Philosophical

Perspective of
the Self

Prof. Jerra C. Orquina

 Learning Objectives:

• Explain why is it essential to understand the self in

philosophical perspective
• Describe and discuss the different notions of the self from
the points-of-view of the various philosophers across time
and place.
Topics
The Self in the
Definition of
Philosophical
Philosophy
Perspective

Philosophers
across the
period
 What is Philosophy?

• It is derived from the Greek words:

Philos – Love
Sophos – Wisdom
• Meaning: “Love for Wisdom”
• Philosophy 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.
The Self in the Philosophical Perspective

It is imperative to look into the various explanations

from different philosophers about their notion of what
the “Self” is, its nature, and how it is formed to have a
better picture on how people develop their behaviors,
attitude and personalities to be able to identify and
understand who we are and how we came to be.
Philosophers from the ancient times to the contemporary period

Socrates Plato St. Augustine Descartes Locke

Hume Kant Ryle Merleau-Ponty Freud

 SOCRATES

• Considered as the first martyr of education,

knowledge and philosophy
• Plato was his student
• His philosophy underlies in the importance of
“Knowing oneself”
• Men’s goal in life: to obtain happiness and such
goal motivates us to act towards or avoid things
that could have negative repercussions in our
lives.
 Socrates

• Socrates believe that the answer to our pursuit in

knowing ourselves lies in our own abilities and
wisdom
• That the only way for us to understand ourselves is
through internal questioning or introspection.
• Socratic Method or Socratic Conversation
 PLATO

• One of the most renowned thinker of his time

• The father of the academy, a place where
learning and sharing of knowledge happens
• He was a student of Socrates
• Plato generally followed his teacher and the
idea of knowing thyself although from his works
• Plato also believed in the division of a person’s
body and soul
 Plato’s 3 parts of the Soul

Appetitive Soul Spirited Soul Rational Soul

• The part of the • The part of the • The part of the
person that is soul can be soul that is the
driven by attributed to the driver of our
desire and courageous part lives
need to satisfy of a person • The part that
oneself. • One who wants thinks and
• Satisfaction to do something plan for the
involves or to right the future “the
physical needs, wrongs that conscious
pleasure, and they observe mind”
desires
 ST. AUGUSTINE
• A Saint and a Philosopher of the church
• His work’s focal point is on how God and his
teachings affects various aspects in life
• His idea of a man and how to understand who we
are as a person is related to our understanding of
who we are and how we question ourselves
• He believes that our notion of ourselves and our
idea of existence comes from a higher form of
sense in which bodily senses may not perceive or
understand
 RENE DESCARTES
• A French Philosopher; the Father of Modern Philosophy
• His belief in modern dualism or the existence of body and
mind and it’s implication to one’s existence
• Methodical Doubt, a continuous process of questioning
what we perceive and accepting the fact that doubting,
asking questions are a part of ones’ existence.
• A person is comprised of mind and body

“Cogito Ergo Sum”

“I think therefore I am”.
 JOHN LOCKE

• Locke is an English Philosopher and Physician

• The Father of Classical Liberalism
• His work on the self is most represented by the
concept “Tabula Rasa”, Blank Slate
• He stated that a person is born with knowing
nothing and that is susceptible to stimulation
and accumulation of learning from the
experiences, failures, references, and
observations of the person.
 DAVID HUME

• The Scottish Philosopher

• He focused his work in the field of Empiricism,
Skepticism, and Naturalism
• According to him, there is no permanent “self”,
• That impressions of things are based on our
experiences
• From such impressions, we can create our ideas and
knowledge… that since our impression and ideas
change, it may improve/totally replace
 David Hume
• He said when a person is
asked the question “who you
are? “
• That person tends to answer
different impressions such
as…
 GILBERT RYLE
• Ryle has a behavioristic approach to self
• His notion of dualism is that the behavior that we show,
emotions and actions are the reflection of our mind and
as such is the manifestation of who we are.
• Ryle does not believe that the mind and body are two
separate entities
• “Ghost in the machine” view – the man is a complex
machine with different functioning parts, and the
intelligence, and other characteristics; behavior of man is
represented by the ghost in the said machine.
 MAURICE JEAN JACQUES
MERLEAU-PONTY
• A French philosopher; 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
• The idea of 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, Phenomenology of Perception
 Phenomenology of Perception

The Body The Perceived The People and

• both receives the World the world
experience as • which are the • enable one to
well as integrates accumulation of not only be able
such experiences the perception to integrate the
in the different as integrated by other objects in
perception the experiences the world but
of the body also to be able
to experience
the cultural
aspect and relate
to others
 SIGMUND FREUD

• Freud is an Austrian Psychologist and Physician

• Father of Psychoanalysis
• Known for his work in 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
 Freud’s Aspects of Personality
ID SUPEREGO EGO
• The center of • The conscience of • Operates
primitive and one’s personality; between the
animalistic right or wrong boundaries of
impulses • Has inclination to reality
• Its attention is uphold justice • The mediator of
on satisfaction and do what is Id and
of one’s needs morally right and Superego
• Pleasure socially
acceptable • Reality principle
principle
• Moral principle
Levels of Consciousness

Conscious Pre-conscious Unconscious

• These are the • These are things we • Consists of those
things we are could pay conscious things that are
aware of attention to if we so outside of
• The minority of our desired conscious
memories are awareness
• Memories stored in
being stored and is including many
easier to be tapped this area can still be
accessed but with memories and
or accessed
little difficulty thoughts of which
we are not aware
 References:

• Catamio, Estoque, Gotinga & Laresma. Worktext in

Understanding the Self
• Alata, Caslib, Serafica & Pawilen. (2018). Understanding
the Self. Sampaloc, Manila: Rex Book Store, Inc.
Thanks for
listening!