The Self from Various

MODULE 1: Perspectives
Lesson 1: Philosophical Perspectives

LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Identify the different philosophical perspectives in the conceptualizations of the self.
2. Examine/scrutinize the different influences, factors and forces that shape the self as
proposed by the philosophers.
3. Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analyzing the development of one’s self
and identity by developing a preliminary philosophical theory of the self.

INTRODUCTION
“Who am I?” is a very fundamental existential question. It is an inquiry that is addressed by the
self to the owner of the self. The self’s (you) answer to this defines how much you know about
your self and thus presents your identity. This is very critical as this will give meaning to your
existence and will help you navigate your life in this world of different co-existing beings and
things. “Know thyself” is Socrates’ advice to make your life worth living since for him “an
unexamined life is not worth living.” That is his mandate as a philosopher.
Socrates and the other thinkers had long tried to propose different tenets on how to seek the
answers for that main inquiry “Who am I?” Philosophers from the Pre-Socratic period up to the
Contemporary time of philosophy provided different answers to related questions “Is there a
self?”, “Does the self really exist?”, “Who am I in relation to the cosmos, God, and others?”,
and “In what ways do I get to know my self?” Their answers to these questions are very
foundational but deep. Upon reflection, they will help you in defining the concept of the self and
identify the meaning of your own self.
This lesson will introduce you first briefly to the basics of philosophy as an intellectual enterprise
so as to relate it to the inquiry. Further, this will mainly focus on discussing the different
philosophers’ ideas on the self.
ACTIVITY

ASYNCHRONOUS LEARNING SCHEDULE

Watch and note the video presentation on the experts’ notes about philosophy
and the different perspectives of philosophers about the self. Take note of the key
concepts about the self of each philosopher particularly their answers to the
philosophical questions stated in the content. While watching the video, take time to
answer the philosophical questions based on the answers of the philosophers as well
as the review question about philosophy as a field of thought. You may use key phrases
in your answers. You may opt to answer also immediately after watching the whole video
and after reflecting on the concluding questions “Which among these philosophies can
you relate with?” and “How do they affect the way you see yourself?”

1. What is philosophy? What is its goal?

2. Who am I in relation to the natural world? According to
The Milesians: ___________________________________________________
Thales: ________________________________________________________
Anaximander: ____________________________________________________
Anaximenes: _____________________________________________________
Democritus: _____________________________________________________
Heraclitus: ______________________________________________________
Anaxagoras: ___________________________________________________
Pythagoras: ____________________________________________________

3. In what ways do I get to know myself? According to

Socrates: ______________________________________________________
Plato: _________________________________________________________
Aristotle: ______________________________________________________

4. Who am I in relation to a supreme being/God? According to

St. Augustine: ____________________________________________________

5. What are the proofs that the self exists? According to

Rene Descartes: __________________________________________________
John Locke: ______________________________________________________
David Hume: _____________________________________________________
Immanuel Kant: ___________________________________________________
Sigmund Freud: ___________________________________________________
Gilbert Ryle: _____________________________________________________
Paul Churchland: __________________________________________________
 6. What happens when you fall in love physically, emotionally, and mentally?
According to
Edmund Husserl: __________________________________________________
Maurice Merleau-Ponty: _____________________________________________
Concluding Questions:
Which among those philosophies can you relate with?
________________________________________________________________
How do they affect the way you see yourself?
_______________________________________________________________
Reminders
✓ This activity will be done prior to the synchronous learning schedule.
✓ The output of the activity must be submitted on a letter page format, Times New Roman as font style
with a font size of 12.

ANALYSIS

SYNCHRONOUS LEARNING SCHEDULE

A discussion via video conferencing (or via the Facebook comment section for slow
connection and if synchronous schedule is not possible) will ensue after the video
presentation depending on the schedule that will be set by the instructor. The focus
will be on the philosophical questions and the concluding questions. Participation in
the recitations (or comments via the FB comments section) are expected from each
student. Do your best to be recognized for participation. Take note of your own
participation. List down the times your participated and in which question or area.

Understand yourself through the lens of philosophy

❖ Reflect on the lecture in the video that you watched and noted.
✓ Do you agree with the presented philosophical views about the self?
✓ Do you have any personal experience that may relate to those views?
✓ How do these philosophical views influence your self-perception?
 Think-Pair/Group-and-Chat
❖ Get a pair or group and create a group chat. Via messaging or video
conferencing, the group or pair should choose one philosophical perspective
which they think is the best or most apt perspective that answers the question
“Who am I?” You will be given 15 mins to confer with your group and 5 mins
to present your output. If the synchronous presentation is not possible, it
should be recorded and posted in the FB page of the closed group.
✓ Briefly present the main tenets of the perspective.
✓ According to the philosopher, what are the different influences, factors and
forces that shape the self?
✓ Justify the reason/s why you chose the perspective.

