Mahidlawon, Jane O.

BSCpE 1-7 February 8, 2020

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

NAME OF THE PHILOSOPHY ABOUT SELF CONRTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD

PHILOSOPHER

1. Socrates The philosophy of Socrates Philosophy, Ethics and Education

underlies in the importance of the He was one of the few Philosophers who
notion “knowing one self” for him, shaped reasoning and the culture of argument
men’s goal in life is to obtain (dessication), he famously known for his
happiness and such goal motivates method of inquiring knowledge cakled the
us to act towards or avoid things Socratic method (Dialectic method). We can
that could have negative also mention his contribution to moral
repercussions in our lives. As such, Philosophy, he gave a higher state for
by fully knowing oneself a person intellectual development that's why he said
will be able to achieve happiness. "an examined life is not a worth living".
Astronomy
His contribution to ancient astronomy was the
idea that the stars, sun, and moon were fixed
to concentric crystalline spheres, rotating
inside one another.

Plato believed in the division of a Plato's main contributions are in philosophy,

2. Plato person’s body and soul which mathematics and science.The reason for this is
forms the person as a whole aside that Plato wrote no systematic treatise giving
from the material things and that his views, rather he wrote about 30 dialogues
could be observed and associated written in the form of conversations. Through
with a person, Plato presented the these dialogues, Plato contributed to the
idea the ones’ soul is divided into 3 theory of art, in particular dance, music,
different parts that has different poetry, architecture, and drama. He discussed
views leading to different a whole range of philosophical topics including
behaviors, these parts of the soul ethics, metaphysics where topics such as
are known as the Appetitive, immortality, man, mind, and realism.
Spirited, and Rational Soul.

3. Emmanuel Kant Kant also made lasting contributions to nearly

According to him, we humans have all areas of philosophy. His aesthetic theory
both an inner and an outer self remains influential among art critics. His theory
which unify to give us of knowledge is required reading for many
consciousness. The inner self is branches of analytic philosophy. The
comprised of our psychological cosmopolitanism behind his political theory
state and our rational intellect. The colors discourse about globalization and
outer self includes our sense and international relations. And some of his
the physical world. scientific contributions are even considered
intellectual precursors to several ideas in
contemporary cosmology.
 John Locke was an English philosopher whose
4. John Locke works have had an enormous and profound
influence on western philosophy. He is
regarded as the founder of modern
John Locke holds that personal philosophical empiricism, a concept that the
identity is a matter of psychological human mind is a blank slate at birth and that
continuity. He considered personal knowledge is based on experience. Locke is
identity (or the self) to be founded also considered as the father of the political
on consciousness (viz. memory), philosophy called Liberalism, which is based on
and not on the substance of either the principle of liberty and equality. His other
the soul or the body. major contributions to philosophy include the
development of the influential social contract
theory. Apart from epistemology and political
philosophy, Locke also made significant
contributions to the fields of theology,
religious tolerance and educational theory.

His notion on the self contradicts

5. David Hume to the ideas of the philosophers
before him which said that at the
notion of self, one’s identity and
behaviour does not exceed the
physical realm and that the “Self” is The Scottish Philosopher David Hume, focused
only the accumulation of different his work in the field of Empiricism, Skepticism,
impressions. According to him, and naturalism. Being an Empiricist which
there is no permanent “self”, that believes in concrete evidences and observable
since our impressions of things experiences that meld a person.
based from our experiences and
from such impressions we can
create our ideas and knowledge
which leads to the argument that
since our impression and ideas
change.
René Descartes is widely regarded as the
6. Rene Descartes father of modern western philosophy. Apart
from other things, he wrote some of the most
influential works of modern philosophy which
Descartes believed this rather are still studied in universities across the world.
ethereal mind holds the seat of He also formulated theories, developed
consciousness. It's where we find concepts and made statements which became
our sentiments, our drive, our fundamental to Western philosophy. These
understanding, and our passions. In include his most famous statement: “I think,
short, all that we really are, or our therefore I am”. Apart from his work in
identity, comes from the mind. As philosophy, Descartes was a leading
Descartes so aptly put it, 'I think, mathematician and scientist. He invented the
therefore I am!. Cartesian coordinate system, developed
analytic geometry and laid the foundation for
the development of calculus. He also did
groundbreaking work in physics most
prominently in the field of optics.
 Gilbert Ryle with his Behavioristic Gilbert Ryle (1900 - 1976) was a 20th Century
7. Gilbert Ryle approach to self, said that self is British philosopher, mainly associated with the
the behaviour presented by the Ordinary Language Philosophy movement. He
person, his notion of dualism is had an enormous influence on the
that the behaviour that we development of 20th Century Analytic
show,emotions and actions are the Philosophy, particularly in the areas of
reflection of our mind and as such Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of
is the manifestation of who we are. Language.He was especially well-known for his
His explanation of self is further definitive critique of the Dualism of Descartes
exemplified in his “ghost in the (for which he coined the phrase "the ghost in
machine” view.This view said the the machine") and other traditional mind-body
man is a complex machine with theories. His form of Philosophical
different functioning parts, and Behaviourism (the belief that all mental
theintelligence, and other phenomena can be explained by reference to
characteristics or behaviour of man publicly observable behavior) became a
is represented by the ghostin the standard view for several decades.
said machine.

