CHAPTER 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL SELF These courageous and spirited parts of the

Socrates soul are mortal, and they perish when we die.

Believed that self exists in two parts: What survives after we die is our soul, the
● Physical - tangible and mortal aspect rational part of our self (Corpuz, et. al., 2019).
of us that can be/is constantly
changing In Book IV of Plato’s Republic, the soul is the
● Soul - immortal “giver of life to the body, the permanent,
According to Socrates: changeless and divine element “as opposed to
“When we are alive, our body and soul are the changing, transitory, and perishable body.”
attached. When we die however, our body **This makes the self “a soul using the body.”
stays in the physical realm, while our soul **The body is just a shell of the soul.
travels to the ideal realm, thus making our
soul immortal.” According to Plato:
“Our life is a “continuous ascent towards the
“The true self is not to be identified with what world of ideas.”
we own, with our social status, with our ➔ Our life’s journey is a continuous
reputation, or even with our body. Instead, our striving to free our soul from its
true self is our soul.” imprisonment in the body.

“Ignorance is the beginning of wisdom.” ARISTOTLE

“Know thyself.” For ARISTOTLE, the self is composed of body
-Socrates and soul, mind and matter, sense and intellect,
• Our ignorance prods us to know ourselves, passion and reason.
our power, and limitations.
• To know ourselves means to acquire true Reason is supreme in a human person and
knowledge of ourselves, which is practical so should govern all of life’s activities.
knowledge. *When the senses, the lower nature of a
human nature of a human person, dominate a
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” human person’s life, he/she tends to live a
-Socrates chaotic life.
• An examining, a thinking, and an *When reason rules over the senses, mind
investigating self is what the self essentially is. over matter, the human person tends to live a
happy life.
PLATO
Unlike Socrates and Plato, Aristotle put
For PLATO, the self is an “immortal soul in a emphasis on reason and does not neglect the
mortal perishable body.” development of a human person’s physical,
The soul has a tripartite nature. economic, and social powers. Furthermore, he
a. a soul or an immortal rational part believed that human happiness comes from
which existed before it became part of the harmonious development of the whole
the body; self.
b. a courageous or “spirited” part Perfection and happiness come from wisdom
c. an appetitive part and virtue.
 Wisdom is true ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
knowledge.
Like Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas proclaimed
Virtue is doing the supremacy of the reason in human person.
what’s best for
you. ● A human person can know the truth
with certainty by the use of his reason.
GOLDEN MEAN THEORY ( Aristotle)
However, he stressed that there are some
“means moderation; avoid the extremes; truths which cannot be known through reason
avoid too much and too little” alone, and which can be perceived only with
➔ Living a life in moderation is doing the aid of the light of divine revelation.
things in consonance with reason.
Those known through reason and those from
Divine Revelation can never contradict each
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHERS other.
ST. AUGUSTINE
Both emanate from the same source, God,
St. Augustine combined Greek philosophy and who is TRUTH Himself.
truths contained in the Scriptures. Like Aristotle, Aquinas taught that man’s
The self is made up of a body and soul, longing for happiness on earth comes with the
“a soul in possession of a body” full development of man’s powers.
which “does not constitute two persons but
But Aquinas pointed to a higher form of
one man.”
human’s perfection beyond this life because of
Unlike the ancient Greek philosophers, St.
the immortality of the human soul – found in
Augustine’s concept of self is in the context of
God alone.
his relation to God.
In this sense, St. Thomas Aquinas was like St.
❖ Every human person is created into the Augustine who taught about the human soul
image and likeness of God. that is restless and imperfect until it rests in
God.
❖ Every human person is made for God.
❖ It is only upon his/her recognition of
God’s love and his/her response to the
invitation to love that he/she finds
inner peace.

Happiness is the end-all and the be-all of

human living and this happiness can be found
in God alone.
 THE SELF ACCORDING TO MODERN inner self and the outer self. The fact that we
are human has value in itself.
PHILOSOPHERS
RENE DESCARTE “Act only according to that maxim by which
you can at the same time that will that it
should become a natural law."
He is a French philosopher, mathematician,
and is considered the Father of Modern ➔ This simply means that if you do an
Philosophy action, then everyone else should also
be able to do it.
For him, the act of thinking about self - being
➔ Example: If a person cheats then the
self conscious is in itself proof that there is a
other can cheat too.
self
“Act so as to treat people as ends in
“I think, therefore, I am.”
themselves never as mere means”
Cogito, ergo sum
- Immanuel Kant
- Rene Descartes
THE SELF ACCORDING TO
JOHN LOCKE CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHERS
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
He was an English Philosopher and Physician

