABOUT THE SELF:
- Man is a being in search for knowledge.
- This search for knowledge is introspective—knowing the very own
self (self- directed knowledge).
- Knowledge is inherent in man. Thus, one has to recollect.

How to recollect?

- Through Socratic Method—self questioning itself. help to have harmonious

relationship in the society
- This is a form of self-examination;
SOCRATES “An unexamined life is not worth living for.”
(470 BCE - 399 BCE) - This self-examination has a therapeutic goal.

Activity:
Make a depiction about yourself (inward and outward
characterizations) in a paragraph form.
man in search of knowledge
 - Man’s self is a soul (psyche).
- This soul has a composition of three basic elements;

a. Appetitive element why? instict- we are capable to desire

wants - All pertains to our desires for pleasures, desire also known as knowledge
basic needs
comforts, physical satisfactions and bodily ease. knowledge to anything
desire

- In the structure of the human body, this is material?

represented by belly and genitals.

PLATO student of socrates b. Spirited element

- This pertains to emotional part of the soul.
(427 BCE to 347 BCE)
- Even being called as “hot-blooded part.”
- This is a part in us that loves to face and
Is feeling an emotion? What comes first emotion or feeling
overcome great challenges.
?mag agad sa speaker. Feelings come first - It is represented by heart.
Feeling- pain and pleasure
-don't last, emotion does
Emotion- result of one's feeling ; love
Note: a and b are mostly governed or influenced
by blind instinct. body & heart- instinct making man capable of anger and feeling pleasure
 c.Mind (nous)
-This entails the conscious awareness.
-This is regarded as the guiding principle of our existence.
-This is the part that thinks, analyzes, looks ahead, rationally
weighs options, and tries to gauge what is best and truest
overall.
-This is represented by head.

PLATO Note:
(427 BCE to 347 BCE) - These three are not and must not be in balance—meaning of
equal position to each other.
- Rather, the mind must be the in-charge of all.
- If this does not happen, then the soul is in a state of ignorance
or deception.

Activity:
-Read the “Allegory of the Cave.”
-Make reaction or reflection composition.
 balik sa ginoo para matilawan niya ang kalipay na walay puas?
Pero unya nlng"

-Man’s self is a creature—created by God (the Absolute Good).

-Man’s self is created out of the goodness of God.
-Hence, man is good.
-Yet, this goodness was lost due to man’s sin—alienation from
God.
-Thus, man’s life in this world is in the state of moral quest and
restoration of
such relationship with his Creator.
“Oh God You have created us for Yourself so that our
hearts are restless until they find rest in You.”
- In sin, man becomes incomplete—lacking happiness (union
with God). MAN IS GOOD because he is created out of the goodness of God
Nahibuwag ta sa Ginoo tungod sa atung sala (Story of Creation;
Doctor, teaching sa church; mabalik sa ginoo Genesis/story of salvation)
method: philosophy ni plato-
doctor of the church? body demands pleasure so man (buwag sa Ginoo) is in a state of
Tao is pure soul----emphasize, if man is pure soul moral quest (test/pangsuway) na ibalik ang iyang relationship or
therefore man's self is a creature buhat sa Ginoo tungod sa iya sala/pleasure
St. Augustine
of Hippo 396-430 great teacher does not write but their disciples write for
them
 nakakita sya ug kalinaw sa ginoo God is calling us na mo balik didto Niya...

Ways are;
a. By correcting and redirecting the “disordered love” into the
ultimate love of God.
how? redirect, and recorrect our distorted love into God'sutimate love para ma complete
ta ug balik--don't expect too much material kuan; world cannot provide what you want

b. By not expecting too much from thing which its nature

cannot provide.
man is not self-sufficient so we need God's grace

c. By realizing that we are not self-sufficient.

we don't have spiritual strength para makabalik sa Ginoo; we need His grace

-These ways require the exercise of “free will.” duol sa Ginoo, palayo sa ginoo?

-Free will here means “choosing to turn towards God or away from
God.” PATRON OF THE GENIUS PEOPLE/TAAS UG IQ....
a priest... a sin but not a sinner?
dili dumtan ang sinner/tao, kundi ang sin
basta naka sala, need ug grasya sa Ginoo