Freud believed that man has Sigmund Freud, an Austrian Psychologist and
8. Sigmund Freud different constructs of personality Physician, he is also known as the father of
that interacts with each other and psychoanalysis and is known for his work on
along with his concept of the human nature and the unconscious. His work
different levels of consciousness supported the belief that not all mental
provides an idea how a person illnesses have physiological causes and he also
develops a sense of self. Sigmund offered evidence that cultural differences have
Freud postulated there are three an impact on psychology and behavior. His
layers of self (Id, ego, superego). id work and writings contributed to our
is the first part of the self to understanding of personality, clinical
develop. It's the seat of all our psychology, human development, and
desires and wants. Ego is the part abnormal psychology.
of us that functions in reality. The
superego incorporates the values
and morals of society which are
learned from one's parents and
others.

Augustine's sense of self is his

9. Saint Augustine relation to God, both in his  Theory of time
recognition of God's love and his  Faith Seeking understanding
response to it—achieved through  Proof of the existence of God from
self-presentation, then self- uEternal Truths.
realization. Augustine believed one  Divine Illumination - Augustine
could not achieve inner peace developed an epistemology (theory of
without finding God's love. knowledge)
 Creation Ex Nihilo- Augustine argued
that God created ex nihilo (creation
"out of nothing")
 The Examined Self- Augustine was one
of the first to write in depth about the
self, particularly in relation to God.
 He has this idea that the “self” is
10. Paul defined by the movements of our
Churchland brain. Churchland’s work revolves
around challenging of the notion
and terms being used to explain
behavior or to explain how a Paul Churchland is a Canadian philosopher and
person feels, thinks, and act with author. He is known for Philosophical concept
regards to physiological of "eliminative materialism", He introduced the
phenomenon that is happening in concept of "eliminative materialism" in his
the body as well as definitions 1979 book, Scientific Realism and the Plasticity
brought about by emotions, this is of Mind. He further refined the idea in is 1981
one of the notion of the concept of paper Eliminative Materialism and the
Folk Psychology . The main Propositional Attitudes, at the University of
philosophy of Churhland built the Manitoba
idea of “eliminative materialism”,
opposes that people’s common
sense understanding of the mind is
false and that most of the mental
states that people subscribe to, in
turn,do not actually exist, this idea
also applies on the understanding
of behaviour and emotions.

His idea of the self, regarded that Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty is a
the body and mind are not French philosopher that is known forhis works
11. Maurice separate entities, but rather those on existentialism and phenomenology.
Merleau-Ponty two components is one and the Merleau-Ponty made significant contributions
same. His idea that follows the on a variety of topics, including behaviour,
gestalt ideation where the whole is perception, habit acquisition, language,
greater than thesum of its parts in expression, history and politics. His broader
which pushed his idea on the unity interests in the philosophical consequences of
of the function of the mind these descriptions led him to address many
andbody,this idea is called the classical philosophical problems (for example,
Phenomenology of Perception.The freedom, temporality, the relation of the soul
idea of Phenomenology of and body, ontology, etc.). Perhaps his most
Perception according to Merleau- lasting contribution was in directing
Ponty is dividedinto three (3) philosophical inquiry to the role of the lived
division, The Body, The Perceived body in the operative structures of meaning
World, and the People and the across all human experience.
world.