ABSTRACTION
THE SELF FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PHILOSOPHY

What is philosophy?
Philosophy etymologically means “love of wisdom”. That is, when you love something, you
spend time, effort, resources to search, care, and attain it. That is the mandate of philosophy.
It encourages you to ask questions and seek answers to fundamental ideas which will give
meaning to your life and existence. It encourages you to ask “Who am I?” It inspires you to love
that question and the answers for it.
In this lesson, the main question posed by philosophy is “How do you answer the question
‘Who am I?’”
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
There were Pre-Socratic philosophers who tried to
seek answers by relating the inquiry to the cosmos Click and Read: The following links will tell you more about
the life and works of the philosophers. Click the links and
with the question “Who am I in relation to the read more about them.
natural world?” These early philosophers focused
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates/
on the workings of the things around us i.e. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle/
elements, numbers, heavenly entities, and the https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/
microscopic substances as the underlying https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hedonism/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/
principles of everything including the human self. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicureanism/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-works/
With a shift of focus from the cosmo-centric https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/
approach into the inner world of humans, the https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sigmund-Freud
Ancient Triumvirate i.e. Socrates, Plato, and https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ryle/
Aristotle began the inquiry “In what ways do I get https://peoplepill.com/people/paul-churchland/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/merleau-ponty/
to know myself?” https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/husserl/
Socrates’ answer is “Know thyself” by examining your life. Examined life means the continuous
inquiry, search for answers, and reflection about anything that you encounter. His reflections
arrived at dualism of the soul and body.
Plato also, as Socrates’ student upheld the immortality of the soul. Further, however, he
believed that the 3 aspects of the soul i.e. reason, physical desire, and passion are in a dynamic
relationship which could be in conflict or agreement. And it is the body which is always the
cause of endless trouble; and thus, should strive to attain harmony through reason.
For Aristotle, the self is known through experiences by way of the senses. It is because the self
(mind) is brought into the world as a tabula rasa (blank tablet).
The Post-Aristotelians maintained the dualism of the soul and body as the composition of the
self. But they became more ethical in approaching the concept of the self. The Stoics believed
that the self should be apathetic or indifferent to pleasure. The Hedonists encouraged the self
to attain happiness through focusing on the present since everybody will die tomorrow anyway.
The Epicureans maintained moderate pleasure for the self.
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
The Medieval philosopher St. Augustine of Hippo turned the main question into “Is the self
related to a supreme being/God? Who am I in relation to a supreme being/God?” His time
aimed to merged philosophy and religion. Thus, he integrated the ideas of Plato and Christianity
of his age. He believed in the dualism of the self as body and soul. The body in the temporary
world becomes a proving ground for the superiority of the soul, which in turn should be unified
with God through faith and reason.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY
The Modern philosophers approach became anthropocentric and less reliant to handed-down
knowledge. Independent inquiries became the trend as they attempted to ask questions like
“How can I be sure that the self exists? What are the proofs that the self exists?”
For Rene Descartes, the mere fact that the self thinks implies that the self exists. His phrase
“cogito ergo sum” means “I think, therefore I am.” According to him, the thinking thing, the self,
can actually exist independently of the body.
John Locke believed in Aristotle’s concept of the self (mind) as tabula rasa. For him, the self is
created by memories written on the tablet. Thus, there is a self that exists because of memory.
As opposed to Locke and Descartes, David Hume suggested that the self does not exist.
According to him, what we actually believe as the “self” is just a bundle of constantly changing
perceptions that we encounter. There is no unified self that forms our identity.
Immanuel Kant contested Hume’s No Self theory and suggested that the self is a priori. Thus,
it exists independently of experiences and serves as the unifying and organizing consciousness
that makes sense of all aspects of identity.
Sigmund Freud’s focus on identifying the structures of the self implies that the self exists. For
him, the self is multilayered and has 3 personality structures i.e. id, ego, and superego, and
has 3 levels of consciousness i.e. conscious, pre-conscious, and unconscious. All these layers
shape the personality/identity of the self.
Two physicalists, Gilbert Ryle and Paul Churchland did away with the concept of the mind
being the seat of self. Ryle proposed that the seat of self is the behavior and not the mind. The
self is the pattern of behavior, the tendency or disposition for one to behave in a particular
circumstance. The self is “I act, therefore I am.” Churchland believed that the self is the brain
itself. It is the physical brain that gives us the sense of self and not the imaginary mind.
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY
The contemporary thinkers approached the concept of human existence and being in a
humanistic way. They focused more on very humanly experiences. Thus, the inquiry about the
self could be translated into one sample question that probes about the human experience of
falling in love by the self, that is, “What happens to you when you fall in love—physically,
emotionally, and mentally (cognitively)?”
The approach is called as phenomenological. The idea is the self has its own way of
experiencing things like falling in love. It is subjective. It is a lived experience. That is, when
you fall in love, the aspects of physical (biological), emotional, and mental are seamlessly
woven together unified by the self. That concept of mental and physical as intertwined was
proposed by Edmund Husserl. For Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the self is the “lived body” that is
the primary site of knowing the world and experiencing everything in it. Thus, the self is not just
the mind, the physical brain or the behavior. The self is the living body that is the natural
synthesis of mind and biology.

ASSESSMENT/ EVALUATION

SYNCHRONOUS ASSESSMENT ASYNCHRONOUS ASSESSMENT

Group Output Presentation: Each
Journal Entry: Write a reflective essay
group will choose one representative and
that answers the question “Who am I?”
will be given 5 minutes to present the
using your own philosophical theory of
output of group activity (think-group-and-
the self that you formulated based on
chat). If the synchronous presentation is
your learnings from the philosophical
not possible, it should be recorded and
perspectives of the different thinkers.
posted in the FB page of the closed
You may illustrate using a short diagram
group. A rubric assessment tool will be
to further explain your theory. A rubric
utilized for the evaluation of this activity.
assessment tool will be utilized for the
evaluation of this write-up.
REFERENCES
Chaffee, J. (2016). The philosopher’s way: A text with readings: Thinking critically about
profound ideas. New York: Pearson.
Moore, B. and Bruder, K. (2002). Philosophy: The power of ideas. New York: McGraw Hill
International Edition.
Price, J. (2000). Philosophy through the ages. Canada: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.