Philosophical Perspective

of the SELF
• Shalina R. Asuncion-Cusilit
• Instructor 1
• sacusilit@mmsu.edu.ph

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION Secondary Education Department

CONCEPT AND NATURE OF SELF: WHO
AM I?
➢ Our names represent who we are. Our names signify
us.
➢ However, the name is not the person itself no matter
how intimately bound it is with the bearer.
➢ Self is thought to be more than the name. Self is
something that a person perennially molds, shapes,
and develops. The self is not static.
Social, Environmental,
and other Life Factors
(S.E.L.F)
A. NATURE vs. NURTURE
➢ Nature differs from Nurture, since
in Nature, a person develops his/her
characteristics biologically.
➢ Nurture, a person develops his/her
characteristics through external factors,
such as the environment and society
(family, friends, relatives, etc.).
 B. IDENTITY vs. SELF
➢ Identities are “qualities, characteristics, beliefs,
opinions, etc., that make a person unique from
others.”

➢ Self, on the other hand, is the “person of

himself/herself,” meaning, it is what the others didn’t
see in you because this is personal character; this is
what makes up a person.
C. DIMENSIONALITIES of the
SELF/IDENTITY

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION Secondary Education Department

 SOCIAL FACTORS
➢ Social factors are the factors in the
development of a person which include
all the people around us, like our family
members, relatives, friends, teachers or
professors, and even strangers, that
might create an impression on you or
affect your actions and thoughts in life.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
➢ Environmental factors are the factors
in the development of a person that
include the environmental structure,
events, and such, which might have
an impact on how a person could
grow in all aspects of his/her life.
 HEREDITARY FACTORS
➢ Hereditary factors are the factors in

the development of the person that

includes biological changes and
events, such as growth in height, and
puberty that usually affects the
physical characteristics of a person.
 PERSON-VOLITION FACTORS
➢ Person-volition factors are the inclination of a
person to create a social construct that sets
him apart from others.
PHILOSOPHICAL
APPROACH

(The self in Greek Philosophy)

 WHAT PHILOSOPHY SAYS ABOUT THE
SELF

▪ Self – it is defined as “a unified being, essentially

connected to consciousness, awareness, and

agency (or, at least, with the faculty of rational
choice).
SOCRATES: Know
Yourself
 SOCRATES: KNOW YOURSELF
• Greek philosophy was started by Socrates, with
his aphorism/principle of “know thyself,” which
is also inscribed in the temple of Apollo at
Delphi.

• Socrates believed that the real self is not the

physical body, but rather the psyche, or the soul.
SOCRATES: KNOW YOURSELF
• He is principally concerned with man.

• He was the first philosopher who

engaged in systematic questioning

about the self. “Every man is
composed of body and soul.” – i.e.
dualism
 SOCRATES: KNOW YOURSELF
• He considers man from the point of view of his inner life. The famous life of
Socrates tells each man to bring his inner self to light.

• A bad man is not virtuous through ignorance. The core of Socratic ethics is
the concept of virtue and knowledge. Virtue is the deepest and most basic
propensity [strong natural tendency to do something] of man.

• Knowing one’s own virtue is necessary and can be learned. Since virtue is
innate in the mind and self-knowledge is the source of all wisdom, an
individual may gain possession of oneself and be one’s own master through
knowledge.
 PLATO:
The Ideal Self, Perfect
Self
PLATO: THE IDEAL SELF, PERFECT SELF

• Plato claimed in his dialogues that Socrates

affirmed that the unexamined life is not worth
living. With this, he basically took off from his master
and supported the idea that man is dual in nature.
He added that there are components of the soul:
a] rational soul; b] spiritual soul; and c] appetitive
soul.
 CONCEPT OF THE SELF:
Tripartite of the Soul
SPIRITED ELEMENT (HEART)
➢ Spiritual Soul
➢ Expresses emotional drives, such as aggression,
ambition, pride, anger, honor, loyalty, courage,
and protectiveness.
➢ experience love, empathy, anger, and other ““Knowledge becomes evil if
the aim be not virtuous.””
emotional feelings. PLATO (427 - 3447 B.C.)
Greek Philosopher
Theory of Form
 CONCEPT OF THE SELF:
Tripartite of the Soul

APPETITIVE SOUL (STOMACH)

➢ Bodily appetite, desire, and needs.
➢ hunger, thirst, sexual desires, and
other physical wants.
““Knowledge becomes evil if
the aim be not virtuous.””
PLATO (427 - 3447 B.C.)
Greek Philosopher
Theory of Form
 CONCEPT OF THE SELF:
Tripartite of the Soul

