PHILOSOPHICAL SELF

What do you hope to learn? These monolithic figures from

Easter Island suggest the contemplative nature of
philosophy, which can help you grapple with the big
questions of life.
• Studying philosophy will help you develop the
understanding and insight you will need to
make intelligent choices and fulfill your
potential as an individual. To use a metaphor,
you are an artist, creating your life portrait,
and your paints and brush- strokes are the
choices you make each day.
• How do you feel about the portrait you have
created so far? Have you defined yourself as
the person you always wanted to be, or are
you a “work in progress”? Are you achieving
your full potential as a human being, “actively
exercising your soul’s powers”—
 what is philosophy ?
• Wonder

• “All philosophy has its origins in wonder” —Plato

• A Dynamic Process

• “The beginning of philosophy is

. . . the conflict between opinions” —Epictitus
• Wisdom

• “Philosophy is simply the love of wisdom” —Cicero

• Truth

• “Philosophy is the science that considers the truth” —

Socrates
• Socrates probably came closest to capturing
the essence of philosophy when he issued a
startling challenge that has reverberated
through the centuries:
• “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

• The ability to reflect on one’s life and one’s

self is a distinctly human ability.
• Psyche-soul; one’s central identity makes one
unique. It is where one’s thoughts, wishes,
dreams and aspirations are generated.
• The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates was
convinced that we have a moral obligation to achieve
our full human potential, “actively exercising our soul’s
powers. When we live our lives unreflectively, not
actively exploring deeper questions such as “Who am
I?” and “What is the meaning of my life?” then our lives
have diminished value.
• Philosophy provides us with the intellectual tools to
reflect with clarity and discipline, to critically evaluate
the choices we have made, and to use this knowledge
to make more enlightened choices in the future.
• The stakes are high: If we fail to make use of this
unique ability to think philosophically about ourselves,
then, according to Socrates, our lives have diminished
potential.
• Socrates believed that his special wisdom consisted in his ability to
stimulate and guide others in the philosophical exploration of
profound questions, enabling them to “give birth” to their own
understanding. (profession of the parents)
• For Socrates, the central concern of philosophy is the psyche, the
“true self” or “soul.” What is the soul? It is your core identity, your
unique spirit that makes you distinctively you. This is your authentic
personality, your distinctive character. Your soul is the source of your
deepest thoughts and highest aspirations, the unique life force that
shapes and defines itself through choices made on a daily basis.
According to Socrates, your soul is “immortal and imperishable, and
after death should continue to exist in another world.”
• Every soul seeks happiness, Socrates believes, and there is a clearly
defined path to achieving happiness, though many don’t choose to
take it. The only people who are truly happy are those who are
virtuous and wise, who live reflective, “examined” lives and strive to
behave rightly and justly in every area of their lives. These people
create souls that are good, wise, and courageous and as a result they
achieve genuine and lasting happiness.
• For Socrates, goodness and wisdom were
partners, inextricably connected at their roots.
He believed that virtue and excellence of the
soul is the consequence of knowledge and
wisdom . It is by determined and clearheaded
thinking that we develop an understanding of
the rigorous standards of conduct that
humans should follow, individually and socially.
By training our minds to explore the central
questions in life regarding justice, morality,
and goodness, we cannot help but become
good persons ourselves
PLATO
• A person’s soul (life’s essence or form), as
Plato thought of it to be, is the instrument
upon which individuals comprehend forms.
• For him, education is reminiscing; that is,
learning is a matter of extracting from our
mind that which is already there.
• Put simply, knowledge is already within the
self, and we could understand the world
around us through reason and thoughtful
introspection. The idea that the self contains
knowledge connects well with the Socratic
dictum “Know thyself”
 PLATO

