Module 1

The Self from Various Perspective

Philosophical
 • Discuss the diverse representation and
Learning Objectives

conceptualization of self using different disciplines

and perspectives.

• Demonstrate a critical and reflective thinking in

evaluating the development of self and identity.
 Agree or Disagree?

We create an illusion
of the self.
 SOCRATES

• Know Thyself
• Question Everything
• Only the Pursuit of Goodness Bring Happiness
• Socratic Method: Question and Answer;
Leads Students to think for Themselves

“An unexamined life is not worth living”

 Human beings are composed:
• Body – ( the changing body) what we see in the material world,
is not the real self but only a replica of our true self.

• Soul – The true self, the permanent and unchanging self.

 PLATO

Tripartite Soul
• The Rational part desires to exert reason and attain rational
decisions (RULING CLASS)

• The Spirited part desires supreme honor, greatness

and affirmation (MILITARY CLASS)

• The Appetite part of the soul desires bodily pleasures such as

food, drink, sex, etc. (COMMONER)
 ARISTOTLE

• Contributed the foundation of both symbolic logic and scientific

thinking

• The best way to gain knowledge was through “natural philosophy,”

which is what we would now call science.

• Happiness, which is dependent in an individual’s virtues, is the

central purpose of human life and a goal in itself.

“Happiness depends in ourselves”

 ST. AUGUSTINE
• An important figure in the development of Western Christianity

• His philosophy of man brings together wisdom of the Greek philosophy and the
divine truths contained in the scripture.

• The absolute and immutable is the Living God, the Creator of the entire universe.

• To love God means to love one’s fellowmen, and to love one’s fellowmen means
never to do any harm to another.

“Do unto others, what you want others do unto you”

 ST. AUGUSTINE
• Conceptualized the idea of SELF – achieving self identity

Self – Understanding
Self - realization/ of
presentation
analysis SELF
 RENE DESCARTES
• The Self is defined as a subject that thinks.

• The self that has full competence in the powers of human reason.

• Having distanced the self from all sources of truth from authority and
tradition, the self can only find its truth and authenticity within its
own capacity to think.
“The fact that I am doubting, cannot be anymore open to
doubt”
 RENE DESCARTES
• Cartesian Philosophy – mental acts determine physical acts.

• Mind – “intellectual substance” which possess will.

• “Cogito Ergo Sum” 1st theory of knowledge

“The essence of yourself makes you a thinking man,

engaged in all forms of mental operations with a distinct
persona”
 JOHN LOCKE
• Posited the “theory of the mind” a tabula rasa, which is shaped by
experience, and sensations and reflections being the two sources of all
our ideas.

• Personal identity (or the self) is founded on consciousness.

• What is after death and immortality (life quest)

• Human is liable only for the acts of which he is conscious.

“Our concept of personal identity must derive from inner experience”
 DAVID HUME
• Passion rather than reason governs human behavior.

• Human knowledge is solely founded on experience.

Challenge: Try to think about your “self.”

• Internal and external stimulus = individual impression

“The self and ones mind is like a machine that can be turned on
and off ”
 IMMANUEL KANT
• Human mind creates our experiences

• Development of individuality and the self – human experience

• The consciousness is divided into:

1. Internal Self - composed of psychological states and informed
decisions; remembering our own state, how can we combine the new and old
ideas with our mind

2. External Self - made up of ourselves and the physical world where

the representation of objects
 IMMANUEL KANT
• Consciousness is the central feature of the self.

“Every person has an inner and outer self which comprises the
consciousness”

“ As a free agent, man is gifted with reason and free will”

The child is the
father of a
man.

--Sigmund Freud
 SIGMUND FREUD
• Established “psychoanalysis”

• The self continues from childhood to adulthood

• Personality is determined by childhood experiences

• Personality is largely unconscious

• Structure of the Self

• Id: animalistic self; pleasure principle
• Ego: executive self; reality principle
• Superego: conscience; morality principle
I made it, and so I am.
 GILBERT RYLE
• Rejects the theory that mental states are separable from physical states.

• He concluded that adequate descriptions of human behavior need never refer to

anything but the operations of human bodies
• His form of Philosophical Behaviourism (the belief that all mental phenomena can be
explained by reference to publicly observable behaviour) became a standard view for
several decades.

“ A person therefore lives through two collateral histories, one consisting of what
happens in and to his body and other consisting of what happens in and to his
mind. The first is the public, the second is the private”
 MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY

• His work is commonly associated with the philosophical movement called

existentialism and its intention to begin with an analysis of the concrete experiences,
perceptions, and difficulties, of human existence.

• Consciousness, the world, and the human body as a perceiving thing are intricately
intertwined and mutually "engaged”.

• Our perception of the self is a collection of our perceptions of our outside world.
 MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY

“Primacy of Perception”
• There is harmony between what we aim and what is given, between intention and
performance

• Consciousness is primarily not a matter of “I think that” but of “I can”

• Our perception of who we are is strictly tied to our own bodily development.
 Paul Churchland (1989)
• Known for his Eliminative Materialism
• “ The Brain is the Self”
Eastern Philosophy
 West vs. East

“individualistic”
The “self” is perceived “collective existence”
as distinct with God
The “self” is in complete
unity with the Creator
Buddhism
 Hinduism

• “Brhaman” the true nature of the man is the “self”

Main Ideas in Hinduism involves:
1. The concept of God;
2. There is reincarnation in accordance with “karma”;
3. The Atman or the soul that is also Brahman;
4. The word we are living in is comprised of varied levels of
existence;
5. The paths to salvation leading to the same goal.
 Taoism
• Lao Tzu
“ Knowing others is wisdom, knowing the self is enlightenment”
• Dao’ – the ‘way’ of the world is which is the path to the happiness
and harmony
• Humans refuse to take the simple path and opt to go through that
which causes discord, confusion and suffering
• “Stillness of the minds”
• The blooming of the flowers analogy
• Our EGO distracts us in seeing our true self
 Taoism

Ponder on this!
“Simple Life Pleasure”
If we are too busy, too preoccupied with anxiety or ambition, we miss a thousand
moments of the human experience that are our natural inheritance. We need to be
awake to the way the light reflects off ripples of the pond, the way other people look
when they are laughing, the playing of the wind in our hair
Yin-Yang
 Confucianism

• Personality as a product of one’s upbringing and environment.

• Man as “Social Animal”
• Components leading to the perfection of virtues:
1. Heart of compassion;
2. Heart of righteousness;
3. Heart of propriety;
4. Heart of wisdom.
 Confucianism

• Role of the family and community in the formation of the self.

• Never be idle
• No need to exert effort to achieve the real nature of the self
 The “psyche” or the mind comprised of the three
Know thy Self elements
St. Augustine – introspection or self-analysis
John Locke – “Tabula Rasa” the mind as a blank slate
Human Mind as a Machine Immanuel Kant – primacy of experience
Sigmund Freud – theory of Personality Gilbert Ryle – The Concept of Mind
The Primacy of Perception
 Eastern Philosophies
• Buddhism – No soul no self
• Hinduism - Brahman
• Taoism – Stillness of the Mind
• Confucianism – practiced virtues leads to the “self”
Thank You