-But in choosing to be with God needs God’s grace—for we do not

possess spiritual powers to do the good we have chosen.
St. Augustine
of Hippo 396-430 Man as we are, if walay grasya sa ginoo, we are nothing... without grace, we are not???
DOUBT
- Man’s self is a being in search for an absolute certain knowledge
(truth). THROUGH DOUBT
- Man must subject all things without any exemption into
the test of a methodic doubt. mode of rejection/denial
Methodic doubt is expressed in this statement; BASIS: dream--dli tinuod
“Because I wished to give myself entirely to the search after
truth, I thought it was necessary for me… to reject as
absolutely false everything concerning which I could imagine
the least ground of doubt.”
This means that it is necessary to sweep away all former
opinions, so that they might later on be replaced, either by
others which were better, or by same, when they have been
made conform to the uniformity of a rational scheme.
1596-1650 So what is the foundation of this certainty?
MATHEMATICIAN - Is expressed in this formula: “cogito, ergo, sum” (I think
theory of Cartesian Plane therefore I am). Walay Ginoo, walay ambot, wala siya... Sa sige niyag deny sa iyang kaugalingon pero
naa siya
sa pagdeny nako sa tanan, na realized niya na if you are doubting, then you are certain.... like da ef?
NAA SIYA/conscious sya/nag exist sya
 Why does this become the foundation?
- Because in the very act of doubting, it is impossible to doubt
that I doubt.
- In the very mental act of doubting I am affirming my own
existence.
- My existence is that I am a thinking being.
What does it mean by “I am a thinking being?”
- A being that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, and
refuses, imagines and feels.
But what is this being that thinks in me?
- It is the soul, and it is not the same with the body.
- The soul is the seat for thinking while the body is the extension
1596-1650 or space.

reflection?
1. tinuod nag exist sya/ self or man?
2. space and earth/ word
3. God
 kknowledge is restricted by ideas--dli sya need but inherent IDEAS comes in experiences

- Man is a being in search into the origin, certainty and extent

of human knowledge.
- This emphasizes the issue about what constitute knowledge
and how it is being obtained.
- For him, human knowledge is restricted to “ideas.”
- Yet, these ideas are not innate—inherent in the human
mind and not dependent on experience (as thought of or
assumed by the rationalist).
- On the contrary, ideas come to us through some kind of
experience.
- This entails that the human mind is “tabula rasa”—a sort
of blank sheet upon which experience can subsequently
write knowledge.
- Nothing comes to mind or exists in the mind which was not
first in the senses.
1632-1704 matter of putting information para naa kay mabasa sa imo blanksheet (mind)
nothing comes into mind if dli mo agi sa senses
 So what knowledge then can man have?

- Degrees of knowledge;
- Intuitive knowledge
- - It is immediate, leaves no doubt, and is the “clearest
and most certain that human frailty is capable of.”
- Example: square is not a circle
- Demonstrative knowledge
- - This happens when the mind tries to discover the
agreement or disagreement of ideas by calling attention to
still other ideas.
- Sensitive knowledge
- - It happens when one is aware and assured that other
selves and things exist but only as they are when we
experience them.
1632-1704 If walay kay experience sa usa kabutang, dili na sya tinuod/nag exist
 - Man is a being in quest for knowledge.

- This knowledge is not inherent in man’s nature or in the

mind itself.

- Rather, this knowledge is a form of content being infused

into the mind.

- So, what is this knowledge?

- This refers to the materials given to us by the

senses and experience.

- This is called in one term “perception.”

1711-1776
 This perception takes two forms;
- Impression
- This is the original stuff of thought.
- This refers to the direct givenness of anything that
the human senses have perceived.
- This is the moment that will take place in perception.
- Ideas
- These are merely the copies of impressions.
- Theses result when you have to reflect what you
have got by impressions.
- These take place consequent to impressions.
Knowledge happens due to association of ideas.
- This association means some bond of union or associating
quality by which one idea naturally introduces another.
- So, what we know are just confined to impressions and
1711-1776 ideas; and these are just simply subjective states and are
not clear proof of an external reality beyond the human
mind.
 -Man’s self is an “I”—a transcendental unity of apperception.
-Being as such, man is a knowing being in a particular
way. How does man know?
- Through transforming the raw data given to our senses into a
coherent and related set of elements (called in a term
“experience”).
But can this coherent and related set of elements happen?
- This coherence or unity of the experience implies a unity of a self.
- This unity of a self implies various sequences—sensation,
imagination, memory, as well as the capacity of intuitive
synthesis.
- In other words, it must be the same self that at once senses an
object, remembers its characteristics, and imposes upon it the
1724-1804 forms of space and time and the category of cause and effect.
- Thus, the idea of the self is an “a priori” as a necessary condition
for the experience we do have of having knowledge of a unified
world of nature.
 -The self with its mind knows a thing as it is experienced but it inevitably
perceives the thing through the “lenses” of our a priori categories of
thought.
-This entails that the mind rather imposes its ideas upon the manifold
experience.
-This does not mean that the self with its mind produces an objective
reality; instead, it can only know a thing as it appears to the self and is
organized thereby.
-The self can only know thing as it appears (phenomenal) but not as what
it is (noumenal).
-Hence, man knows thing by using the categories of thought and forms of
-intuition.
-What are these categories of thought and forms of intuition?
-These are the a priori—space and time/ quantity, quality, relation, and
1724-1804 modality.
-These are all ways of thinking that constitute the act of synthesis
through which the mind strives to make a consistent single world out of
the manifold of sense impressions.
 - Man’ self is the mind that expresses the entire system of thoughts,
emotions and actions.
- The self then exists within the observable behaviors.
- The self is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency or
disposition for a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances.