Father of Liberalism Unlike Plato and other philosophers who look

at the body as a mere tool in the service of the
Tabula Rasa mind or spirit, the self, according to Maurice
He felt that the self, or personal identity is Merleau-Ponty, is an inextricable union
constructed primarily from sense experiences. between mind and body. For Merleau- Ponty,
there is no experience that is not an embodied
Consciousness is what makes possible our experience. Corpuz, et al (2019) assert that
belief, is that we are the identity in different
situations "Everything that we experience in this world -
experiences of joy, sadness, love, remorse -
“Freedom of individuals to author their own happens with our bodies. There is never a
soul” moment in which we are separated from our
- John Locke bodies as if it is a clothing that we can shed
off."
IMMANUEL KANT
With Merleau-Ponty, it is clear that "the mind
and the body w are so intertwined that we
According to Kant, a human person has an cannot even distinguish where the work of the
inner and an outer self which, together, form mind ends and where the work of the body
his/her consciousness. The inner self consists begins. Bodily knowledge shows that the body
of his/her psychological state and rational is also intelligent. Conversely, the mind is not
intellect. The outer self is a human person's pure spirit, detached from the material world
senses and the physical world. through its cognitive activity. The mind always
thinks in an embodied way." (Corpuz, et al,
Like St. Augustine, ant sees the self as prone
2019).
to corruption. Life is a constant struggle
between beauty and pleasure, between the
 GILBERT RYLE PAUL CHURCHLAND

Ryle believes that ● the self is inseparable from the brain

and the physiology of the body
"the workings of the mind are not distinct from
● if there is no brain, there is no self
the actions of the body but are one and the
● the physical brain and not the
same.”
imaginary mind is what gives us our
The mind is a set of capacities and abilities sense of self
belonging to the body. The mind is a
Churchland adheres to materialism, the belief
mysterious entity that controls the mechanical
that nothing except matter exists. If a thing
workings of the body.
can't be recognized by the senses then it is not
The mind should not be viewed as an real. Churchland asserts that since the mind
additional mysterious thing that is subjected can't be experienced by our senses, then the
to observation or to mechanical laws. Rather, mind doesn't really exist. It is the physical
the mind should be seen as the form or brain and not the mind that gives us our sense
organizing principle of the body. of self.

Another teaching of Ryle that relates to

understanding and developing your self is the
Churchland defends his eliminative
distinction among knowing how (technical
materialism.
ability), knowing that (facts and propositions),
sam and knowing what. (acquaintance with "First, why should we believe in a mind when
things and persons). science is proving that mental health is
connected to the physical brain? For instance
Ryle asserts that knowing that (some fact) is
depression is strongly linked to brain chemicals
empty intellectualism without knowing how to
gone wrong. Yes some people still say things
make use of the fact. Effective possession of a
like, 'She's lost her mind.' However
piece of knowledge (museum possession of
neuroscience says, "No, it's a physical problem
knowledge) involves knowing how to use that
and we aim to fix it!"
knowledge, when required, for the solution of
other theoretical or practical problems For Churchland, decision-making and moral
(workshop-possession of knowledge) behavior are biological phenomena. Human
behavior must be explained rather by a
mature cognitive neuroscience. Human
behavior must be explained materially in
terms of "recurrent neural network." Thus
Churchland speaks of a neuro-conscience.
 THE SELF FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL others and understand the "generalized
other." This leads them to consider both
PERSPECTIVE
personal beliefs and societal expectations
SOCIALIZATION
when acting.

Mead (1967) talks about our personality as the

Sociology
"I" and the "me." The "I" is the natural,
The study of human behavior. Sociology refers existential aspect of the self. The "me" "is the
to social behavior, society, patterns of social socialized "me" or the "cultured self."
relationships, social interaction, and culture
CHARLES COOLEY (1864-1929)
that surrounds everyday life.

Socialization
Charles Cooley explains how we develop our
is the whole and lifetime process by which sense of self or self-image by his looking-glass
people learn the values, attitudes and self theory. Based on this theory, we learn to
behaviors that are appropriate and expected view ourselves as we think others view us. This
by their culture and community. It the process is Cooley's looking-glass self. According to
of internalizing the norms of society which Cooley, there are three steps in the formation
influence. one's beliefs, actions and behavior. of the looking glass self:
The process of socialization helps shape a
1. We imagine how we appear to others.
person's image.
2. We imagine how others judge our
GEORGE HRBERT MEAD
appearance.

3. We develop feelings about and responses to

According to sociologist George Herbert Mead,
these judgments. (Brinker hoof, D. & White, L.
the self is not present at birth and is not
K., 1989).
determined by innate biological traits. Instead,
the self evolves and develops through social For Example:
experiences and interactions.
An instructor whose students openly talk to
It is not a pre-existing entity but emerges as one another or doze during class is likely to
individuals engage with their social develop the concept that her students think
environment and interact with others. In she is a bad instructor. She does not need,
essence, the self is formed through one's however, to accept this view of herself. The
interactions within society and is an ongoing. third stage in the formation of the
evolving process. looking-glass self is the instructor may accept
the students' judgment and conclude that he
Our self-concept is formed through social
is a bad instructor or reject their judgment and
interactions, particularly by observing and
conclude that the students are simply not
engaging with how others perceive us.
smart enough.
"Significant others," like parents and teachers,
have a strong influence, but this impact is
limited to specific life stages.

Young children focus on their own world and

are less concerned about others' opinions. As
they grow and become more socialized, they
start caring about how they are perceived by