UNDERSTANDING THE SELF: “Know Thyself”

MODULE 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

1ST SEMESTER | A.Y. 2022-2023

THE SELF CAN BE VIEWED IN 3 WAYS: PLATO (GREEK PHILOSOPHER)

1. Self is innate. “The self is an immortal soul”

2. Self is emergent. Student of Socrates
3. Self is integrated and developing. Claims that the sensible world is dependent on the ideal
world wherein the concept of the souls belongs.
SELF IS INNATE Believes that the self is synonymous with the soul

The self is an important quality of humans that is present THEORY OF FORMS

upon birth and that self-awareness is natural.
This view of self includes the philosophies of Socrates, 1. The world of Forms (nonphysical ideas)
Plato, Augustine, and Rene Descartes. ➢ Real and permanent
2. The world of Sense
SELF IS EMERGENT ➢ Temporary and only a replica of the ideal world.

The self is an outcome of interaction with the physical as Since the soul is regarded as something permanent, man
well as the social world. should give more importance to it than the physical body
The empiricist perspectives of Aristotle, John Locke, and which resides in the world of sense.
David Hume belong to this view of self.
3 BASIC ELEMENTS OF THE SOUL
SELF IS INTEGRATED AND DEVELOPING
1. Reason
The self has various components that undergoes change ➢ The divine essence that enables us to think
through time. deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a true
Immanuel Kant, Gilbert Ryle, and Maurice Merleau- understanding of eternal truths.
Ponty’s the Phenomenology of Perception may fall under 2. Spirit (Passion)
this view of self. ➢ Basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition,
aggressiveness, and empathy.
DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS OF THE SELF 3. Appetite (Desire)
➢ Includes our basic biological needs
➢ Socrates ➢ David Hume
➢ Plato ➢ Immanuel Kant He contends that justice exists in the personal level when
➢ Aristotle ➢ Sigmund Freud there is harmony among the three elements of the soul. If
➢ Augustine ➢ Gilbert Ryle a man lives in accordance to his nature, then he is giving
➢ Rene Descartes ➢ Paul Churchland justice to his existence.
➢ John Locke ➢ Maurice Merleau-Ponty
ARISTOTLE (GREEK PHILOSOPHER)
SOCRATES (GREEK PHILOSOPHER)
“The soul is the essence of the self”
The person has an immortal soul Student of Plato
He inspired the youth of Athens to “know thyself” and The soul is merely a set of defining features and does not
discover the importance of their souls by continuous consider the body and soul as a separate entity
questioning called as the Socratic Method. Believes that reality is based on what we can sense and
He equates knowledge with virtue and ignorance with vice. perceive.
He suggests that anything with life has a soul.
AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING
THREEFOLD NATURE OF A MAN
The individual person can have a meaningful life if he
becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can 1. Vegetative Soul
be achieved through incessant soul-searching ➢ Physical body that can grow
2. Sentient Soul
TWO DICHOTOMOUS REALMS ➢ Sensual desires, feelings, and emotions
3. Rational Soul
1. Physical Realm ➢ Intellect
➢ It is changeable, transient, and imperfect ➢ What makes man human
2. Ideal Realm
➢ It is unchangeable, eternal, and immortal Self-realization is attained by fulfilling man’s threefold
The body belongs to physical realm nature.
He explains that the essence of the self-the-soul is the Individuals should only pursue activities that will promote
immortal entity, their physical and mental health.

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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF: “Know Thyself”
MODULE 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

1ST SEMESTER | A.Y. 2022-2023

AUGUSTINE (EARLY CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER) JOHN LOCKE (ENGLISH PHILOSOPHER)

“The self has an immortal soul” “The self is consciousness”

