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The Self From Various Philosophical Perspectives

The document discusses representations of the self from various philosophical perspectives. It begins by covering views of the self in early Greek philosophy with Pre-Socratic philosophers questioning the basic essence of existence. It then outlines perspectives on the self from Socrates, Plato, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and into modern philosophy with Descartes, Hume, Kant, Merleau-Ponty, and Ryle, showing how conceptions of the self have developed and changed over time from comprising parts of the soul, mind and body, to being a bundle of perceptions or inseparable from the living body and world.

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rosana f.rodriguez
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329 views

The Self From Various Philosophical Perspectives

The document discusses representations of the self from various philosophical perspectives. It begins by covering views of the self in early Greek philosophy with Pre-Socratic philosophers questioning the basic essence of existence. It then outlines perspectives on the self from Socrates, Plato, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and into modern philosophy with Descartes, Hume, Kant, Merleau-Ponty, and Ryle, showing how conceptions of the self have developed and changed over time from comprising parts of the soul, mind and body, to being a bundle of perceptions or inseparable from the living body and world.

Uploaded by

rosana f.rodriguez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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the self from

various
philosophical
perspectives
topic 1: philosophy
Learning Outcome:

1. Discuss the different


representations and
conceptualizations of
the self from various
disciplinal perspectives

3
PHILOSOPHY
> It refers to the study of the basic essence of knowledge,
truth and life, in particular in academic discipline.
> It is somebody's idea of how to live or how to treat a
specific situation.
> It is an academic discipline concerned with investigating
the essence of the sense of ordinary and scientific beliefs –
investigates the validity of ideas through logical argument
in relation to their consequences, relationships as well as
truth, intelligence, moral judgment, etc.

4
PHILOSOPHY
> It is a great deal of philosophy concerned
with the basic essence of existence.
> The Greeks were those who strongly
challenged myths and moved away from
them in order to understand truth and
respond to persistent questions of interest,
including the question of existence.

5
PRE-SOCRATIC
The Pre-Socratics (Thales, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus,
Empedocles, etc.) were concerned with answering questions
such as…
> What is the world really made up of?
> Why is the world the way it is?
> What explains the changes that happen around us?
> Arché- origin or source/the “soul”/the primal matter
> The soul’s movement is the ultimate arché of all other
movement.
> Arché has no origin outside itself and cannot be destroyed.
> It explains the multiplicity of things in the world.
6
SOCRATES
> Concerned with the problem of the self
> “The true task of the philosopher is to know oneself.”
> “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
> Underwent a trial for ‘corrupting the minds of the youth’
> Succeeded in making people think about who they are
> The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to live but
die inside.”
> “Every person is dualistic.” Man = body + soul
> Individual = imperfect/permanent (body) + perfect &
permanent (soul)

7
PLATO
> 3 components to the soul
rational soul – reason &
intellect to govern affairs
spirited soul – emotions
should be kept at bay
appetitive soul – base
desires (food, drink, sleep,
sexual needs, etc.)
> When these are attained,
the human person’s soul
becomes just & virtuous.

8
ST. AUGUSTINE
> ‘Spirit of man’ in medieval philosophy
> Following view of Plato but adds
Christianity
> 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”
> (#lifegoals) 

9
THOMAS AQUINAS
> Man = matter + form • matter
(hyle) – “common stuff that
makes up everything in the
universe”
> Form (morphe) – “essence of a
substance or thing”; (what makes
it what it is)
> The body of the human is similar
to animals/objects, but what
makes a human is his essence.
> “The soul is what makes us
humans.”

10
MODERN
>2 PHILOSO
PHY

11
RENE DESCARTES
> Father of Modern Philosophy
> Human person = body + mind
> There is so much that we should doubt.”
> “If something is so clear and lucid as not to be doubted,
that’s the only time one should believe.”
> The only thing one can’t doubt is existence of the self.
> “I think, therefore I am.”
> The self = cogito (the thing that thinks) + extenza (extension
of mind/body)
> 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 .”

12
DAVID HUME
> Disagrees with the all the other aforementioned
philosophers
> “One can only know what comes from the
senses & experiences” (he is an empiricist).
> “The self is not an entity beyond the physical
body.”
> You know that other people are humans not
because you have seen their soul, but because
you see them, hear them, feel them, etc. “the self
is nothing but a bundle of impressions and
ideas.”
> Impression – - basic objects of our
experience/sensation - forms the core of our
thoughts.
> 13
DAVID HUME (cont..)
> Idea – - copies of impressions - not as “real” as impressions
> Self = a collection of different perceptions which rapidly succeed each
other
> Self = in a perpetual flux and movement
> We want to believe that there is a unified, coherent self, soul, mind, and etc.
but
actually it is all just a combination of experiences.

14
IMMANUEL KANT
> Agrees with HUME that everything starts with
perception/sensation of impressions.
> There is a MIND that regulates these impressions.
> “Time, space, etc. are ideas that one cannot find in
the world, but is built in our minds
> “Apparatus of the mind”
> The self organizes different impressions that one
gets in relation to his own Existence.
> We need active intelligence to synthesize all
knowledge and experience.
> The self is not only personality but also the seat of
knowledge.

15
MAURICE MERLEAU PONTY
> A phenomenologist who says
the mind- body bifurcation is
an invalid problem
> Mind and body are inseparable.
> “One’s body is his opening
toward his existence to the
world.”
> The living body, his thoughts,
emotions, and experiences are
all one.
> If you hate this subject,
Merleau-Ponty understands
you.

16
GILBERT RYLE
> Denies the internal, non-physical self
> “What truly matters is the behavior that
a person manifests in his day-to-day
life.”
> Looking for the self is like entering LU
and looking for the “university”
(explain!)
> The self is not an entity one can locate
and analyze but simply the convenient.
> Name that we use to refer to the
behaviors that we make.

17
Thank you for
listening!
Any questions?

18

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