• In discussing essence, he spoke of a world of

Forms and a world of Phenomena. The first is
permanent and eternal; the second is constantly
changing, and it dies and withers.
• Form-permanent; phenomena-changing
• For example, the chair as perceived may come in
different shapes and sizes, but the form or the
idea of a chair is constant and its existence
independent, real, and eternal. The form of the
chair is its essence.
• It reinforces the examination of one’s own life.
According to Plato, self-examination leads to a
better understanding not only of the self but
also of the world.
• Plato provides different depictions of the
structure of the soul. Adhering to the vitalistic
perspective, he describes the soul as unitary to
emphasize its vital principle. Also, he holds a
dual view of the soul; that is, it has rational and
irrational aspects. He points out that humans
have both reason and a “wild beast” deep
inside of them that needs to be controlled.
• Lastly, the soul has a tripartite structure that
consists of reason, spirit, and appetite. Plato
distinguishes between the highly manageable
self (spirited) and the unruly self (appetite) of
the human’s irrational side. The tripartite
structure is like a chariot drawn by two
energetic horses, one of which wants to go on
its own way, and the other is manageable.
Holding the reins of the chariot is reason, the
charioteer that does its best to direct the
chariot to its goal.
•.
• Consider a person whose goal is to excel
academically. From the tripartite perspective,
there seems to be a part of the self that is
motivated to do work (spirited); the person
studies hard and does homework diligently.
Another aspect of the self wants to relax and
do something fun (appetite). It is reason (the
reasonable self) that puts the person back on
track and makes one manage time efficiently
ARISTOTLE
 ARISTOTLE
• Aristotle adheres to a vitalistic principle of
the soul or psyche that makes matter alive.
• Therefore, having a soul means being alive,
and only living things have a soul.
• The soul distinguishes the living and
nonliving but does not exactly define the
difference between the thinking and the
non-thinking beings.
• In contrast to Plato’s idea that Form
exists separately and eternally, Aristotle
argues that a particular object has a
form that is inseparable from it. Thus,
there is no form without matter and vice
versa.
• This is known as hylomorphism, the
philosophical theory that states that
things are composed of both matter and
form. Following this line of thinking, the
body and the psyche cannot exist
without the other.
• Through Aristotelian lens, the self is inseparable
from the body. It can be said that the body is the
conditio sine qua non (condition without which) of
the experiencing self, meaning without the body,
the self cannot experience; without the body,
there is no self to experience in the first place.
• Aristotle expounds further that the functions of
the psyche can be divided in several ways. A
commonly used division includes three functions,
namely, nutritive psyche, sensitive psyche, and
rational psyche; and it behaves in a hierarchical
fashion.
• 
•  
• At the base of the hierarchy is the nutritive psyche. This
is what is observed in plants involving basic nourishment
and reproduction.
• Next, the sensitive psyche is for all animals. It includes
locomotion and perception.
• The rational psyche, the highest of the three, is for
human beings. It refers to the capacity for reason as well
as all other functions. In this sense, the functions of the
soul are said to be nested: the higher functions
presuppose the presence of the lower functions.
• Therefore, humans are endowed with functions above
all living things because of their capacity to reason, yet
they share typical characteristics of being alive with
 Trivia
• Aristotle believed that the center of the soul
was the heart because it reacted when one
experienced joy or sorrow. Plato, however,
believed that the seat of reason, the organ of
the soul, was the brain because it was nearer
to the heavens. In a sense, Plato was correct
based on a “wrong” argument.
• 
•  Activity
• In your view, discuss the significance of the
Socratic statement “Know Thyself” especially
for college students in the typical context of
their lives.
• Roman philosopher Plotinus (204–270 CE)
and St. Augustine (354 – 430 CE) are aligned
with Neoplatonism.
• This school of thought is often linked to
religious thinking. Many major religions, such
as Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, are said to
be influenced by Neoplatonism, or they have
at least studied and discussed it through the
centuries up to the present.
• Plato’s ideas had strong influence on Plotinus,
the founder of Neoplatonism, foremost of
which is the assertion that the soul is but a
prisoner of the body.
• Plotinus pushed for the freeing of the person
from this bondage and to move towards
perfection. This is made possible because,
although the soul and body are together, they
are not necessarily fused or combined. He
further explained that the soul is merely
coexisting with the body therefore making it
at the same time independent from it.
Plotinus
• the self has to endeavor for higher undertakings,
meaning pursuing a life guided by values and virtues.
• In other words, between nourishment for the soul and
demands of the flesh, the soul “. . . shall overcome.” This
is possible for him because of his ardent belief in the
superiority of the soul over the body.
• Plotinus posits three activities of the soul:
• Perception-- in perceiving we direct consciousness to an
object.
• Reflection--implies that the consciousness is split into
subject and object or occasions wherein we are conscious
of ourselves, sensing and perceiving 
• Contemplation--the soul is believed to
transcend the ever changing and impermanent
and to enter into the unchanging and eternal.
St. Augustine
of Hippo
• St. Augustine is one of the greatest Christian
philosophers of all time.
• He was highly influenced by Neoplatonist thought,
especially the ideas of Plotinus and Plato.
• The soul is given primacy over the body. With Plato
and Plotinus, St. Augustine shares the view that the
soul is not only different from the body, but it is
also superior to it. As a Christian philosopher, he
asserts the need for the soul to achieve unity with
God through faith as well as reason.
• One interesting assertion by St. Augustine about the soul’s quest for
heaven is the need to have ‘contempt of the self.’