RATIONAL SOUL
➢ Superior to the spiritual and appetitive
soul
➢ Moral and rational guide.
““Knowledge becomes evil if
the aim be not virtuous.””
PLATO (427 - 3447 B.C.)
Greek Philosopher
Theory of Form
 CONCEPT OF THE SELF:
Tripartite of the Soul
In given time, each of the three elements is dominant
in an individual, resulting in individual person’s having a
distinct type of personality and goal in life.
➢ REASON – the chief goal of an individual is the pursuit of
knowledge and truth.
➢ SPIRITUAL – An individual will live and strive for success “Knowledge becomes evil
if the aim be not
and public acclaim. virtuous.”
PLATO (427 - 3447 B.C.)
Greek Philosopher
➢ APPETITIVE – the individual will work toward money and Theory of Form

material gains.
TWO LENS OF PHILOSOPHY OF SELF IN GREEK
TIMES
• Rationalism – explains self from the standpoint of what
is ideal and true, and what is not is rooted in senses.

• Empiricism – according to it, there is no such thing as

innate knowledge; all knowledge are derived
from experience – through five senses or what is
perceived by our brain.
 Towards Modern Philosophy

(The Christian or Biblical view of Self)

 AUGUSTINE:
Love and Justice as the
Foundation of the Individual
Self
Augustine: love and justice as the foundation of the individual
self
▪ Augustine’s view of the human person reflects the entire spirit of the
medieval world when it comes to man. He combined the platonic
ideas into a Christian perspective.
▪ Augustine agreed that man is of a bifurcated/ dual nature. An aspect
of man dwells in the world and is imperfect and continuously years to
be with the Divine and the other is capable of reaching immortality.
▪ The body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to anticipate living
eternally in communion with God.
▪ He believes that a virtuous life is the dynamism of love. Loving God
means loving one’s fellowmen, and loving one’s fellowmen denotes
never doing any harm to another.
 AUGUSTINE:
Love and Justice as the
Foundation of the Individual
Self
 Thomas Aquinas: Angelic doctor
• Adapting some ideas from Aristotle, Aquinas said that
indeed, man is composed of two parts: matter and form
• In the case of the human person, the body of the
human person is something that he shares even with
animals. What makes a human person a human person
is his essence.
• Like Aristotle, the soul is what animates the body; it is
what makes us humans.
Our discourse will deal with the concepts of the self according to:

RENE DESCARTES JOHN LOCKE DAVID HUME

IMMANUEL KANT SIGMUND FREUD GILBERT RYLE

PATRICIA AND PAUL MAURICE MARLAEU-

CHURCHLAND PONTY
Rene Descartes: Cogito, ergo sum/ I think, therefore I
am
▪ He conceived of the human person as having a body
and a mind. He claims that there is so much that we
should doubt since much of what we think and believe
is not infallible, they may turn out to be false.
▪ Rene thought that the only thing that one cannot doubt
is the existence of the self, for even if one doubts
oneself, which only proves that there is a doubting self,
a thing that thinks and therefore, that cannot be
doubted.
 Rene Descartes: Cogito, ergo sum/ I think, therefore I
am
▪ The self then for Rene is also a combination of two distinct entities,
the COGITO, the thing that thinks, which is the mind, and the
EXTENZA of the mind, which is the body, ie. like a machine that is
attached to the mind.
▪ The human person has the body but it is not what makes a man a
man. If at all, that is the mind. Descartes: says: “What then am I? A
thinking thing, that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses;
that imagines also and perceives.
Our discourse will deal with the concepts of the self according to:

JOHN LOCKE DAVID HUME

IMMANUEL KANT SIGMUND FREUD GILBERT RYLE

PATRICIA AND PAUL MAURICE MARLAEU-

CHURCHLAND PONTY
 John Locke: “Human mind at birth is a tabula rasa,
which means that knowledge is derived from
experience”

