UNDERSTANDING

THE SELF

Prepared by: ROSANA F. RODRIGUEZ, RN, MAN

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Chapter I – Defining the Self: Personal and
Developmental Perspectives on Self and Identity
• Lesson 1: The Self from Various
Philosophical Perspectives
• Lesson 2: The Self, Society, and Culture
• Lesson 3: The Self as Cognitive
Construct
• Lesson 4: The Self in Western and Eastern
Thoughts
 Lesson 1:
The Self from Various
Philosophical Perspectives
 LESSON OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Explain why it is essential to understand the self;
2. Describe and discuss the different notions of the self from the
points-of-view of the various philosophers across time and
place;
3. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented in
different philosophical schools; and
4. Examine one’s self against the different views of self that were
discussed in class.
 DEFINITION OF SELF
• MERRIAM WEBSTER
an individual's typical character or behavior her
true self was revealed
an individual's temporary behavior or character his
better self
 the union of elements (such as body, emotions,
thoughts, and sensations) that constitute the
individuality and identity of a person
PHILOSOPHY OF SELF
 PHILOSOPHY OF SELF
• The philosophy of self defines, among other
things, the conditions of identity that make one
subject of experience distinct from all others.
Contemporary discussions on the nature of the
self are not thereby discussions on the nature
of personhood, or personal identity.
SOCRATES
• Know thyself”
o Socrates was the first philosopher
who ever engaged in a systematic
questioning about the self; the true
task of the philosopher is to know
oneself.
o For Socrates, every man is
composed of body and soul; all
individuals have an imperfect,
impermanent aspect to him, and
the body, while maintaining that
there is also a soul that is perfect
and permanent.
PLATO
o Plato supported the idea that
man is a dual nature of body
and soul.
o Plato added that there are
three components of the
soul: the rational soul, the
spirited soul, and the
appetitive soul.
3 PARTS OF THE SOUL
• Plato's identification of these three distinct
elements of a person's inner life is unique, and
can be validated by directly turning inward to
one's own experience of the self.
3 PARTS OF THE SOUL
1. The appetitive which includes all our myriad
desires for various pleasures, comforts,
physical satisfactions, and bodily ease.
 3 PARTS OF THE SOUL
2. The spirited, or hot-blooded, part, i.e., the part that
gets angry when it perceives (for example) an injustice
being done. This is the part of us that loves to face and
overcome great challenges, the part that can steel itself
to adversity, and that loves victory, winning, challenge,
and honor.
3 PARTS OF THE SOUL
3. The mind/ rational is our conscious awareness, is
represented by the charioteer who is guiding (or
who at least should be guiding) chariot. This is the
part of us that thinks, analyzes, looks ahead,
rationally weighs options, and tries to gauge what is
best and truest overall.
ST. AUGUSTINE
o Augustine agreed that man is of a
bifurcated nature; the body is
bound to die on earth and the soul
is to anticipate living eternally in
a realm of spiritual bliss in
communion with God.
o The body can only thrive in the
imperfect, physical reality that is
the world, whereas the soul can
also stay after death in an eternal
realm with the all-transcendent
God.
THOMAS AQUINAS
o 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 in
the universe.” 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.”
o To Aquinas the soul is what
animates the body; it is what
makes us humans.
RENE DESCARTES
o Conceived of the human
person as having a body and
a mind
o The body is nothing else but
a machine that is attached to
the mind. The human person
has it but it is not what
makes man a man. If at all,
that is the mind.
DAVID HUME
o The self is not an entity over and
beyond the physical body.
o Men can only attain knowledge
by experiencing.
o Self, according to Hume, is
simply “a bundle or collection of
different perceptions, which
succeed each other with an
inconceivable rapidity, and are in
a perpetual flux and movement.”
IMMANUEL KANT
o 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.
o There is necessarily a mind that organizes the
impressions that men get from the external
world.
o Time and space are ideas that one cannot find in
the world, but is built in our minds; he calls
these the apparatuses of the mind.
o The self is not just what gives one his
personality; it is also the seat of knowledge
acquisition for all human persons.
GILBERT RYLE
o Blatantly denying the concept of an
internal, non-physical self; what
truly matters is the behavior that a
person manifests in his day-to-day
life.
o “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.
MAURICE MERLEAU- PONTY
o The mind and body are so
intertwined that they cannot be
separated from one another.
o 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.
o The living body, his thoughts,
emotions, and experiences are all
one.
 APPLICATION AND
ASSESSMENT
In your own words, state what “self” is for each of the philosophers
enumerated below. After doing so, explain how your concept of “self” is
compatible with how they conceived of the “self.”
1. Socrates
2. Plato
3. Augustine
4. Descartes
5. Hume
6. Kant
7. Ryle
8. Merleau-Ponty
 LESSON SUMMARY
o Philosophy is replete with men and women who inquired into
the fundamental nature of the self.
o Socrates was the first philosopher who ever engaged in a
systematic questioning about the self.
o Plato supported the idea that man is a dual nature of body and
soul.
o Augustine agreed that man is of a bifurcated nature.
o Thomas Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two
parts: matter and form.
 LESSON SUMMARY
o Rene Descartes conceived of the human person as having a
body and a mind.
o David Hume, the self is not an entity over and beyond the
physical body
o Immanuel Kant, there is necessarily a mind that organizes the
impressions that men get from the external world
o Gilbert Ryle, “self” is not an entity one can locate and
analyze
o Merleau-Ponty, the living body, his thoughts, emotions, and
experiences are all one