• The self in this context represents the mundane and worldly demands
and not what is represented by the soul that is capable of higher
aspirations and unity with God.

• The soul needs to go through several steps with the end goal of
freeing itself from the demands of self. In City of God, Augustine
describes two cities made of love: the earthly city by the love of self
and contempt of God, while the heavenly city is made out of the love
of God and contempt of self. The former dwells on satisfying personal
gains, while the latter only glorifies the Lord. From this perspective,
the self is viewed as the bastion of personal interest and gain, pride,
and vanity from which the person must transcend if he or she desires
to find union with the Lord on Judgement Day. Perhaps it is from
these ideas that we speak of the words selfish and selfless. The former
referring to exclusive personal gains, while the latter is often directed
for the benefit of others or a larger cause.  
St. Thomas of
Aquinas
The Synthesis of Faith and Reason: Aquinas,
 
• St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274 CE) rose to
prominence in his contributions to philosophy
and religion.
• Aquinas employs Aristotelian thought.
• Both Plato and Aristotle talked about form in
their philosophies.
• In other words, the person is both body and
soul.
• However, Aristotle’s forms cannot be
separated from the physical objects where
they are embedded because the reality of
the objects is that they are both form and
matter.
• For Aristotle, the soul is the form that all
living things possess.
• Aquinas’s position follows that of Aristotle where
he argues that all living things possess a soul.
• He believed that human soul continues to exist
even in death. His reason is by operation of the
soul whose object of thought can be the eternal or
abstract entities, including perhaps God, etc
• A human soul that is separated from its body is
said to be incomplete and finds its completion
again only when it animates a body once more,
such as its resurrection during the second coming
of Christ.
• Is there a self to speak of for a dead person? In the
sense of the human soul, there is still a self
although incomplete until the resurrection when
body and soul are reunited.
• Aquinas does not adhere to the idea that the soul is
imprisoned in an imperfect body or that it is inside the
body as a kind of punishment.
• Its presence in the body is in fact what can only be
described as good, as well as natural. The soul is enriched
and nourished when it is joined with the body. The union
of body and soul completes human nature.
• Also, this union makes the acquisition of knowledge
through the senses possible. The body, therefore, is not
something to be abhorred or rejected, but rather desired
and appreciated when it is in union with the soul. Aquinas
paved the way in harmonizing bodily and soulful needs or
desires in the same way as he reconciled faith and reason,
which made him one of the key persons in the history of
philosophy and thought.
•  
 Activity
• Which among the different perspectives of the
self you find more aligned with your own
beliefs? Explain your answer 
• What is “the self” for you? What
circumstances, events and situations in your
life do you think are responsible for your
perspective?
• 
 Modern
Philosophy
René Descartes
 René Descartes
• is considered the father of modern philosophy.
• He is said to have brought in a fresh look and perspective
to philosophy. While many philosophers dwelled on
answering fundamental questions, such as “Does God
exist?”, “What is the soul’s nature?”, and “What is the
ideal society?”, he was more focused on understanding
the thought process in answering the questions.
• He believed that there’s the need to doubt, in order to
know what one is certain. It is the right way to start when
building a system of beliefs. This allows the person to
create a solid foundation for ideas held about the world
and about the self.
• Descartes puts primacy to one’s capacity to
think.
• His recommendation appears elegant and
simple, though it is not easy to do because it
necessitates casting doubt at personal beliefs.
Doubt holds practical value.
• A person is likely in a better position to be
critical and to analyze as well as to search
more information to resolve the doubt.
Cogito ergo sum (“I think therefore I am”) constitutes
the first principle of Descartes’s knowledge
philosophy.
• By this, he meant the certainty of one’s existence
because of the ability to think and be conscious.
• Being conscious of self is the key to why one holds a
personal identity and a sense of selfhood. Without
the ability to be conscious of self or to be aware of
self, one cannot gain any idea of personal identity; in
other words, one cannot have a sense of self
(Chaffee, 2016).
• Descartes preferred to use mind instead of soul for
clarity and to avoid ambiguity
• Descartes asserts that a person can have a
clear and distinct concept about the thinking
self or the essential self and the body. In this
case, there is a suggestion of Platonic and
Neoplatonic influence.
• For Descartes, the self that thinks is the soul or
mind, and it is an immortal and conscious
entity, which is not subject to natural law;
while the body is subject to the laws of nature,
and it is a mortal entity.
• This is the classic mind-body split. The body
(physical self) is governed by laws of nature,
while the mind (conscious self) is part of what is
spiritual and eternal, which is not governed by
physical laws but by reason and God’s laws.
Despite the mind-body split, Descartes still
acknowledges the close relationship between
body and mind.
• Descartes was considered a rationalist for his
assertion that one’s reasoning prowess sets the
base for acquiring knowledge, as well as the
yardstick to measure the accuracy of the ideas
produced
John Locke
--English philosopher, an empiricist for
positing the primacy of sense experience
in acquiring knowledge and that only
through careful focus on our sense
experience, we can judge the accuracy of
our conclusions.
• All knowledge is derived from sensory
experience.
• TABULA RASA
• Locke’s idea of self is founded on
consciousness and not on the substance
such as the soul or body.
• In fact, the same consciousness is required
in being the same self whether it be the
same substance (same body or soul) or
multiple substances .
• If a person’s consciousness were to be
transplanted to some individual 100 years
from now, that life in the future would still
be the same person whether it be another
substance or vessel.
David Hume
• Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711–
1776 CE) is an avid empiricist.
• However, he disagrees with the idea of a
continuing identity hence arguing for an
extreme view of self; that is, there is no
self!
• He hypothesizes that after a person
examines sense experience, the individual
will arrive at the conclusion of the absence
of the self.
• Impressions are the basic constituents of our
experience upon which ideas are derived.
• These impressions are more vivid than ideas since
ideas are just derivatives and copies of
impressions;
• therefore, ideas are farther from reality than what
comes as impressions. However, no impressions
persist for they are always in constant motion
and flux. This means one cannot find a sensation
(impression) of a “constant self” that makes up
the identity of the person simply because
impressions are fleeting.
--He then concludes
that because we
cannot find a self in
these changing
sensations, perhaps
the self does not exist.
Immanuel Kant
• One of the greatest thinkers of modern philosophy

