UNDERSTANDING THE SELF 113

LESSON, TOPIC, OUTLINES, KEY PHRASES, KEY WORDS

LESSON #1 PHILOSOPICAL PERSPECTIVE ON SELF

PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy is derived from the Greek words Philos and Sophia which literally means
“Love for Wisdom”. It is the study of acquiring knowledge through rational thinking and
inquiries that involves in answering questions regarding the nature and existence of man and the
world we live in.
SOCRATES
Socrates was concerned with the problem of the self.
Dualistic every man is composed of body and soul.
“An unexamined life is not worth living.”
“One thing only I knoe, and that is that I know nothing.”

PLATO
Founded the academy; considered as prototype of today’s universities
Dichotomy between ideal (world of form) and material world.
Three components of the soul; rational soul, spirited soul, appetitive soul.

ST. AUGUSTINE
A Saint and a Philosopher of the church, St. Augustine follows the idea that God encompasses us
all, that everything will be better if we are with God.
Two aspects: imperfect (1) and capable of reaching immortality (2)
Goal of the person: To attain communion with the divine.
Man is a Bifurcated nature.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
Man is composed of matter and form
Matter (hyle) - common stuff that makes up everything.
Form (morpe) - essence of the living.

RENE DESCARTES
“I think, Therefore I am.”
Father of modern philosophy
Doubts the existence of this own physical body.
Hyperbolical doubt.

JOHN LOCKE
Our identity is not locked in the mind, soul or body only. He included the concept of person’s
memory.
Identity is explained in terms of psychological connection between life stages.
Tabulu rasa

DAVID HUME
“All knowledge is derived from human senses”
Influenced by empiricism
Bundle theory- collection of impressions
Impressions- vivid; products of direct experience
Ideas- copies of impressions; imagination

EMMANUEL KANT
a German Philosopher that is known for his works on Empiricism and Rationalism.
Kant argued that the awareness of different emotions that we have, impressions and behavior is
only a part of our self.
Kant argued that the sense called “Transcendental Apperception” is an essence of our
consciousness that provides basis for understanding and establishing the notion of “self” by
synthesizing one’s accumulation of experiences, intuition and imagination goes.
SIGMUND FREUD
an Austrian Psychologist and Physician, he is also known as the father of psychoanalysis and is
known for his work on human nature and the unconscious.
Freud believed that man has different constructs of personality that interacts with each other and
along with his concept of the different levels of consciousness provides an idea how a person
develops a sense of self
ASPECTS OF PERSONALITY
ID- also known as the child aspect of a person, The ID’s attention is on satisfaction of one’s
needs and self-gratification. It is driven by the pleasure principle.
SUPEREGO- is the conscience of the one’s personality, Superego has the inclination to uphold
justice and do what is morally right and socially acceptable actions. The superego is involved in
the notion of right or wrong that is imparted to us by our parents or people that tool care for us
during childhood.
EGO - Sometimes known as the Police or the mediator between id and superego. It operates
within the boundaries of reality; primary function is to maintain the impulses of the ID to an
acceptable degree.

GILBERT RYLE
Denies the existence of internal, non-physical self.
The self is NOT an eternity one can locate. It is a name we use to refer to all behavior.

PAUL CHURCHLAND
A Canadian philosopher whose focus is on the idea that people should improve our association
and use of words in identifying the self.
He has this idea that the “self” is defined by the movements of our brain.
Churchland’s work revolves around challenging of the notion and terms being used to explain
behavior or to explain how a person feels, thinks, and act with regards to physiological
phenomenon that is happening in the body as well as definitions brought about by emotions, this
is one of the notion of the concept of Folk Psychology also known as common sense psychology.
The main philosophy of Churchland built the idea of “eliminative materialism”.
This leads to his idea of Neurophilosophy, he believed that to fully understand one’s behavior,
one should understand the different neurological movement of the brain that pertains to different
emotions, feelings, actions and reactions and how such brain movements affect the body.

MAURICE JEAN JACQUES MAERLAEAU-PONTY

Is a French philosopher that is known for his works on existentialism and phenomenology.
His idea of the self, regarded that the body and mind are not separate entities, but rather those
two components is one and the same.
His idea that follows the gestalt ideation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts in
which pushed his idea on the unity of the function of the mind and body, this idea is called the
Phenomenology of Perception.
The idea of Phenomenology of Perception according to Merleau-Ponty is divided into three (3)
division, The Body, The Perceived World, and the People and the world.