UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
ignorance, especially through the acquisition
LESSON 1: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL
PERSPECTIVES
PHILOSOPHY
 Study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality &
existence, especially in an academic discipline
 A particular theory that someone has about how to live or
how to deal with a particular situation
 Academic discipline concerned with investigating the
nature of significance of ordinary and scientific beliefs –
investigates the legitimacy of concepts by rational
argument concerning their implications, relationships as
well as reality, knowledge, moral judgement, and others.
 As used originally by the Ancient Greeks, the term
“Philosophy” meant the pursuit of knowledge for its own
sake and comprised all areas of speculative thought,
including the arts, sciences, and religion.
PHILOSOPHY CONCERNS: THE FUNDAMENTAL NATURE OF SELF
The Greeks were the ones who seriously questioned myths &
moved away from them to understand reality & respond to
perennial questions of curiosity, including the question of the
self.
1. SOCRATES
 He was considered the father of Western
Philosophy
 He was concerned with the problem of the self
 “The true talk of the philosopher is to know
oneself”
 “The unexamined life is not worth living”
 Every human person is dualistic- MAN=body + soul
(every man is composed of body and soul)
 Individuals have imperfect/impermanent aspects
(body) and + perfect/permanent aspects (soul)
 Socrates’ Beliefs:
 Wisdom is awareness of one’s own self-
of self-awareness & self-knowledge
 Self-awareness & self-knowledge were key
to becoming an individual who can think and
analyze for himself/herself.
 Seeking the truth in all things by asking
questions and constantly dissecting all
viewpoints & ideas
 Socrates’ Virtues:
 Humility
 Frugality
 Simplicity
 Quotes
 “As for me, all I know is I know nothing”
 “False words are not only evil in themselves
but they infect the soul with evil”
 “True wisdom comes to each of us when we
realize how little we understand about life,
ourselves, and the world around us”
 Wisdom begins in wonder”
2. PLATO
 Student of Socrates
 Supported the idea of Socrates that Man is a dual
nature of body & soul
 3 components of soul:
 Rational soul – forged by reason and
intellect has to govern the affairs of the
human person
 Spirited soul – in charge of emotions should
be kept at bay
 Appetitive soul – in charge of base desires
(eating, drinking, sleeping, having sex) are
controlled. When this ideal state is attained,
 then the human person’s soul becomes just
& virtuous.
 He loves the whole of wisdom and is
satisfied with nothing else
3. ST. AUGUSTINE
 His view of human person reflects the entire spirit
of the medieval world when it comes to man.
 Followed the view of Plato but added Christianity
 Part of man dwells in the world (imperfect) and
yearns to be with the Divine
 Another part is capable of reaching immortality
o Body dies on earth
o Soul lives eternally in spiritual bliss with God
 Major Themes:
o Search for happiness is not easy
o Struggle as an adolescent to believe in God
and live a virtuous life
o Virtue as character strengths that develop
over time
o Sexuality and Holiness – can we bridge the
2?
4. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
 Man= matter + form (2 parts)
 Matter (hyle) – the common staff that makes up
everything in the universe
 Form (morphe) – the essence of a substance or
thing (what makes it what it is)
 The body of the human is similar to animals/objects,
but what makes a human is his essence
 The soul is what makes us humans
5. RENE DESCARTES
 Father of modern philosophy
 Human person = body + mind
 “There is so much that we should doubt”
 If something is so clear and lucid as not to be
doubted, that’s the only time one should believe
 The only thing we can’t doubt is the existence of the
self
 I think therefore I am
 The self = cogito (the thing that thinks) + extenza
(extension of mind/body
 The body is a machine attached to the mind
 It’s the mind that makes the man
 “I am a thinking thing…a thing that doubts,
understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses,
imagines, perceives”
6. JOHN LOCKE (Tabula Rasa)
 Most important works:
o An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
o Two Treaties of Civil Government
o A Letter Concerning Toleration
 Major works essay concerning human
understanding:
o In his essay Locke tries to determine the
limits of our understanding, discussing the
sources of human knowledge and what can
and what cannot be known
o He argues that people are not born with
innate knowledge, but rather that their mind
is a tabula rasa, a blank slate on which the
tread of experience writes
o All humanity is born equal in the realms of
natural intelligence
o The father of modern philosophy,
expounded the theory that all knowledge
should be proven as illustrated by his
famous statement “ I think, therefore I am”
o Locke reportedly declared that he would
“rather learn Descartes than Aristotle”
 o Locke developed his ideas in a very different
direction rather than Descartes, he rejected
his predecessor’s conviction in the existence
of innate ideas
o Locke believed that man is not born with
innate ideas, but rather develops his ideas
by means of experience
7. DAVID HUME
 Disagrees with all the other aforementioned
philosophers
 “One can only what comes from the senses and
experiences” (he is an empiricist)
 “the self is not an entity beyond the physical body”
 You know that other people are humans not
because you have seen their souls, but because you
see them, hear them, feel the, etc.
