Philosophical Perspective of The Self

TOPIC 1:
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
 Explain why it is important to understand the self;
 Describe the different concepts of the self from various philosophers
across time and space; and
 Compare and contrast how the self has been represented in different
philosophical schools.
TEACHING-LEARNING ACTIVITY (LESSON PROPER):

INTRODUCTION
A meaningful life is one that is lived with others; where there is fulfillment,
happiness, continuous desire to be good not only to one’s self but with other
human beings too. What we have and who we are is with the assistance of
the many significant others in our life.
We search for meaning as we age. We always want to understand
what is happening around. We try to question events which are not clear to
us. Curiosity plays a great role in harnessing the inquisitive mind. Sometimes
answers to our queries are not readily available, hence we continue to
explore.
While others may respond to us, we do not always settle for the
information that they provide. We try to think and find the answers to our
questions by talking to ourselves, by inwardly focusing on what our minds think
of – these are signs that we are aiming to understand things by understanding
what we have and who we are.
Understanding the self is a key to a meaningful and successful life. Self-
identity is something that we discover by way of putting our experiences
together and finally deciding the kind of person we want to be. If we do not
attempt to know ourselves, how would life be and who shall we become? As
Erik Erikson puts it “In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling
of being alive without a sense of identity.”
What is Philosophy?
- From the Greek words: “Philos” and “Sophia” meaning: Love for
Wisdom
- PHILOSOPHY - study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality,
and existence, especially in an academic discipline. - a particular
theory that someone has about how to live or how to deal with a
particular situation.
- PHILOSOPHY - academic discipline concerned with investigating the
nature of significance of ordinary and scientific beliefs - investigates the
legitimacy of concepts by rational argument concerning their
implications, relationships as well as reality, knowledge, moral
judgment, etc.
Why is it essential to understand the ancient philosophical perspectives about

self?
 It was the Greeks who seriously questioned myths and moved away
from them in attempting to understand reality and respond to
perennial questions of curiosity, including the question of self.
 The different perspectives and views on the self can be best seen and
understood then by revisiting its prime movers and identify the most
important conjectures made by philosophers from the ancient times to
the contemporary period
The following are discussions of different perspectives and understandings of
the self-according to its prime movers. From philosophers of the ancient times
to the contemporary period
Philosopher Key Concepts of the Self
THE PRE- The Pre-Socratics were concerned with answering questions
SOCRATICS such as
AKA: First  What is the world really made up of?
Philosophers  Why is the world the way it is?
(Thales,  What explains the changes that happen around us?
Anaximander,  arché- origin or source/the “soul”/the primal matter
Heraclitus,  the soul’s movement is the ultimate arché of all other
Parmenides, movement
Pythagoras,  arché has no origin outside itself and cannot be
Empedocles, destroyed
Anaxagoras,  explains the multiplicity of things in the world
Democritus)
Socrates
(470BC-399BC)  Concerned with the problem of the self
 Renowned  “the true task of the philosopher is to know
Greek Teacher oneself”
 The father of  “the unexamined life is not worth living”
Western
Philosophy  underwent a trial for ‘corrupting the minds of the youth’
 succeeded made 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)
Plato
(428/427 or  3 components to the soul/ Psyche
424/423-348/347  Rational soul – reason & intellect to govern
BC) 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
Philosophical Question: What happens to a person whose 3

Components of the Soul are imbalanced?
Aristotle  The body and the soul are not two separate elements
(384-322 BC) but are one thing.
 The Soul is that which makes a person a person; it is
the essence of the self.
 3 Kinds of Soul
 The Vegetative
 The Sentient
 The Rational
 The intellect that makes man become
aware/knowledgeable as well as understanding of
things around him.
 The Rational nature of the self is to lead a good,
flourishing, and fulfilling life.
Augustine & - (ST.) AUGUSTINE

Thomas Aquinas  ‘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”
Philosophical Question: DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE CONCEPT

OF THE SOUL COMING TO HEAVEN AFTER DEATH?
- (ST) 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”
Philosophical Question: WHAT MAKES US PEOPLE

DIFFERENT FROM ANIMALS?
Rene Descartes  human person = body + mind
(March 31, 1596-  “there is so much that we should doubt” the
February 11, 1650) process of understanding the self through
“Methodical Doubt.”
Father of MODERN  “if something is so clear and lucid as not to be
PHILOSOPHY 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.”
Philosophical Question: DO YOU AGREE WITH THE

STATEMENTS ABOUT THE SELF (body & soul) SO FAR?
WHAT SEEMS TO BE QUESTIONNABLE IN THEIR
CONJECTURES?
David Hume
(April 26, 1711-  disagrees with the all the other aforementioned
August 25, 1776) 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
 idea – copies of impressions - not as “real” as
impressions – “feeling mo lang yun!”
 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, etc.
but ~~actually~~ it is all just a combination of
experiences.
Immanuel Kant
(April 22, 1724-  agrees with HUME that everything starts with
February 12, 1804) 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
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 a university
and looking for the “university”
 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
 “I act therefore, I Am”
 You are what you do”
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.
REFERENCES:
Psychology Department. (2019). Understanding the self. Unpublished.
Taag, G. C., Cuyan, A. S., Awingan, W. A., Balinggan, G. T., Carrera, W.

D., & Perez, E. N. Understanding the self. Revised edition.
Meycauayan City: IPM Publishing, c2019.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2018, Feb 01). Pre-Socratics.

Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/pre-Socratics

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TOPIC 1:

PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

TEACHING-LEARNING ACTIVITY (LESSON PROPER):

Why is it essential to understand the ancient philosophical perspectives about

 when these are attained, the human person’s soul

Philosophical Question: What happens to a person whose 3

Augustine & - (ST.) AUGUSTINE

Philosophical Question: DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE CONCEPT

- (ST) THOMAS AQUINAS

Philosophical Question: WHAT MAKES US PEOPLE

Philosophical Question: DO YOU AGREE WITH THE

 “the self is nothing but a bundle of impressions

 self = a collection of different perceptions which

Taag, G. C., Cuyan, A. S., Awingan, W. A., Balinggan, G. T., Carrera, W.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2018, Feb 01). Pre-Socratics.

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