• He worked to synthesize what seemingly were

different perspectives in the acquisition of
knowledge: experience and reason.
• His view of self is a response to Hume’s position of
the absence of self. He acknowledges the role that
sensory experience plays in knowing about the
world, as argued by Hume. However, instead of
maintaining Hume’s position that the experiences
are disjoint fleeting sensations, Kant argues that the
organized and connected experiences of the world
are fairly stable.
• These experiences, therefore, are not just a series of
fragmented sensations or impressions. All happen
as interrelated experiences, and in the middle of the
comprehension and understanding is the concept of
a conscious self.
• Kant agrees with Hume that empirical experience is
important and the primary starting point but prods
on to state that not all knowledge comes from
experience alone
• Also, persons have knowledge that is a priori
(derived by logic and not necessarily accompanied
by raw facts) and perhaps independent of empirical
sensory experiences (a posteriori knowledge). This
knowledge blends with ones sensory impressions,
and it may be hard to distinguish without skillful
practice.
• In a sense, Kant is stating that the mind is
constantly at work in organizing and putting
order and coherent meaning to information
that the person receives from the senses. The
individual seems to have a set of rules on
putting order to what he or she experiences
and is capable of organizing fragmented and
totally unrelated pictures in such a way that
they make sense and create a coherent story.
The rules are said to be present before
experienced sensations thus, they are a priori
knowledge.
• Where is the self then in all these? Kant posits
that the self makes a person’s sensory
experience understandable and meaningful. It
is the organizing entity, the weaver, the music
conductor, or the architect that puts it all
together, thereby making the individual’s
sensory experiences whole, recognizable,
meaningful, and connected.