Activity:
• Now think about yourself. Assume the perspective of someone who
knows you well and describe yourself as he might see you, based solely
on your observable behavior. What aspects of your self do you think his
description would capture? What aspects of your self do you think his
portrait of you would omit?
• Identify several of the defining qualities of yourself: for example,
empathetic, gregarious, reflective, fun-loving, curious, and so on. Then,
using Ryle’s approach, describe the qualities in terms of “a tendency to act
Gilbert Ryle a certain way in certain circumstances.”
1900-1976 • Analyze your characterizations. Do your descriptions communicate fully
the personal qualities of yourself that you identified? If not, what’s
missing?
 - He adheres to materialism, the belief that nothing but
matter exists. In other words, if it can't somehow be
recognized by the senses then it's akin to a fairy tale.

- Applying this argument to the mind, Churchland

asserts that since the mind can't be experienced by our
senses, then the mind doesn't really exist. Based on
this assertion, Churchland holds to eliminative
materialism.
• Stated simply, eliminative materialism argues that
the ordinary folk psychology of the mind is wrong.
It is the physical brain and not the imaginary mind
that gives us our sense of self.
1942
 - Man’ self is a body-subject.
- This entails that man is the union of mental subject and bodily
subject.
But what does it means to exist as a union of mental subject and bodily
subject mean?
• This means that man is an existent with perceptual nature of body
that constructs and shapes sensory data.
• Thus, there is the primacy of perception as man exists.
Yet what does this primacy of perception mean?
• This means that the experience of perception is our presence at
the moment when things, truths, values are constituted for us…it
is not a question of reducing human knowledge to sensation, but
of assisting at the birth of this knowledge, to make it as sensible
as the sensible, to recover the consciousness of rationality.
1913-1961 • To put in other words, our perceptual experiences are shaped by
inherent forms and structures which give sense, meaning, and
value to our experiences.
• This is encapsulated by this statement “I am my body.”
- Hence, what man knows or does have is only relative knowledge.
 - But what does this relative knowledge mean?
- This means that…

- - “Every perception takes place within a certain horizon and

ultimately in the ‘world.’” This follows that perception results from
a person’s bodily presence in the world. A bodily presence already
means that as a subject, a person is situated in the world at a
certain time and with a unique perspective. The ideas we ultimately
have reflect this partial view and our experience in time so that the
ideas to which we recur are valid for only a period in our lives. The
things we perceive are not a complete thing or ideal unity
possessed by the intellect. It is rather a totality open to the horizon
of an indefinite number of perspectival views.
1913-1961 - Therefore, the most we can get from our perception of the world is
a route (path), an experience which gradually clarifies itself, which
gradually rectifies itself and proceeds by dialogue with itself and
others.
- Man’s self is in search of truth.
- But the emphasis here is not on what is truth; not the
definition of truth for the self.
- On the contrary, it is more on what concrete difference will
its being true make in anyone’s actual life.
- In other words, the self of man is finding and identifying
more on the practical effectiveness of a truth if it is so.
- Applied the scenario to our way of knowing, our ideas can
become true only in so far as they make successful
connections among various parts of our experiences.
- Truth hence is part of the process of living.
- As part of a process, successful experiences make truth—
this constitutes the verification process.
 - Man’s self is a social being.

- This being a social is seen or examined in the context of

the creation of
“personality.”

- Personality of man as such is not seen as inherently

existing, but as something that is being formed through
upbringing and environment.

- This upbringing starts from the process of forming man’s

four beginnings right at the time that he or she is born.
CONFUCIUS
561-145 B.C.E
 What are these four beginnings?

heart of compassion – leads to Jen (human

heartedness; goodness; benevolence, man-to-man-ness; what
makes man distinctively human (that which gives human beings
their humanity)

heart of righteousness – leads to Yi (justice, righteousness). It

involves a moral disposition to do good, and also the intuition
and sensibility to do so competently.

heart of propriety – leads to Li (proper conduct,” or “propriety”)

CONFUCIUS heart of wisdom – leads to Chih (refers not only to the thought
process but also to moral cultivation of gaining that knowledge)
561-145 B.C.E
 These are perfect virtues that exist in human heart from the
beginning as potentials.

A self as such would develop out of these, and develop through

practice of the corresponding virtues. Personality, in the Confucian
perception, is an achieved state of moral excellence rather than a
given human condition.
However, such achieved personality, or self, is not to be
understood as primarily an individual entity, as would be the
tendency in western thinking. The Confucian concept of self also is
deeply embedded within the family and society, and it is only in
that context that the self comes to be what it is.

The self can never be static. If one stop to develop the virtues in
one’s living, one has already lost them all. To be human means to
CONFUCIUS develop and to keep pursuing the virtues. In the sage, this has
561-145 B.C.E ceased to be a conscious effort or decision. The dynamic has been
integrated into the nature of the self, and has become the self. It
has become an unconscious way of being.
1. Which ancient philosopher, in your
opinion, made the greatest
contribution to the development of
Philosophy?

2. Which ideas of ancient philosophers do

you find most interesting?
In a short bond paper make a position paper. The
essay must content the perspectives from the
different philosophers whom you think his principle is
related to your personal views and your personal
understanding to your life, and how his philosophy
affect your way of living your life today.
Tips:
In every subject of your sentences it must be in a first person
singular in form. For example; I, me, my, myself and mine.