UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

TOPIC 1:
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE ON
SELF
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

1. Cite highlights in the life of the Philosophers

that influenced their concepts and
principles;
2. Identify and differentiate the Philosophers’
perspectives of self; and
3. Create your own concept/ theory of the self.
 PHILOSOPHERS’ PERSPECTIVE
OF THE SELF

The way you choose to spend your life

contributes to the development of your
identity and self-understanding. Your past is a
contributory factor to who you are today, but
who you will be tomorrow greatly depends on
your perspective about yourself.
 SOCRATES (470-399 B.C.)
• Socrates was a scholar, teacher and
philosopher born in ancient Greece. His
Socratic method laid the groundwork for
Western systems of logic and philosophy.
 SOCRATES (470-399 B.C.)

• The philosophy of Socrates underlies the

im p o rt a n ce of the notion o f “KNOW
THYSELF” For him men’s goal in life i s to
obtain happiness and such a goal motives us to
act towards or avoid things that could have
negative repercussions in our lives as such, by
fully knowing oneself a person will be able to
achieve happiness.
• He believed in dualism that aside from the physical
body (material substance), each person has an
immortal soul (immaterial substance).

• The Socratic Method, the so-called introspection, is

a method of carefully examining our thoughts and
emotions- to gain self-knowledge.
PLATO (428/427-348/347 BC)
• Plato was an Athenian philosopher during
the Classical period in Ancient Greece,
founder of the Platonist school of thought
and the Academy, the first institution of
higher learning in the Western world.
 PLATO
• He was greatly affected by Socrates’ death.
Socrates was Plato’s teacher. He believed that
the self is immortal and that it consists of 3
parts:
1. Reason
2. Physical Appetite
3. Spirit or Passion
Plato’s 3 Parts of the Immortal Self

• Reason- the divine essence that enables you

to think deeply, make wise choices, and
achieve an understanding of eternal truths.
Plato’s 3 Parts of the Immortal Self

• Physical Appetite- your basic biological

needs such as hunger, thirst, and sexual
desire.
Plato’s 3 Parts of the Immortal Self

• Spirit or Passion- your basic emotions

such as love, anger, ambition,
aggressiveness, and empathy.
 ST. AUGUSTINE (354-430)
• St. Augustine was the bishop of Hippo (now
Annaba, Algeria) from 396 to 430. A renowned
theologian and prolific writer, he was also a skilled
preacher and rhetorician. He is one of the Latin
Fathers of the Church and, in Roman Catholicism,
is formally recognized as a doctor of the church.
ST. AGUSTINE
• He was a great explorer in his youth
and young adulthood; he spent great
times with his friends and up to the
extent of fathering an illegitimate
child.
• His explorations led to his conversion to Christianity
wherein he spent the remainder of his day serving
the bishop of Hippo and writing books and letters
including his idea of the self.

• He thought of the body as the “slave” of the soul but

ultimately, regarded the body as the “spouse” of the
soul both attached to one another. He believed that
the body is united with the soul, so that man may be
entire and complete. His first principle was, “I doubt,
therefore I am.”
RENE DESCARTES 1596 - 1650
• René Descartes (1596–1650) was a creative
mathematician of the first order, an important
scientific thinker, and an original metaphysician.
During his life, he was a mathematician first, a
natural scientist or “natural philosopher” second,
and a metaphysician third.
• He was a devout Catholic who believed in immortal
souls and eternal life. By having the idea of both the
thinking self and the physical body, Descartes was
able to reconcile his being a scientist and a devout
Catholic.

• The self is a thinking thing, distinct from the body.

The thinking self or soul is nonmaterial, immortal,
conscious while the physical body is material, mortal,
non-thinking entity, fully governed by the physical
laws of nature.
 RENE DESCARTES
• René Descartes is most known
for his philosophical statement, “I think,
therefore I am” (originally in French, but
best known by its Latin translation:
"Cogito, ergo sum”).
 JOHN LOCKE (1634- 1704)
• John Locke was an English philosopher and
physician, widely regarded as one of the most
influential of Enlightenment thinkers and
commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism".
JOHN LOCKE (1634- 1704)
• He was known in his concept of TABULA
RASA. The self or personal identity is
constructed primarily from sense experiences
which shape and mold the self throughout a
person’s life.

• Personal Identity is made possible by SELF-

CONSCIOUSNESS. In order to discover the
nature of personal identity, you have to find out
what it means to be a person.
 DAVID HUME (1711- 1776)
• David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment
philosopher, historian, economist, librarian and
essayist, who is best known today for his highly
influential system of philosophical empiricism,
skepticism, and naturalism.
DAVID HUME (1711- 1776)
• For him, there is no “self” only a bundle of
perceptions passing through the theatre of
your minds.

• The mind is a theatre, a container for fleeting

sensations and disconnected ideas and your
reasoning ability is merely a slave to the
passions. Hence, personal identity is just a
result of imagination.
IMMANUEL KANT (1724- 1804)
• Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher
and one of the central Enlightenment
thinkers. Kant's comprehensive and
systematic works in epistemology,
metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics have
made him an influential figure in modern
Western philosophy.
 IMMANUEL KANT (1724- 1804)
• For Kant, the self is a product of reason
because the self regulates experience by
making unified experience possible.

• We construct the self. The self exists

independently of experience and the self
goes beyond experience.
SIGMUND FREUD (1856- 1939)
• Sigmund Freud, an Austrian Psychologist
and Physician, he is also known as the
“Father of Psychoanalysis” and is known for
his work on human nature and the unconscious.
SIGMUND FREUD (1856- 1939)
• The self is composed of three layers:
conscious, preconscious and
unconscious.
THREE LAYERS OF THE SELF:

• Conscious Mind- includes thoughts, feelings, and

actions that you are aware of.

• Preconscious Mind – mental activities that are

stored in your memory, not presently active but can
be accessed or recalled.
THREE LAYERS OF THE SELF:

• Unconscious Mind- includes activities that

you are not aware of.
GILBERT RYLE ( 1900- 1976)
• His father was a general practitioner but had a
keen interest in philosophy and astronomy that
he passed it on to his children. He graduated
with first class honors in the New Modern
Greats School Philosophy, Politic and
Economics.
GILBERT RYLE ( 1900- 1976)

• His concept of the self is provided in his

philosophical statement “I act therefore
I am”.

• He views the self as the way people

behave, which is composed of a set
of patterned behavior.
PAUL CHURCHLAND (1942)
• He became a professor at the University of
California where he later became the department
chair and member of the Cognitive Science of
Faculty, a member of the Institute for Neural
Computation. His membership to these
organizations prompted him dwell on the brain
as the self.
PAUL CHURCHLAND (1942)
• His concept, “the self is the
brain”. The self is inseparable from
the brain and physiological body
because the physical brain gives
the sense of self.
MAURICE MERLEAU- PONTY (1908- 1961)
• He won the school’s “Award for Outstanding
Achievement” in Philosophy it traced his
commitment to the vocation of Philosophy.
MAURICE MERLEAU- PONTY (1908- 1961)

• His concept, “the self has embodied

subjectivity” explained that all your
knowledge about yourself and the
world is based on your subjective
experience and everything that you are
aware of is contained in your
consciousness.
THANK YOU
