PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW OF

THE SELF
Lesson Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you are expected to:

1. Discuss the different representations and

conceptualizations of the self from different
perspective.
2. Examine the different influences, factors and forces
that shapes the self-thru different aspects.
3. Demonstrate critical and reflective thoughts in
analyzing the development of oneself and identity by
developing a theory of the self.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
Pre-assessment Activity

How are you today?

What is your philosophy in life?

How you will spend your Christmas vacation?

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
If a tree falls in the forest and no one
is there, does it still make a sound?

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
What is Philosophy?
Philosophy” came from two Greek words:
 Philo which means “to love”
 Sophia which means “wisdom”
Philosophy originally meant “love of wisdom.”
Philosophy is also defined as the science that by natural light of
reason studies the first causes or highest principles of all things.
 Science
 It is an organized body of knowledge.
 It is systematic.
 It follows certain steps or employs certain procedures.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
In a very broad sense, there are six major branches of Philosophy

1. Metaphysics – the study of the universe and reality

2. Logic – how to create a valid argument
1. Epistemology – the study of knowledge and how acquire knowledge.
3. Aesthetics – the study of art and beauty.
4. Politics – the study of political rights, government, and the role of the
citizens.
5. Ethics – the study of morality and how one should live his life.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 “The only true wisdom is in knowing
you know nothing”
Socrates

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 • Know Thyself
Socrates • Question Everything
• Only the Pursuit of Goodness
“An unexamined Bring Happiness
life is not worth • Socratic Method: Question and
living” Answer;
• Leads us to think for ourselves.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 “The first and greatest victory is to
conquer yourself”
Plato

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 Tripartite Soul
Plato
• The Rational part desires to exert reason
and attain rational decisions (RULING
“For a man to CLASS)
conquer himself is
the first and • The Spirited part desires supreme honor
noblest of all (MILITARY CLASS)
victories” • The Appetite part of the soul desires bodily
pleasures such as food, drink, sex, etc.
(COMMONER)

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 Plato
According to Plato, man was omniscient
before he came to be born to this world.
“For a man to With his separation from the paradise of
conquer himself is truth and knowledge and his long exile on
the first and earth, he forgot most of the knowledge he
noblest of all had.
victories”

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 Plato

“For a man to However, by constant remembering

through contemplation and doing good, he
conquer himself is
can regain his former perfections.
the first and
noblest of all
victories”

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all
wisdom”
Aristotle

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 • Contributed the foundation of both symbolic
Aristotle logic and scientific thinking

“Happiness depends • The best way to gain knowledge was through

“natural philosophy,” which is what we would
in ourselves”
now call science.

• Happiness, which is dependent in an

individual’s virtues, is the central purpose of
human life and a goal in itself.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 “The truth is like a lion. You don’t have
to defend it. Let it lose. It will defend
itself.
St. Augustine

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 • An important figure in the development of Western
Christianity
St. Augustine
• His philosophy of man brings together wisdom of the
Greek philosophy and the divine truths contained in
“Do unto others, the scripture.
what you want
• The absolute and immutable is the Living God, the
others do unto you” Creator of the entire universe.

• To love God means to love one’s fellowmen, and to

love one’s fellowmen means never to do any harm to
another.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 “I doubt therefore I think, I think
therefore I am”
René Descartes

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
René Descartes • The Self is defined as a subject that thinks.

• The self that has full competence in the powers of

“The fact that I am human reason.
doubting, cannot be
• Having distanced the self from all sources of truth
anymore open to from authority and tradition, the self can only find
doubt” its truth and authenticity within its own capacity to
think.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 “No man’s knowledge here can go
beyond his experience”
John Locke

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 • Personal identity is a matter of psychological
John Locke continuity.

• Personal identity (or the self) is founded on

“Our concept of consciousness.
personal identity
• Identity over time is fixed by awareness of the past.
must derive from
inner experience” • Locke posits an “empty” mind, a tabula rasa, which is
shaped by experience, and sensations and reflections
being the two sources of all our ideas.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 “A wise man proportion his
belief to the evidence.”
David Hume

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
David Hume
• He rejects the notion of identity over time.

“The self is a • There are no “persons” that continue to exist over

time, there are merely impressions.
bundle of
impressions” • The things you are thinking about towards yourself
are individual impressions or perceptions of towards
you.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 “To be is to do.”

Immanuel Kant

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 • Consciousness is the central feature of the self.
Immanuel Kant
• The consciousness is divided into:

“Rule for Happiness: 1. Internal Self - composed of psychological states

Something to do, and informed decisions; remembering our own
state, how can we combine the new and old
someone to love, ideas with our mind.
something to hope for.” - Self-is memory and Imagination .

2. External Self - made up of ourselves and the

physical world where the representation of objects

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 “The child is the father of the man”

Sigmund Freud

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
Sigmund Freud • The self continues from childhood to
adulthood.
• Personality is determined by childhood
“Out of your experiences.
vulnerabilities will • Personality is largely unconscious.
come your strength”
• Structure of the Self
• Id: animalistic self; pleasure principle
• Ego: executive self; reality principle
• Superego: conscience; morality principle

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 I made it, and so I am.

Gilbert Ryle

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 • Rejects the theory that mental states are separable
from physical states.
Gilbert Ryle • He argued that philosophers do not need a "hidden"
principle to explain the supra-mechanical capacities of
humans, because the workings of the mind are not
“In search for the distinct from the actions of the body, but are one and
self, one cannot be the same.
• His form of Philosophical Behaviorism (the belief that
simultaneously be all mental phenomena can be explained by reference
the hunter and the to publicly observable behavior) became a standard
hunted.” view for several decades.
• He concluded that adequate descriptions of human
behavior need never refer to anything but the
operations of human bodies.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 “The body is to be compared, not to a
physical object, but rather to a work of
art.”
Maurice Merleau-Ponty

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
MAURICE PONTY • His work is commonly associated with the
philosophical movement called existentialism
and its intention to begin with an analysis of
“We know not the concrete experiences, perceptions, and
through our difficulties, of human existence.
intellect but
• Our perception of the self is a collection of our
through our perceptions of our outside world.
experience.”

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 Thank you End of discussion

QUESTIONS?
for listening

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
Reference/s:
• Gazinggan, L.B, Porillo, J.E, Velasco, V.V, Villaluz, et al., (2018).
Understanding the Self. Panday-Lahi Publishing House, Sucat,
Muntinlupa City.

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The truth is, once you learn how to

die, you learn how to live.”

― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with

Morrie

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self
 MOVIE RECOMMENDATION

We accept the reality of

the world with which we’re
presented. It’s as simple
as that. - Christof

BS Psychology
GEUTS01X - Understanding the Self