Understanding The Self from

Various Philosophical
Perspectives
Chenaye Gift Marie A. Mercado
Objectives:

 Able to explain the role of philosophy in understanding the concept

of the “self”
 Discuss the different philosophical perspectives about the “self”
 Differentiate the philosophical viewpoints about the “self”
WHO AM I?

 What do we even mean by the “self”?

 Are we souls, bodies, or fragments of someone else’s imagination?
 Are we just minds or a combination of mind and body?
 Will I survive bodily death or is it the end when my bodily self die?
 Am I a robot controlled by some entity?
PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy is often called the mother of all disciplines simply because all fields of study
began as philosophical discourses.
Philosophy employs the inquisitive mind to discover the ultimate causes, reasons, and
principles of everything. It goes beyond scientific investigation by exploring all areas of
knowledge such as religion, psychology, politics, physics and even medicine.
Hence, the etymological definition of philosophy, “love of wisdom” could pertain to the
desire for truth by formulating never ending questions to provide answers to every
inquiry about the nature of human existence.

The nature of the self is a topic of interest among philosophers.

Two Distinct Approaches of Philosophy

Empiricism
In empiricism, there is no such thing as innate knowledge; instead, knowledge is derived from
experience― either perceived with the five senses or processed with the brain.

Rationalism
It argues that there is innate knowledge.
Rationalism explains self from the standpoint of what is “ideal” and “true”, and not rooted in
what is felt by the senses or body. Conclusions are derived through logic and reasoning.
Through this, philosophers base their opinions and actions on reason and knowledge rather
than on religious belief or emotional response.
 Socrates
 He was one of the first philosophers who were concerned with
the problems of the self
 He believed in a Dualistic approach – every man is composed
of body and soul.
 Note: When we talk about soul it does not talk about the
religious definition of the soul. But for some philosophers it
may or may not have anything to do with religion. Some of
them think of soul as something that we cannot see.
 “An unexamined life is not worth living” –
 Socrates
 “One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.”
 Socrates
 There is a soul before the body, existing in the realm of ideas.
 Once the soul comes into the material world, he would forget
everything
 This knowledge is brought by the Socratic approach – teaching
by asking questions. You only need to ask the right questions
to be aware of the things that we are not able to answer before.
 That is why we do raise a lot of questions for you to think
deeply for you to analyze.
 Plato
 Student of Socrates
 Founded the Academy – and by common definition, in the
modern day, it is similar with our universities.
 Books:
1. The Republic - The Republic by Plato is a text that
describes the importance of being just in the world, and by
being just, one is happy. It is a text that describes an ideal
city and a way through which a just and philosophical
governance can create happiness.
2. Allegory of the Cave - Plato uses the cave as a symbolic
representation of how human beings live in the world,
contrasting reality versus our interpretation of it. These
two ideas reflect the two worlds in the story: the world inside
the cave, and the world outside
 Plato
 Theory: Dichotomy between ideal world and the material
world
 Ideal World (World of Forms) – this only exist in the world of
ideas. It’s not something we can see. The world we live today
is a replica of the real world.
 Material World – real world
 He said that the soul is the most divine aspect or the most
intellectual part of the person
 He says that sense experience fails to provide us with any
guarantee that what we experience is, in fact, true. The
information we get by relying on sense experience is
constantly changing and often unreliable.
 Three Components:
 Rational Soul – uses reason
 Spirited – neutral
 Appetitive – pursues desires
 St. Augustine
 Man is bifurcated by nature
 He also believed in a dichotomy
 Two aspects of a person:
 Imperfect
 Capable of reaching immortality
 St. Augustine
 Goal of the person: To attain communion with the divine or
to be able to be reunited with his creator. Hence, in order to do
that, one must live a good life.
 The world of materials is not our final home but only a
temporary one
 The real world is where God is
 St. Thomas Aquinas
 One of the doctor’s of the church
 Man is composed of Matter and form
 Matter (hyle) – common stuff that makes up everything.
 Our body, seatmates friends families.
 We are similar to animals in a way that we have a material
being (matter). But what makes us diff is that we have our own
form.
 Form (morpe) – essence of the living
 Even though have bodies, you are still different because you
have your own souls that makes the body move.
 Rene Descartes
 “I think, therefore, I am.” cogito ergo sum
 Father of Modern Philosophy
 Doubts the existence of his own physical body
 Hyperbolical doubt
 How can he prove that he exists?
 The mere fact that he can even think of these doubts is the
evidence that I exist.
 The ability to question things is proof that you exist
 Therefore he is a Rationalist because he bases his opinions
and actions on reason and knowledge rather than on religious
belief or emotional response.
 John Locke
 Our identity is not locked in the mind, body, and soul or body
only. What makes his theory unique is that he included the
concept of the person’s memory.
 When we are born, our mind is a blank slate or “tabula rasa”
 Identity is explained in terms of psychological connection
between life stages.
 This is why we become aware of ourselves when we learn
things by our own experiences.
 He is an empiricist because he believed that knowledge was
founded in empirical observation and experience.
 David Hume
 He’s influenced by Empiricism
 Known for his Bundle Theory – “all knowledge is derived
from the human senses”. Collection of impressions.
 Impressions – vivid, products of direct experience
 Ex:
 What you feel when you talk to your crush. Happiness.
 What you feel when you saw him with another person, anxiety,
confusion, pain.
 What you feel when watching anime or k-drama. “Kilig”
 In layman’s term, these are feelings or sensations.
 Ideas – copies of impressions, imagination
 Ex: How do you think it would feel if you see your ex in the
hallway?
 Sigmund Freud
 Father of Psychoanalysis
 Theory of the Unconscious
 Known for his Id, Ego, and Superego
 Believes that man is driven by Sex and Aggression/Death
(Eros and Thanatos)
 These drives are unconscious.
 Three provinces of the mind:
 Id – pleasure principle (nap, eat, party, drink) Ex: impulsive,
cannot wait, a baby
 Ego – reality principle (allows you to think about it or delay it)
 Superego – morality principle (you depend more on what society
think is acceptable, super righteous) Ex: does not enjoy life,
always follow the rules
Sigmund Freud
 Gilbert Ryle
 “I act, therefore I am”
 Argues that the mind does not exist and therefore can’t be the
seat of self
 Ryle believed that the self comes from behavior
 We are all just a bundle of behaviors
 So he denies the existence of the internal, non-physical self.
 This means that the SELF is not an entity one can locate
within our minds. But it is simply the one we call
“BEHAVIOR”.
 If you want to understand the self do not look for something
that cannot be seen. Check your behavior.
 In order for you to understand your self, you have to look at
what you’re doing in your day to day behavior
 Maurice Merleau-Ponty
 Denies the dualistic ideas
 The mind and the body cannot be separated
 What is experienced by the body enters the mind
 Immanuel Kant
 “Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”
 Idealist
 Everything depended on how individual interprets and
responds to his or her environment based on personal opinions
and feelings.
 The self emerges as a crystallized knowledge of one’s self and
others based on one’s recurring observations
 Paul Churchland
 The self emerges from empirical observation
 Beliefs, traditions, rituals, are not valid because they are not
anchored on neuroscientific explanations.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!