The Self from Various

Philosophical Perspective
 Unfamiliar Words

• VIRTUE -behavior showing high moral standards.

• DICHOTOMY- a division or contrast between two things that are or are
represented as being opposed or entirely different.
• BIRFUCATION- the division of something into two branches or parts.
 tr u l y
y o u
Do w
kn o
r se l f?
yo u
 h a t i s
W h y ?
l os o p
Ph i
• Comes from two Greek words philos which means “love”, Sophia which means
“wisdom”. Thus, a philosopher is a “lover of wisdom”

• WISDOM connotes knowledge

( knowledge directed to the fundamental and pervasive concerns of existence)

• WISDOM in philosophy is in how you help yourself think more clearly, precisely
and systematically.
• It is the investigation of normal and fundamental issues concerning matters, for
example, presence, information, values, reason, psycheand dialect.
 h a t i s
W i c a l
so p h
Ph il o e ?
e c ti v
Pe r sp
 In philosophy, a point of view is a
specific attitude or manner through
which a person thinks about something.
Philosophers
 Known as one of the most important
philosophers in history. He is often
described as the
father of Western philosophy.

Concerned with the problem of the

self. His philosophy underlies in the
importance of the notion
“KNOWING ONESELF”

Pointed out that human choice was

motivated by the desire for happiness -
for him, man’s goal is to obtain
happiness
Socrates
(470-399 BC)
• Happiness motivates us to act towards or avoid things that could have negative
effects in our lives.
• Thus, by fully knowing oneself, a person will be able to achieve happiness
• Possession of knowledge is a VIRTUE, Ignorance is DEPRAVITY
• “the unexamined life is not worth living”
• A person’s acceptance of ignorance is the beginning of acquisition of
knowledge
• Knowing our self, lies in our abilities and wisdom
• Understanding ourselves through INTERNAL QUESTIONING OR INTROSPECTION
• Socratic Method -a method of inquiry by answering a question with a question
to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying
presumptions
 Student of Socrates

He believed in the division of a

person’s body and soul which
forms a person aside from the
material things and that could be
observed & associated with the
person.

He believed that the soul is

divided into 3 different parts, that
has different views leading to
different behaviors. Plato
(428-348BC)
• appetitive soul
– the part of the person that is driven by desire and need to satisfy
oneself
– physical needs, pleasures (food, drink, sleep, sexual needs, etc.)
• spirited soul – courageous part of the person. One who wants to do
something or to right the wrongs that they observe. This is very
competitive and is very active. Competitiveness drives one to expect
positive results and winning.
• rational soul – The drive of our lives. The part that thinks and plans. It
decides what to do, when to do it and the possible results one could
have depending on their actions.
•A Saint and a Philosopher of the Church
•He followed the view of Plato but adds
Christianity
•His idea of a man and how to understand
who we are as a person is related to our
understanding of who we are and how we
question ourselves –the more one doubts
and question his life means that the person
is actually living.
•Relates our existence to God being
modelled in His likeness though being alive

St. Augustine
means that we are still far from God and
has yet to be truly with Him.
• Follows the idea that God encompasses us all, that everything will
be better if we are with God.
•Everything is better if we devote ourselves mending our
relationship with God.
•man is of a bifurcated nature
•part of man dwells in the world (imperfect) and yearns to be with
the Divine
•other part is capable of reaching immortality
•body –dies on earth; soul –lives eternally in spiritual bliss with
“God”(#lifegoal)
•Father of Modern Philosophy
•Believed in modern Dualism or the
existence of body & mind
•human person = body + mind
•Known to be the proponent of
“METHODICAL DOUBT” - there is so
much that we should doubt –
continuous process of questioning –
perceiving and accepting the facts that
doubting and asking questions are
part of one’s existence.
•MIND – thinks and questions or
doubts what the body has Rene Descartes (1596
experienced -1650)
•BODY – perceives from the different
senses
•However, BODY and its perceptions cannot fully be trusted or can
easily be deceived. Example:
We should focus on the mind in order to perceive as who we are or the
essence of our existence because we cannot always trust our senses
•“I think, therefore I am”
•the self=cogito (the thinking thing) + extenza (the unthinking thing)
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.”
•English Philosopher & Physician
•His work on the “SELF” is most
represented by the concept “TABULA
RASA” blank slate/clean slate
•SELF is the product of what we
acquire through our experience of the
world.
•Stated that the person is born with
knowing nothing and that is
susceptible to stimulation and
accumulation of learning from
experiences, failures, references and John Locke
observations of the person (1632—1704)
• Experiences “WRITES” knowledge and understanding as the
individual matures. Experiences are important in the
establishment of who that person can become
 Thinking of the "self as a mere
combination of impressions was
problematic for Immanuel Kant. Kant
recognizes the veracity of Hume's
account that everything starts with
perception and sensation of
impressions
However, Kant thinks that the 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. Kant
 To Kant, there is necessarily a mind that organizes the
impressions that men get from the external world. Time and space,
for example, are ideas that one cannot find in the world, but is built
in our minds. Kant calls these the apparatuses of the mind.
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. Kant
therefore suggests that it is an actively engaged intelligence in man
that synthesizes all knowledge and experience. Thus, the self is not
just what gives one his personality. In addition, it is also the seat of
knowledge acquisition for all human persons.
 Gilbert Ryle solves the mind-
body dichotomy that
has been running for a long time
in the history of thought by
blatantly denying the concept of
an internal, non-physical self. For
Ryle, what truly matters is the
behavior that a person manifests
in his day-to-day life.
Ryle
 For Ryle, looking for and trying to understand a self as it really exists is
like visiting your friend's university and looking for the "university. One
can roam around the campus, visit the library and the football field, and
meet the administrators and faculty and still end up not finding the
university . This is because the campus, the people, the systems, and the
territory all from the university . Ryle suggest that the “self” is not an
entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient name that
people use to refer to all behaviors that people make.
 The most eminent thirteen
century scholar and stalwart of
the medieval philosophy
appended something to this
Christian view. Adapting some
ideas from Aristotle, 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 the universe. Thomas Aquinas
 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." It is what makes it what it is. In the case
of the human person, the body of the human person is
something that he shares even with animals. The cells in
man's body are more or less akin to the cells of any other
living. organic being in the world. However, what makes a
human person a human person and not a dog, or a tiger is his
soul, his essence. To Aquinas, just as in Aristotle, the soul is
what animates the body: it is what makes us humans.
 Merleau-Ponty is a
phenomenologist who asserts
that the mind-body bifurcation
that has been going on for a long
time is a futile endeavor and an
invalid problem. Unlike, Ryle who
simply denies the "self”. Merleau-
Ponty instead says that the mind
and body are so intertwined that
they cannot be separated from
one another. Merleau-Ponty
 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
of these bodies, men are in the world. Merleau-Ponty
dismisses the Cartesian Dualism that has spelled so much
devastation in the history of man. For him, the Cartesian
problem is nothing else but plain misunderstanding. The living
body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one.
To find yourself,

think for yourself

-Socrates
 Sources

FOR INFORMATIONS :
https://
www.scribd.com/document/438763932/Hand-Out-1-The-Self-
From-Various-Perspectives
THEME AND LAYOUT:
ELVIRA CARLA M. ROSALES