Regarded as a saint in the Catholic Church Used the concept of reason from the empirical
Integrated the ideas of Plato and the teachings of the perspective.
Catholic Church He postulated that the human mind at birth is a blank
Believes that physical body is radically different from and slate or tabula rasa, which a man creates through
inferior to its inhabitant, the immortal soul. experience.
Believes that the body is united with the soul He feels that the self, or personal identity, constructed
Contemplated that the soul is an essential element which primarily from sense experiences or more specifically,
governs and defines the human person. what people see, hear, smell, taste, and feel.
Views the body as “spouse” of the soul Consciousness awareness and memory of previous
Develops the fundamental concept of the human person to experiences is the key to understand the self.
provides the philosophical principle, “I am doubting, Sensory experience is the source of all knowledge and
therefore I am” therefore there can be no knowledge without observation.
Our personal identity is not made up of material
HUMANKIND IS CREATED IN THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS substance, it is made possible by self-consciousness or
OF GOD being aware of the world that our senses perceived.
The essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself
Everything created by a God who is all good is good. as thinking, reasoning, and reflecting identity.
Thus, the human person being a creation of God is always Consciousness is what makes identity of a person similar
geared towards the good. in different situations.
Man has an inner sense or a conscience which is the
voice of God that would guide one’s voluntary actions. EMPIRICISM
Free will = accountability for decisions in life
The acquisition of knowledge is through the senses and
“KNOWLEDGE CAN ONLY COME BY SEEING THE TRUTH experience.
THAT DWELLS WITHIN US” Generalizations are achieved by inductive reasoning.

The truth refers to the truth of knowing God. DAVID HUME (SCOTTISH PHILOSOPHER)
God is transcendent and that the self seeks to be united
with God through faith and reason. He contends that true “There is no self”
knowledge of things is based on faith and that we need Suggests that if people carefully examine their sense
reason to gain an understanding of what we already experience through the process of introspections, they will
believe. discover that there is no self.
What people experience is just a bundle or collections of
RENE DESCARTES (FRENCH PHILOSOPHER) different perceptions.
Both experience and observation are the foundations of
“I think Therefore I am” (Cogito ergo sum) any logical argument.
➢ The keystone of Descartes’ concept of self He concludes that the idea of self is simply a fiction.
➢ If he doubted that, then something or someone
must be doing the doubting, therefore the very BUNDLE THEORY (LACK OF SELF)
fact that he doubted proved his existence.
Father of Modern Philosophy The self is nothing but a bundle or collection of
Considered as a Rationalist interconnected and continually changing sense
Has brought an entirely new perspective to philosophy and impressions of what a human person is all about.
the self ➢ Believed that any idea must be derived from an
Introduces the idea of thinking self or soul as non-material, impression
immortal, conscious being and independent of physical lay ➢ When we are self-conscious, we are only aware
of the universe. of fleeting thoughts, feelings, and perceptions; we
do not have an impression of the self or a
RATIONALISM thinking substance.
Self-knowledge depends on one’s conscious experience
Considers humans are born with certain kind of knowledge and perception.
that are not derived from the world using sensory ➢ He believes that the qualities of an object are all
perception. that really exist, and there is no actual substance
The knowledge of reality can be attained through logical of which they are attributed.
deduction. ➢ There is no self, only internal subjective data of
the mind.
MIND-BODY DUALISM ➢ We are never justified in claiming we are the
same person we were a year ago or a minute
Mind and body are distinct entities and that it is possible ago.
for one to exist without the other.
The self is a thinking this, distinct from the body.

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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF: “Know Thyself”
MODULE 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

1ST SEMESTER | A.Y. 2022-2023

IMMANUEL KANT (GERMAN PHILOSOPHER) Although one’s unconscious thoughts, perception and
urges are beyond the conscious level, these elements
“We construct the Self” remain active in the self and cause some individuals to
The self transcends experience develop self-defeating behavior.
He harmonized the contradicting ideas of rationalists and ➢ Hence, the goal of psychoanalysis is to release
empiricists. repressed emotions and experiences to decrease
The self that makes experiencing an intelligible world internal conflicts.
possible because it is the self that is actively organizing
and synthesizing all our thoughts and perceptions GILBERT RYLE (BRITISH PHILOSOPHER)
Believes that the self is an organizing principle that makes
a unified and intelligible experience possible “The self is the way people behave”
Knowledge can be drawn from the integration of sensory Denies the existence of an internal, nonphysical self, and
experience and conceptual understanding. instead focus on the dimension of the self that we can
➢ Sensory experience alone is not enough to observe our behavior.
generate knowledge. “I act, therefore, I am.”
➢ It is not the mind where the self is found rather, it
CRITIQUE OF PURE PERSON is through one’s behavior that the self is revealed.

