Philosophical Understanding of the Self

 Pythagora of Samos is an Ionian Greek Philosopher. He is the first to use the word
philosophy.

 Quite literally, the term "philosophy" means, "love of wisdom." In a broad sense,
philosophy is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand
fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their
relationships to the world and to each other.

 The philosophy of the self has been defined through two distinct
approaches:empiricism and rationalism. In empiricism, there is no such thing as
innate knowledge;instead, knowledge is derived from experience― either
perceived with the five sensesor processed with the brain. One knows things
because he or she has experienced it through sensory and bodily experiences. On
the other hand, rationalism argues that there is innate knowledge; however, there
are different sources of innate knowledge.Rationalism explains self from the
standpoint of what is “ideal” and “true”, and notrooted in what is felt by the senses
or body. Conclusions are derived through logic and reasoning. Some philosophers
applied empirical views of the self; others used therational approach.

 Prominent philosophers have different views regarding the nature of the self. The
ancient philosophers explained the self from their conceptual understanding of the
world since scientific evidence was hard to obtain due to lack of measures.
Meanwhile,contemporary philosophers have incorporated science to their theories
in the light of the technological advancements they have been exposed to.

- In philosophy, self-knowledge usually means one of two things: knowledge of one's

particular mental states or knowledge of one's own nature. To have self-knowledge in
the first of these senses is to know one's particular sensations, experiences, and
propositional attitude.

SOCRATES: AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING 

- Father of Philosophy

- As what I have understood, each one of us should be conscious of what is good to be

able to have a good life. Don’t let ignorance overcome you. If you don’t know such
thing, never hesitate to ask for the help of others for you to learn something new. Our
soul strives for wisdom and perfection to achieve this exalted state. For example, if
you didn’t totally understand the discussion of your professor don’t be afraid to go to
his/her consultation hours. A very good friend of mine always reminds me that if you
will not try, then you’re a failure. There’s nothing wrong in asking somebody’s help if
you’ll be the one who will benefit from it.

- Your true self is your atman. (Soul) 

- Self, as understood by Socrates, is the self that is ready to rule over the self. It comes
with the perfection of characters such as justice, love, and intelligence. According to
Socrates, we cannot know ourselves well enough without virtue. He also describes
what we should learn or our life could be empty of knowledge. His ideas clarify that if
one has within oneself wisdom then one does not have anything to envy from others.
According correctly to Socrates self-knowledge leads to good decisions in the acts of
ruling others and ourselves at the same time.

PLATO: THE SELF IS AN IMMORTAL SOUL

There are three part soul which are the following: Reason, physical appetite, and spirit
or passion. These three basically allow man to live in accordance to his nature, then
he is giving justice in his existence therefore everyone in this world has a purpose for
each one of us should do our part. Always remember that good is above God. A task
is a task. No matter what happens, you should meet the deadlines that are given to
you. Practice yourself in doing what you can do now for time runs so fast wherein you
won’t notice it and this will definitely help you in  your future work.

ARISTOTLE: THE SOUL IS THE ESSENCE OF THE SELF

He defined man as a rational animal for we have free will and intellect. Only man in
God’s creation has the ability to think. Only man in God’s creation has the ability to
think. So therefore, we should use our decisions wisely and this will definitely lead us
to self-actualization. For example, your parents are working hard just to send you to
school, so you better do your part as a child and as a students and think wisely that it’s
for your own good when the right time comes. It’s your choice whether you’ll do
what is right from evil for you have the intellect that allows you to make your own
decisions.

IMMANUEL KANT: WE CONSTRUCT THE SELF

It is the self that is constructing and organizing principles of experiences which

creates a world that is familiar, predictable and significantly be called as mine. For
example, I myself is the one who’s discovering the world for I am the driver of my
life. Nobody will do it for me for it transcends the experience in my mind as well as
the senses of mine.

SIGMUND FREUD: THE SELF IS MULTILAYERED

Self has consists of three layers which are conscious, unconscious, and preconscious
which are considered as far reaching impact for we have so many questions in life that
leads us to curiosity and to find for an answer. For example, we are just human that
commit mistakes. Therefore, we are conscious that we did something wrong and we
should not do it again for we should not repeat our own mistakes twice because we’re
grown-ups already.
St. Thomas Aquinas : He said that the self is compose of matter and form He also
believes that the soul animates the body.

Aquinas is usually thought to have a theory of "indirect" self-knowledge, according to

which the mind only knows itself in a second-order act that reflects on a first-order act
directed toward extramental objects. Against this interpretation, I argue that for
Aquinas, a form of self-awareness is already intrinsic to every intellectual act; one is
aware of oneself in one's acts, as the acting subject. Aquinas derives this account of
self-awareness from his metaphysics of the intellect, reviving a long tradition
according to which all thinking is necessarily self-aware.