CHAPTER I

DEFINING THE SELF:

PERSONAL
AND DEVELOPMENTAL
PERSPECTIVES ON SELF AND
IDENTITY
LESSON 1
The Self from Various
Philosophical Perspectives
 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Explain the role of philosophy in understanding the self;
2. Explain why it is essential to understand the self;
3. Describe and discuss the different notions of the self from the
points-of-view of the various philosophers across time and
place;
4. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented in
different philosophical schools; and
5. Examine one’s self against the different views of self that were
discussed in class.
 “An unexamine
life is not worth
living”
“I am doubting,
Therefore I am”
 “I think;
therefore I am”
“There is no
self”
“To be is
to do.”
“I act therefore
i am’’
 “The self is
embodied
subjectivity”
 Ask Yourself
1. How would you characterize yourself?
2. What makes you stand out from the rest?
3. How has yourself transform itself?
4. How is yourself connected to your body?
5. How is yourself related to other selves?
WHAT IS
PHILOSOPHY?
 Finding answers to
serious questions

Philosophy about ourselves and

about the world we
live in.

PYTHAGORAS
Questioning existing
The first to use knowledge and
“philosophy” intuitions to get
closer to the truth.
 LOVE OF WISDOM

PHILO SOPHIA
Greek word for “love” Greek word for “wisdom”
 Ancient Greek Philosopher

SOCRATES PLATO ARISTOTLE

 Know Thyself
-Socrates
The first to use
“philosophy”
Philosophers agree that self
knowledge is a prerequisite to a
happy and meaningful life
An unexamine life is not
worth living
-Socrates
SOCRATES
Every man is dualistic.
Composed of body and soul.
2 important aspects of his
personhood:
-Body
imperfect and impermanent
-Soul
perfect and permanent
 SOCRATES
Socrates was the first philosopher who ever
engaged in a systematic questioning about
the self; the true task of the philosopher is
to know oneself.

Socrates was the first thinker to focus on

the full power of reason on the human self:
who we are, who we should be, and who we
will become.
Socrates’ two dichotomous realms

PHYSICAL REALM IDEAL REALM

changeable, transient, unchanging, eternal and

and imperfect immortal
the body belongs to the soul belongs to this
this realm realm
PLATO
A student of Socrates.
Philosophy of the self can be
explained as a process of self-
knowledge and purification of the
soul.
He believed in the existence of mind
and soul.
Plato added that there are three
components of the soul:
- rational soul
- spirited soul
- appetitive soul
I am doubting,
Therefore I am
-St, Augustine
AUGUSTINE
Augustine agreed that man is of a bifurcated nature;
the body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to
anticipate living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss
in communion with God.
The body can only thrive in the imperfect, physical
reality that is the world, whereas the soul can also stay
after death in aneternal realm with the all-
transcendent God.
Integrated the ideas of Plato and Christianity.
Believed humankind is created in the image and
likeness of God.
The self is known only through knowing God.
 THOMAS AQUINAS
Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two
parts: matter and form. Matter, or hyle in Greek, refers
to the “common stuff that makes up everything in the
universe.”Man’s body is part of this matter. Form, on the
other hand, or morphe in Greek refers to the “essence
of a substance or thing.”

To Aquinas the soul is what animates the body; it is

what makes us humans.
I think; therefore
I am
-Rene Descartes
RENE DESCARTES
Father of Modern Philosophy
Conceived of the human person as having
a body and a mind
The act of thinking about self- of being self
- conscious- is in itself proof that there is
self
For Descartes, the essence of the self - a
thinking entity that doubts, understands,
analyzes, questions, and reasons
Descartes’ 2 Distinct Entities www.reallygreatsite.com

COGITO EXTENZA

the thing that thinks the extension

mind body
There is no self
-David Hume
DAVID HUME
The idea of personal identity is a
result of imagination
There is no Self
In his essay entitled “On Personal
Identity” (1739), he find that there
are only two distinct entities,
impression and ideas.
the self that is being experience
by an individual is nothing but a
kind of fictional self
DAVID HUME
The self is not an entity over and
beyond the physical body.
Men can only attain knowledge by
experiencing.
Self, according to Hume, is simply
“a bundle or collection of
different perceptions, which
succeed each other with an
inconceivable rapidity, and are in
a perpetual flux and movement.”
3 PRINCIPLES ON HOW IDEAS RELATE
TO ONE ANOTHER

1. The Principle of Resemblance

our ideas are copies of our impressions, making clear
that it applies only to the relation between simple
ideas and simple impressions
2. The principle of Contiguity
3. The principle of cause and effect
it only arise when people experience certain relations
between objects thus it cannot be a basis for
knowledge.
“To be is to do.”
-Immanuel Kant
 IMMANUEL KANT
Things that men perceive around them are not just
randomly infused into the human person without an
organizing principle that regulates the relationship of
all these impressions.
There is necessarily a mind that organizes the
impressions that men get from the external world.
Time and space are ideas that one cannot find in the
world, but is built in our minds; he calls these the
apparatuses of the mind.
The self is not just what gives one his personality; it is also
the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons.
“I act therefore
i am“

-Gilbert Ryle
 GILBERT RYLE
Blatantly denying the concept of an internal, non-
physical self; what truly matters is the behavior that a
person manifests in his day-to-day life.

“Self” is not an entity one can locate and analyze but

simply the convenient name that people use to refer
to all the behaviors that people make.

The self is the way people behave.

The self is embodied
subjectivity
-Maurice Marleu Ponty
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
The mind and body are so intertwined that they cannot
be separated from one another.
One cannot find any experience that is not an
embodied experience. All experience is embodied; one’s
body is his opening toward his existence to the world.
The living body, his thoughts, emotions, and
experiences are all one.
All knowledge of ourselves and our world is based on
subjective experience.
The self can never be truly objectified or known in a
completely objective sort of way
LESSON SUMMARY
Philosophy is replete with men and women who inquired into the
fundamental nature of the self. it is about questioning and finding
answers to serious questions about ourselves and about the world
we live in.

Socrates was the first philosopher who ever engaged in a

systematic questioning about the self.

Plato supported the idea that man is a dual nature of body and
soul.

Augustine he believed humankind is created in the image and

likeness of God.

Thomas Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two parts:

matter and form
LESSON SUMMARY
Philosophy is replete with men and women who inquired into the
fundamental nature of the self. it is about questioning and finding
answers to serious questions about ourselves and about the world
we live in.

Socrates was the first philosopher who ever engaged in a

systematic questioning about the self.

Plato supported the idea that man is a dual nature of body and
soul.

Augustine he believed humankind is created in the image and

likeness of God.

Thomas Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two parts:

matter and form
Rene Descartes Father of Modern Philosophy and conceived of the
human person as having a body and a mind.

David Hume, the self is not an entity over and beyond the physical
body; personal identity is a result of imagination.

Immanuel Kant, there is necessarily a mind that organizes the

impressions that men get from the external world

Gilbert Ryle, “self” is not an entity one can locate and analyze

Merleau-Ponty, the living body, his thoughts, emotions, and

experiences are all one; the mind and body are so intertwined that
they cannot be separated from one another.
REPORTERS
KRISTINE FAITH ABDON
MARA AROMIN
IVY JEAN AUSTRIA
LEE AVELINO
RHANDEL AVILA
 REFERENCES
https://youtu.be/xNp-6Cf0kdA?si=X0jtiFQldm9RrkKv

https://studylib.net/doc/25266444/understanding-the-self--
chapter-1

Alata E. (2018) Understanding the Self (page 1-9)

THANK YOU!