Opposes Hume’s view that knowledge is subjective. THE CONCEPT OF MIND

➢ Hume’s view of the mind was a kind of passive
“theatre” across which random experiences flitted Opposes Descartes’ Mind-Body Dualism which maintains
➢ Kant proposed an actively engaged and that the mind is distinct from the body.
synthesizing intelligence that constructs ➢ Provides a devastating critique of Descartes’
knowledge based on its experiences. This dualism by characterizing it as “the ghost in the
synthesizing faculty transcends the senses and machine” metaphysic that has infiltrated every
unifies experience. area of our culture, a view that makes no
According to him, our knowledge is objective. conceptual sense.
➢ Time and space are universal conditions which We make a category mistake when we seek to find a “self”
are necessary to acquire sensory experience. which is part from all the public behaviors of ourselves.
The human mind is an active shaper of experience.
➢ Self is a unifying subject, an organizing The mind and body are intrinsically linked
consciousness that gives coherence into one’s ➢ Mental states and bodily actions are one and the
experience. same.
The self transcends experience. The mind is the totality of human dispositions that is
➢ Our mind can grasp aspects of reality which is known through the way the people behave.
not limited to our senses.
➢ Through our rationality, we are able to PAUL CHURCHLAND (CANADIAN PHILOSOPHER)
understand certain abstract ideas that have no
corresponding physical object or sensory "The self is the brain”
experience. ➢ The physical brain and not the imaginary mind,
gives us our sense of self.
SIGMUND FREUD (AUSTRIAN PSYCHOANALYST) Advocates the idea of the eliminated materialism or the
idea that the self is inseparable from the brain and the
“The self is multilayered” physiology if the body.
The goal of psychoanalysis is to release repressed
emotions and experiences to overcome self-defeating PROPONENT OF ELIMINATIVE MATERIALISM
behavior.
There is something wrong on how people understand the
THE SELF IS MULTILAYERED: mind and its functions.
Materialism maintains that the self is inseparable from the
1. Conscious brain and the physiology of the body.
➢ Governed by the “reality principle”
➢ Thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
memories that you are aware of at a given (FRENCH PHENOMENOLOGICAL PHILOSOPHER)
moment.
2. Preconscious “The self is embodied subjectivity”
➢ Includes materials that can be brought to Gives importance to man’s lived experiences.
awareness easily such as nonthreatening The “I” is a single integrated core identity, a combination of
memories. mental, physical, and emotional structures around a core
3. Unconscious identity of the self.
➢ Repressed memories and emotions, and Articulates that when the people examine the self at the
instinctual drives. fundamental level of direct human experience, people will
The self is predominantly governed by its unconscious part discover that the mind and the body are unified, not
that contains the sexual and aggressive impulses. separate.

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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF: “Know Thyself”
MODULE 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

1ST SEMESTER | A.Y. 2022-2023

THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF PERCEPTION CHARLES HORTON COOLEY

The consciousness, the world, and the human body are Introduce the looking glass self to highlight that the people
intricately intertwined in perceiving the world. whom we interact become a mirror in which we view
The self is embodied subjectivity ourselves.
➢ Perception is not merely a consequence of ➢ Individuals develop their concept of self by
sensory experience; rather, it is a conscious observing how they are perceived by others
experience. ➢ First, we imagine how we must appear to others.
Second, we imagine the judgement of that
THE CONCEPT OF BODY-SUBJECT appearance. Finally, we develop our self through
the judgements of others
An alternative to Descartes’ ‘cogito’: critique of objective
thought. THREEFOLD EVENT
The world is not merely an extension of our own minds.
1) We conceive an idea of how we present ourselves to
others.
CHAPTER 2: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE 2) We analyze how others perceive us.
SELF AS THE PRODUCT OF SOCIETY 3) We create an image of ourselves.

