~UNDERSTANDING THE SELF~
THE SELF-ACCORDING TO PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy is defined as the study of
knowledge or wisdom from its Latin roots,
“Philo” (love) and “Sophia” (wisdom).
PHILOSOPHERS
SOCRATES
 A philosopher from Athens, Greece
and said to have the greatest
influence on European thought.
 He is known from the writings of his
student Plato who became one of the
greatest philosophers of his time.
 Socrates had a unique style of asking
questions called Socratic Method.
 Socrates method or dialectic method
involves the search for the
correct/proper definition of a thing.
In this method, Socrates did not
lecture, he instead would ask
questions and engage the person in a
discussion.
 The foundation of Socrates
philosophy was the Delphic
Oracle’s that command to “Know
Thyself.”
 Socrates would like to emphasize
that knowing or understanding
~UNDERSTANDING THE SELF~
oneself should be more than the
THE SELF-ACCORDING TO PHILOSOPHY
physical self, or the body.
 Self is dichotomous which
composed of two things: the
physical realm is the physical
world.
 Physical world is consisting of
anything we sense – see, smell,
feel, hear, and taste. It is always
changing and deteriorating.
 The ideal realm is the one that is
imperfect and unchanging, eternal,
and immortal. This includes the
intellectual essences of the universe
like the concept of beauty, truth, and
goodness.
 For Socrates, a human Is composed
of body and soul, the first belong to
the physical realm because it
changed, it is imperfect, and it dies,
and the latter belongs to ideal realm
for it survive the death.
 Socrates also used the term soul to
identify self.
 The self, according to Socrates is the
immortal and unified entity that is
consistent over time. For example, a
human remains the same person
during their childhood to adulthood
given the fact that they undergone
developmental changes throughout
their lifespan.
PLATO
 A student of Socrates, who
introduced the idea of a three-part
soul/self that is composed of reason,
physical appetite and spirit or
passion.
 The reason enable human to think
deeply, make wise choices and
achieve a true understanding of
eternal truths. Plato also called this
as divine essence.
 The physical appetite is the basic
biological needs of human being
such as hunger, thirst, and sexual
desire.
 And the spirit or passion is the basic
emotions of human being such as
love, anger, ambition,
aggressiveness, and empathy.
 These three elements of the self-
works in every individual
inconsistently. According to Plato, it
is always the responsibility of the
reason to organize, control, and
reestablish harmonious relationship
between these elements.
  Plato also illustrate his view of the
soul/self in “Phaedrus”.

ST. AUGUSTINE
 He is considered as the last of the
great ancient philosophers whose
ideas were greatly Platonic. In
melding philosophers and religious
beliefs together, Augustine has been
characterized as Christianity’s first
theologian.
 Like Plato, Augustine believed that
the physical body is different from
the immortal soul.