 “the self is nothing but a bundle of impressions and
ideas”
 Impression – basic objects of our
experience/sensation – forms the core of our
thoughts
 Idea – copies of impressions – not as real as
impressions
 Self = a collection of different perceptions which
rapidly succeed each other
 Self = in a perpetual flux and movement > We want
to believe that there is a unified coherent self, soul,
mind, etc. But actually – it is all just a combination
of experiences
8. IMMANUEL KANT
 Agrees with Hume that everything starts with
perception/sensation of impressions
 There is a MIND that regulations these impressions
 “Time space, etc. are ideas that one cannot find in
the world but is built in our minds “apparatus of the
mind”
 The self organizes different impressions that one
gets in relation to his own existence
 We need active intelligence to synthesize all
knowledge and experience
 The self is not only personality but also the seat of
knowledge
9. SOREN KIERKEGAARD
 Soren Kierkegaard asked himself the question,
"What is the human being?"
 His answer was, "a human being is spirit.
 But what is spirit? Spirit is the self.
 But what is the self? The self is a relation that
relates to itself.
 Then, who is it that establishes such a relation?
 It must be a third party, a reality other than one's
own self-and that reality is none other than God
Himself according to Kierkegaard.
 Therefore, the original self is the self that stands
before God, Kierkegaard concluded.
 Kierkegaard criticized people for their
irresponsibility and their lack of conscience.
 He asserted that, in order for people to actualize
their true human nature, they must depart from
the world of the public and stand before God all by
themselves each as an individual.
10. KARL MARX
 Marx did not believe that there is no such thing as
the nature of man
 Disagreed with John Locke that man at birth is like a
TABULA RASA or blank sheet.
  Marx started out with the idea that man can be Key notion:
defined as a man not only biologically, anatomically,  There is a lower level to the personality which is
and physiologically, but also psychologically. below the conscious
 Marx said: "To know what is useful for a dog, one  This lower level is the scene of the action for
must study dog nature. This nature itself is not to be forbidden motives, painful memories, and
deduced from the principle of utility. disturbing ideas
 Applying this to man, he who would criticize all  Personality is composed of a conscious mind, a
human acts, movements, relations, etc., by the preconscious mind, and an unconscious mind
principle of utility, must first deal with human  The conscious mind has knowledge of what is
nature in general. happening in the present
 Marx's point is clear. It is irrational to dogmatize  The preconscious mind contains information from
what is useful to anything without first both the unconscious and conscious mind
understanding correctly what you are talking about.  The unconscious mind contains hidden or forgotten
Insight into, and a critical analysis of, the "nature" of memories or experiences
something should anticipate any attempt to decide  the division of the personality into the id, ego, and
what is useful or harmful to it. This applies in a superego;
special manner in the case of human nature.  the unconscious; anxiety; the functioning of ego-
defense mechanisms;
11. SIGMUND FREUD
Freudian view of human nature:
 He views human nature as dynamic – that there is
an exchange of energy and transformation.
 His view of human nature is basically deterministic.
It is based on the belief that our behavior is
determined by irrational forces, unconscious
motivations, and biological and instinctual drives as
these evolve through key psychosexual stages in the
first six years of life.
 Basically deterministic and focuses on irrational
forces, biological and instinctual drives, and
unconscious motivation, later developments in
psychoanalysis stressed social and cultural factors.
Emphasis
 The development of the ego and the differentiation
and individuation of the self.