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE “Theory of the Social Self”

Support the view that the person develops a sense of self
Sociological perspective of the self is based on through social interaction and not the biological
assumption that human behavior is influence by group of precondition of that interaction.
people. His theory of social self, explained that the self has two
A particular view of oneself is formed through interactions divisions: the “I” and the “me”
with other people, groups, or social institutions. ➢ The “I” is subjective element and the active side
of the self. It represents the spontaneous, and
SOCIOLOGY unique traits of the individual.
➢ “me” is the objective element. It represents the
As a scientific study of social groups and human internalized attitudes and demands of other
relationship, generates new insights into the people and the individual’s awareness of those
interconnectedness between the self and the people. demands.
Hence, sociologists offer theories to explain how the self The full development of the self is attained when the “I”
emerges as a product of social experience. and the “me” are united.
MEAD AND COOLEY (SOCIOLOGIST) According to Mead, the self is not present at birth.
➢ It develops only with social experience wherein
The self does not depend on biological predisposition; language, gestures, and objects are used to
rather it is a product of interaction. communicate meaningfully.
➢ Since there is meaning in human actions, we infer
JEAN BAUDRILLARD people’s intention or direction of action, which may
lead us to understand the world from others’ point of
Posts that in postmodern society, the self is found in the view – a process that Mead labeled as role-taking.
prestige symbols of goods consumed by people. ➢ Then we create our own roles and anticipate how
Exposes the negative consequences of postmodernity to others will respond.
individuals in the society. ➢ When we perform our own particular role, we become
• The postmodern individuals achieve self-identity self-aware.
through prestige symbols that they consume. ➢ The self continues to change along with our social
• The cultural practices of advertising and mass experience.
media greatly influence individuals to consume
goods not for their primary value and utility but to DEVELOPMENT OF SELF IN THREE-STAGE PROCESS
give them a feeling of goodness and power when
compared with others. 1. Preparatory Stage (0-3 years old)
• The self may be a never-ending search for ➢ Children copy, or imitate, the behaviors of others
prestige in the postmodern society. around them especially family members with
whom they have daily interaction without
sophisticated understanding of what they are
imitating.
➢ At this stage, they have no sense of self.
➢ During this stage, children are just preparing for
role-taking.

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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF: “Know Thyself”
MODULE 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

1ST SEMESTER | A.Y. 2022-2023

2. Play Stage (3-5 years old) Gerry Lanuza’s, the constitution of the self, discussed the
➢ Children start to view themselves in relation to relationship between society and individual which is in the
others as they learn to communicate through modern societies that attainment and stability of self-
language and other symbols. identity are freely chosen.
➢ Children start role-playing and taking on the role
of significant people in their lives. However,
children do not perceive role-taking as something
expected of them.
➢ The self emerges as children pretend to take the
roles of specific people or significant others,
those individuals who are important agents of
socialization.
➢ In this stage, the self is developing.

3. Game Stage (Begins in the early school years;

about 8 or 9 years old)
➢ The third and final stage of self-development.
➢ Children understand not only their own social
position but also those of others around them.
➢ At this stage children become concerned about
and take into account in their behavior the
generalized others which refer to the attitudes,
viewpoints, demands and expectations of the
society which include cultural norms and values
we use as references in evaluating ourselves.
➢ Children are involved in organized team activities.
Children have to learn and follow established
game rules, learn about what their roles are in the
game, and learn what their teammates’ roles are
as well. Children also have to learn the
relationship between the various roles of the
game participants. This requires children to be
able to assume the role of several others at the
same time.
➢ This time, they can have a more sophisticated
look of people and an ability to respond to
numerous members of the social environment.
➢ During this stage, the self is now present.

THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF MODERN AND

POSTMODERN SOCIETIES

In modern societies, the attainment and stability of

self-identity is freely chosen.
• It is no longer restricted by customs and
traditions.
• While this newfound freedom offers infinite
possibilities for self-cultivation, problems such as
alienation and dehumanization of the self also
appear which hinder the full development of
human potentials.
• Hence, there is a need to discover the “authentic
core” of the self for the individual to freely work
towards self-realization.

In postmodern societies, self-identity continuously

changes due to the demands of multitude of social
contexts, new information technologies, and globalization.
• Whereas the dissolution of traditional values and
communities in modern society has led the
individual to construct a solid and stable self-
identity, the postmodern individual welcomes all
possibilities for self-improvement.

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