▪ John Locke was a philosopher and physician and

was one of the most influential Enlightenment
thinkers. The Age of Enlightenment or the Age of
Reason was an intellectual and philosophical
movement that dominated the ideas in Europe
during the 18th century.
John Locke: “Human mind at birth is a tabula rasa,
which means that knowledge is derived from
experience”
▪ If Descartes described the “self” as a thinking thing, Locke expanded
this definition of “self” to include the memories of that thinking thing.
▪ Locke believed that the “self” is identified with consciousness and
this “self” consists of the sameness of consciousness. This is usually
interpreted to mean that the “self” consists of memory; that the
person existing now is the same person yesterday because he/she
remembers the thoughts, experiences, or actions of the earlier self
(Natsoulas, 1994; Fuchs, 2017).
John Locke: “Human mind at birth is a tabula rasa, which
means that knowledge is derived from experience”
▪ According to Locke since the person is the same “self” in the passing of time,
he/she can be held accountable for past behaviors. However, Locke insisted
that a person could only be held accountable for behaviors he/she can
remember.
▪ Locke believed that punishing someone for behaviors he/she has no
recollection of doing is equivalent to punishing him/her for actions that was
never performed. He asserted that the state of the person who cannot
remember his/her behavior is the same as the state of the person who never
committed the act, which meant the person was ignorant.
Our discourse will deal with the concepts of the self according to:

DAVID HUME

IMMANUEL KANT SIGMUND FREUD GILBERT RYLE

PATRICIA AND PAUL MAURICE MARLAEU-

CHURCHLAND PONTY
 David Hume: the self is a bundle theory of mind

▪ He is an empiricist who believes that one can know only through the senses
and experiences. Example: Ana knows that Lenard is a man not because
she has seen his soul. Ana knows Lenard just like her because she sees him,
hears him, and touches him.
▪ Hume posits that the self is nothing else but a bundle of impressions. What
are impressions? For Hume, they can all be categorized into two: impressions
and ideas. The first one is the basic objects of our experience or sensation.
So, it forms the core of our thoughts. For example: when one touches fire,
the hotness sensation is an impression which is the direct experience.
 David Hume: the self is a bundle theory of mind

▪ On the contrary, Ideas are copies of our impressions. Because

of this, they are not as lively and clear as our impressions.
Example: the feeling of being in love for the first time that is an
idea.
▪ According to Hume, the self is a bundle or collection of various
perceptions, which succeed each other with an
inconceivable rapidity and are in perpetual flux and
movement. Thus, the self is simply a collection of all
experiences with a particular being.
Our discourse will deal with the concepts of the self according to:

IMMANUEL KANT SIGMUND FREUD GILBERT RYLE

MAURICE MARLAEU-
PATRICIA AND PAUL
PONTY
CHURCHLAND
Immanuel Kant: respect for self
▪ every man is thus an end in himself and should never be
treated merely as a means – as per the order of the
Creator and the natural order of things.
▪ To Kant, 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 built in our human mind. Kant calls these the
apparatuses of the mind.
Immanuel Kant: respect for self
▪ Along with the different apparatuses of the mind
goes the self. Without the self, one cannot
organize the different impressions that one gets
in relation to his own existence. Thus, the self is
not just what gives one his personality. It is also
the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human
persons.
Our discourse will deal with the concepts of the self according to:

SIGMUND FREUD GILBERT RYLE

MAURICE MARLAEU-
PATRICIA AND PAUL
PONTY
CHURCHLAND
 Sigmund Freud: The Self is Multi-Layered

CONSCIOUS LEVEL:
▪ All of our thought processes operate;
▪ Only 10%; everything we are aware of?
 Sigmund Freud: The Self is Multi-Layered

PRECONSCIOUS LEVEL:
▪ Contains our memories and thoughts that are not
at the conscious level but that may threaten to
break into the conscious level at any moment
▪ Events, thoughts, and feelings are easily recalled
▪ About 10-15% of the mind
 Sigmund Freud: The Self is Multi-Layered
UNCONSCIOUS LEVEL:
▪ The lowest and deepest level of awareness, or
unawareness
▪ Hold the bulk of our past experiences, including all
the impulses and memories that threaten to
debilitate or destabilize our minds.
▪ Constitutes 75-80% of the mind
Our discourse will deal with the concepts of the self according to:

GILBERT RYLE

MAURICE MARLAEU-
PATRICIA AND PAUL
PONTY
CHURCHLAND
 Gilbert Ryle: The mind-body dichotomy
▪ For Ryle, what truly matters is the behavior that a person
manifests in his day-to-day life. For him, looking for and
trying to understand the self as it really exists is like visiting
your friends‟ university and looking for the “university.”
▪ Ryle says that the 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.
 Gilbert Ryle: The mind-body dichotomy
▪ For Ryle, what truly matters is the behavior that a person
manifests in his day-to-day life. For him, looking for and
trying to understand the self as it really exists is like visiting
your friends‟ university and looking for the “university.”
▪ Ryle says that the 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.
Our discourse will deal with the concepts of the self according to:

