Critical Analysis

Critical Analysis: Understanding the Self
In philosophy, “self- knowledge” standardly denotes to knowledge of one’s personal mental states-
that is, of what one is feeling or rational, or what one be certain of and desires. Since Socrates, most
philosophers have believed that self- knowledge distinctly differs from our knowledge of the peripheral
world. But there is diminutive agreement about what accurately extricates self- knowledge from
knowledge in other realms. Partly because of this divergence, philosophers have sanctioned competing
accounts of how we achieve self- knowledge and of its epistemic status.
As what I have gain knowledge and understood, each one of us should be able to possess a
conscious mind in order to know of what is morality. In accordance to Socrates, “An examined life is not
worth living”. The key to understanding Socrate’s concept of the self is through philosopher’s take on the
soul. But Socrate’s concept of the soul should not be viewed from the vantage point of Christianity,
wherein, a religious conception of the soul. With this belief as soul as thinking and willing subject, it is safe
to assume that the soul for Socrates is the intellectual and moral personality of humans. Socrates said that
the soul is the essence of the human person, he meant that it is the essence of humans to think and will.
For this conception, the soul or the self is the responsible agent in knowing and acting rightly or wrongly.
The soul is the seat of knowledge and ignorance of goodness and badness. Socrates explained that
as the seat of knowledge and ignorance, of goodness and badness, the soul is the essence the human
person. In other words, the soul is the person’s true self. However, if knowing what is right is doing what
is right, what about the concept of evil? As Socrates’s concept about soul, he seems to think that humans
were angels, that once they know the right thing to do, they act accordingly. However, for Socrates, those
who commit evil acts are ignorant of the truth. They are ignorant in the sense that they don’t have an
immediate realization of the “Good”. Thus, examining one’s self is the most important task one can
undertake, for it alone will give her the knowledge necessary to answer the question, “How one ought to
live her life”. So as the famous Socratic dictum, “Knowing what is right is doing what is right” means that
once the person knows him/her “Self”, she may then learn how to care of it.
In pre- Socratic era, Plato saw the self as made up of rational, spirited and appetitive parts. He
argued for the dominance of rationality, with spirited and appetitive aspects in support, stressing self-
knowledge for harmony and moral integrity, essential for having a good life. In accordance to Plato, he
stated that the soul of man is immortal and imperishable. It takes nothing with his/ her to the next world
but her education and her culture. At the beginning of the journey to the next world, each person will
state what he has become through education and culture.
According to Plato’s theory, your soul consists of three parts: the logical, the spirited, and the
appetitive. The logical part, which includes reason, should ideally govern the soul with wisdom, striving
for truth and good in life. The spirited part involves your emotions and desires, which must align with the
reason to ensure a virtuous character. Lastly, the appetitive aspect drives the basic needs and desires, and
it needs to be regulated by reason to support a balanced life.
During modern philosophy, many philosophers have strengthened their theories and philosophies
as they understand the self. With regards on this, Rene Descartes, founder of Modern Philosophy,
profoundly insightful as such thinkers as Socrates and Plato were regarding the nature of the self. In
addition, Descartes brought an entirely new- and thoroughly modern- modern perspective to philosophy
in general and the self in particular. He begins his philosophical view of understanding the self as he starts
to quest for true knowledge that leads to his famous first principle, “Cogito, ergo sum- I think, therefore I
am”. It leads to his theory of knowledge that no rational person will doubt his or her own existence as a
conscious, thinking entity- while we are aware of thinking about our self. Therefore, the essence of this
philosophical view is because of being aware and having possibility to be conscious in integral way by
having personal identity. Conversely, it would be impossible to be self- conscious if we didn’t have a
personal identity. In other words, having a self- identity and self- conscious are mutually dependent to one
another based on the philosophical view of Rene Descartes.
There are many philosophers who gives an idea on how we understand ourselves based on their
philosophical view. However, there are many beliefs and ideas coming from other aspects that would lead
people being confused in understanding the self, by stating their arguments and giving insights to other
aspects as how they understand the state of being the self. Therefore, it is widely spread and should be
explore to understand more clearly and give ideas about ourselves.

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Critical Analysis: Understanding the Self

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