Carl Jaspers

 Karl Jaspers’ Idea of the self
Swiss-German philosopher Karl Jaspers, the idea of being oneself signified for
Jaspers the potentiality to realize one’s freedom of the individual as the subject
who thinks and exist and to focus on man’s existence as the center of all reality.
For Jaspers man’s existence meant not mere being in the world but rather man’s
freedom of being. Also believed that man is often confronted by experiences
which challenge his ideas and framework.
 Socrates’ Idea of the self

Socrates ( 470 BCE to 399 BCE), was a Greek philosopher and was considered
the foremost philosopher of ancient times. He made great contributions to the field of
ethics. Socrates was a known critic on intellectuals during his time, but he himself did not
claim to be “ wise” and merely considered himself a “ midwife” that helped inquiring
minds achieve wisdom. Socrates believed that the “self” exist in two parts. One part is the
physical, tangible aspect of us. This is part that is mortal and can be/is constantly
changing. Earth also belongs to this physical realm that our bodies belong in, because just
as us in terms of physicality, the Earth is constantly being modified. The second part is
the soul, which be believed to be immortal. The soul is the part that is unvarying across
all realms ( it is unchanging while it is attached to your body and thus in the physical
realm, but is also unmodified once you die and your soul leaves the body to travel to the
ideal realm). Socrates believed that when we are in the physical realm, we are alive and
our body and soul are attached, therefore making both parts of our “self” present in the
physical realm. When we die however, our body stays in the physical realm while our
soul travels to the ideal realm, therefore making our soul immortal.
 Plato’s idea of the soul

Plato, a student of Socrates, his ideas about the soul is that, Man is his soul. Soul
is the essence of man’s humanity and the source of all his activities. He uses the
following metaphor: The soul is the charioteer of the two-winged horses. One is
sensible and flies high to the heavens to reach the light of truth and goodness. The
other comes from a bad breed and because of neglect and sinfulness, had lost his
wings and fallen to earth to assume human form. Plato defines the soul as a
simple, pure, unorganized, uncompounded, invisible, rational entity. He added
that the soul is simple in its true nature and cannot be composed of many
elements, that the soul is pure in its original, divine state and that any impurity in
the soul is from its contact with the earth. The soul is not visible, only to mind. It
is rational, for it is that which true knowledge is concerned. He describes the soul
as divine intelligence nurtured upon true knowledge and also pre-existent.
Supreme and self-moving.
 Augustine’s I thou relationship

St. Augustine , also called Saint Augustine of Hippo, has a total
confidence in this I-thou relationship with his Creator. His relationship with the I-
thou of Jesus is transparent to the I-Thou he has with the Creator. The quality of
these ultimate relationships spreads into colors all his everyday relationships. His
Thou is good, trustworthy, patient, and wise and it is available everywhere and
with everyone. Augustine assumes that God knows us better and more deeply
than we know ourselves, and this knowledge gives us courage to face the
unknown within ourselves and in God. Augustine often compares his paltry
knowledge of himself with what God knows about him. There is no comparison.
 Aquinas’ matter and form

St. Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar and priest, an influential
philosopher and theologian. As a Doctor of the church. Every individual thing in
the world except minds is a union of from with at least “local matter” [matter for
locomotion, matter for alteration, for change of size, for coming into being and
passing away]. But still more attenuated kind of matter may be distinguished by
thought though it never exists without “ sensible matter”. Metaphysics is taken by
him to be study of being qua being, that is a study of the most fundamental
aspects of being that constitute a being and without which it could not be.
According to him, matter would be that it is the stuff out of which a thing is made,
whereas form is signified by the organization that the matter takes. Form is what
gives matter its shape and makes it a particular statue.
 David Hume’s idea of the self
David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment Philosopher. To Hume, the self is “ that
to which our several impressions and ideas are supposed to have a reference… this means
that the self is nothing over and above a constantly varying bundle of experience. If any
impression gives rise to the idea of self, that impression must continue invariably the same
through the whole course of lives, since self is supposed to exist after that manner. For
Hume, there is no such thing as a “ self”. Self is just an illusion. Plato and Descartes and
other philosophers , the term soul or mind refers the substance but for Hume, if we possess
this substance, then we must have an impression of it. However, for Hume, we do not, and
cannot, have an impression of such idea. Therefore, the term soul, mind or self is one of
those meaningless words that we utter.
 Immanuel Kant’s Idea of the self

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment
thinkers. According to Kant, we all have an inner and outer self which together from our
consciousness. The inner self is comprised of our psychological state and our rational
intellect. The outer self includes our sense and the physical world. When speaking of the
inner self, there is apperception. According to Kant, self serves only as the foundation of the
moral theory. The human person as an rational moral agent is the sole basis in determining
the truth of categorical imperative. Indeed! Behind the formal ethical facade of Kant’s
categorical imperative is the attempt of the human person to achieve moral perfection.
According to Kant, the Human person has a two-fold nature namely: homo noumenon- refers
to the essence of things while homo phenomenon - refers to the things as it appears to the
observer. He added the two aspects of noumenal : free choice and will. Thus, the human
person as a rational being must also consider her “ self” as belonging to the intelligible world
if she hopes to attain perfection. This is where the categorical imperative comes in.
 Ryle’s Idea of the self
“ I act therefore I am” Arguing that the mind does not exist and therefore can’t be the
seat of self. Ryle believed that self comes from behavior. We’re all just a bundle of behaviors
caused by the physical workings of the body.

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 Karl Jaspers’ Idea of the self

 Socrates’ Idea of the self

 Plato’s idea of the soul

 Augustine’s I thou relationship

 Aquinas’ matter and form

 Immanuel Kant’s Idea of the self

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