MAURICE MARLAEU-
PATRICIA AND PAUL
PONTY
CHURCHLAND
Patricia and Paul Churchland: Neurophilosophy
“The Self is the Brain”
▪ The self is inseparable from the brain and the
physiology of the body.
▪ According to Churchland, the self is not an
abstract, immaterial entity but is entirely a product
of the brain's physical processes. Our thoughts,
emotions, consciousness, and sense of identity are
all generated by neural activity.
 Patricia and Paul Churchland: Neurophilosophy
“The Self is the Brain”
▪ All we have is the brain and so, if the brain is gone,
there is no self.
▪ Since all aspects of the self are tied to the brain's
functioning, if the brain ceases to function (e.g., due
to severe injury, disease, or death), the self ceases to
exist. This implies that there is no self without the
brain; they are one and the same.
Our discourse will deal with the concepts of the self according to:

MAURICE MARLAEU-PONTY
Marleau Ponty: Phenomenologist
▪ He insisted that body and mind are so intertwined with
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. Because men are in the world. For him, the
Cartesian problem is nothing but plain
misunderstanding. The living body, his thoughts,
emotions, and experiences are all one.
WHAT SCIENCE SAYS
ABOUT THE SELF?
 A. BIOLOGICAL/PHYSIOLOGICAL
SCIENCES
▪ Neurophilosophy (attributed to Paul and Patricia
Churchland) is concerned with the association of
the brain and the mind.

▪ Psychoneuroimmunology describes the shaping of

the self as similar to how the human immune system
functions.
 B. SOCIAL SCIENCES
▪ Psychology defined as the study of human behavior, sees the self as a
theoretical construct.
▪ Psychoanalysis (proposed by Sigmund Freud) focuses on the
“unconscious” as a core element of the self.
o Behaviorism maintains that the study of behavior should be made
from an observable and measurable perspective.
o Social Cognitive Theory considers behavior as a function of the
environment and internal attributes.
o Humanistic Perspective draws its assumptions from the observed
criticisms of psychoanalysis and behaviorism. It believes that every
individual has the ability to reach self-actualization and
transcendence and that each person is inherently good or possesses
something that is good.
 B. SOCIAL SCIENCES
▪ Sociology is the study of the collective behavior of people within society
and focuses on social problems encountered by individuals.

▪ Anthropology is the study of human beings and their ancestors through

time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and
social relations, and culture.

▪ Political Science (PolSci) is concerned with the participation of individuals

in establishing a government and making political choices.

▪ Economics describes and analyzes the production, distribution, and

consumption of goods and services.
JOHARI
WINDOW
 JOHARI WINDOW
The Johari Window is a communication tool that helps you understand
yourself and your relationships with others better. It's like a window with four
panes, each representing different types of information:
• Open: This area represents things known by both you and others. These
are your shared experiences, personality traits, and skills that are out in
the open.
• Blind: This area represents things others see in you that you're unaware
of. It might be a habit you have, a hidden strength, or a weakness you
haven't noticed.
 JOHARI WINDOW
• Hidden: This area represents your private space, things
you know about yourself but choose to keep hidden.
This could be personal thoughts, feelings, or goals.
• Unknown: This mysterious area represents things
unknown to both you and others. It could be hidden
potential or unconscious biases you might have.
 JOHARI WINDOW
The Johari Window is all about increasing the open area. By disclosing information
and receiving feedback, we shrink the blind area and build trust. This can lead to
stronger relationships, better self-awareness, and even improved teamwork.
Here are some ways to use the Johari Window:
▪ Self-reflection: Think about what you know and don't know about yourself. What
could you disclose to others?
▪ Feedback: Ask for honest feedback from trusted friends or colleagues to
understand your blind area.
▪ Open communication: Practice disclosing your thoughts and feelings in a
healthy way to build trust.
 JOHARI WINDOW

The Johari Window is a simple yet powerful tool for

personal and interpersonal growth. By understanding how
information flows between you and others, you can build
stronger connections and reach your full potential growth.
 LET’S DO THIS!

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION Secondary Education Department

 Worksheet 1
How is self, understood?
Write an essay (300-500 words) about anything you
wish to share about yourself. You may use these
suggested topics:
1. Me as I see myself
2. How other people see me
3. How I would like other people to see me
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