Unit 1: The Self from Various Perspectives by philosophers from the ancient to the

contemporary times.
INTRODUCTION

PHILOSOPHERS’ PERSPECTIVE OF THE

“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It
SELF
is a direction, not a destination.” - Carl Rogers
The way you choose to spend your life
What encompasses your “self”? Do you believe
contributes to the development of your identity
in the existence of the soul or spirit? When our
and self-understanding. Your past is a
body dies, does the soul continue to live? If the
contributory factor to who you are today, but who
soul truly exists, how does it communicate with
you will be tomorrow greatly depends on your
the body? Where does it enter and exit the
perspective about yourself.
body? Do we know who we are? Are we
conscious about it? Do we have a true and false
selves? What is the “me” self and the “I” self?
1. SOCRATES (470-399 B.C.) He explored his
These questions are answered by our
philosophy of immortality in the days following his
philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists,
trial and before his sentence to death was
psychologists and western and eastern thought
executed.
theorists.
According to him, an unexamined life is not worth
living. This statement is reflected in his idea of
TOPIC 1: PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE the self.
He believed in dualism that aside from the
physical body (material substance), each person
“To find yourself, think for yourself.” – Socrates
has an immortal soul (immaterial substance).
In efforts to appreciate and understand reality,
The body belongs to the physical realm and the
and retort to persistent questions of
soul to the ideal realm. When you die, your body
inquisitiveness, including the inquiry of self, it was
dies but not your soul. There is a life after the
the Greeks who earnestly probed legends and
death of your physical body. There is a world
folklore, and turned away from them.
after death.
This topic on the philosophical perspective of the
According to him, in order for you to have a good
self (which will utilize 3 hours) will then allow you
life, you must live a good life, a life with a
to re-examine its key movers for you to be able to
purpose, and that purpose is for you to do well.
identify the most imperative assumptions made
Then there you will be happy after your body
dies.
2. PLATO (428/427-348/347 BC)
He was greatly affected by Socrates’ death.
Socrates was Plato’s teacher. He believed that
the self is immortal and it consists of 3 parts:
a. Reason – the divine essence that enables you
to think deeply, make wise choices and achieve
an understanding of eternal truths;
b. Physical Appetite - your basic biological needs
such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire and;
c. Spirit or Passion – your basic emotions such
as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness, and
empathy.
The 3 components may work together or in
conflict. If human beings do not live in
accordance with their nature/function, the result
will be an injustice.
3. ST. AUGUSTINE (354-430)
He was a great explorer in his youth and young
adulthood; he spent great times with his friends
and up to the extent of fathering an illegitimate
child.
His explorations led to his conversion to
Christianity wherein he spent the remainder of his
day serving the bishop of Hippo and writing
books and letters including his idea of the self.
At first, he thought the body as the “slave” of the
soul but ultimately, regarded the body as the
“spouse” of the soul both attached to one
another. He believed that the body is united with
the soul, so that man may be entire and
complete. His first principle was, “I doubt,
therefore I am.”
The self seeks to be united with God through
faith and reason and he described that humanity
is created in the image and likeness of God, that
God is supreme and all-knowing and everything
created by God who is all good is good.
4. RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650)
Descartes was a scientist in his professional life and
during his time, scientists believed that after death the
physical body dies, hence the self also dies.
He was a devout Catholic who believed in the
immortal souls and eternal life. By having the idea of
both the thinking self and the physical body,
Descartes was able to reconcile his being a scientist
and a devout Catholic.
The self is a thinking thing, distinct from the body.
The thinking self or soul is nonmaterial, immortal, and
conscious while the physical body is material, mortal,
non-thinking entity, fully governed by the physical
laws of nature.
“Cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I Am) is the
keystone to his concept of the self. The essence of
existing as a human identity is the possibility of being
aware of oneself.
5. JOHN LOCKE (1634-1704)
The intolerant and charged atmosphere in England
kept Locke to stay abroad and freedom from political
intrigues and duties allowed him to develop his
philosophy.
According to Locke, the human mind at birth is a
tabula rasa (“blank slate”). The self or personal
identity is constructed primarily from sense
experiences which shape and mold the self
throughout a person’s life.
Personal identity is made possible by self-
consciousness. In order to discover the nature of
personal identity, you to have to find out what it
means to be a person. A person is a thinking,
intelligent being who has abilities to reason and to
reflect. A person is also someone who considers itself
to be the same thing at different times and different
places.
Consciousness means being aware that you are
thinking; this what makes your belief possible that you
are the same identity at different times and in different
places. The essence of the self is its conscious
awareness of itself as thinking, reasoning, reflecting
identity.
6. DAVID HUME (1711-1776)

He left the University of Edinburg at the age of 15, to study privately. Although he was encouraged to
take up law, his interest was philosophy. It is during his private study that he began raising questions
about religion.

For him, there is no “self” only a bundle of perceptions passing through the theatre of your minds.

According to him, humans are so desperately wanting to believe that they have a unified and continuous
self or soul that they use their imaginations to construct a fictional self. The mind is a theatre, a
container for fleeting sensations and disconnected ideas and your reasoning ability is merely a slave to
the passions. Hence, personal identity is just a result of imagination.

7. IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)

Although Kant recognizes the legitimacy in Hume’s account, he opposes the idea of Hume that
everything starts with perception and sensation of impressions, that’s why he brought out the idea of
the self as a response against the idea of Hume.

For Kant, there is unavoidably a mind that systematizes the impressions that men get from the external
world.

Therefore, Kant believed that the self is a product of reason because the self regulates experience by
making unified experience possible.

We construct the self. The self exists independently of experience and the self goes beyond experience.
 Understanding The Self

8. SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939)

Freud develops his theories during a period in which he experienced heart irregularities, disturbing
dreams and periods of depression. He read William Shakespeare in English throughout his life.

Based on him, the self is composed of three layers, conscious, preconscious and unconscious.

The conscious mind includes thoughts, feelings, and actions that you are currently aware of; the
preconscious mind includes mental activities that are stored in your memory, not presently active but
can be accessed or recalled; while the unconscious mind includes activities that you are not aware of.

According to him, there are thoughts, feelings, desires, and urges that the conscious mind wants to hide,
buried in your unconscious, but may shed light to your unexplained behavior.

9. GILBERT RYLE (1900-1976)

His father was a general practitioner but had a keen interest in philosophy and astronomy that he
passed it on to his children; they had an impressive library where Ryle enjoyed being an omnivorous
reader.

He graduated with first class honors in the New Modern Greats School of Philosophy, Politic, and
Economics.

His concept of the self is provided in his philosophical statement, “I Act therefore I am.” Ryle views the
self as the way people behave, which is composed of a set of patterned behavior.
Basically, for Ryle, the self is the same as your behavior.

Understanding The Self

10. PAUL CHURCHLAND (1942)

Churchland became a professor at the University of California where he later became the department
chair and member of the Cognitive Science Faculty, a member of the Institute for Neural Computation.
His membership to these organizations prompted him to dwell on the brain as the self.

Churchland’s theory is anchored in the statement, “the self is the brain.” The self is inseparable from the
brain and the physiological body because the physical brain gives the sense of self. In short, the brain
and the self are one. Once the brain is dead, the self is dead too.

11. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY (1908-1961)

When he won the school’s “Award for Outstanding Achievement” in Philosophy it traced his
commitment to the vocation of Philosophy.

His concept, “the self has embodied subjectivity” explained that all your knowledge about yourself and
the world is based on your subjective experiences and everything that you are aware of is contained in
your consciousness.
For him, your body is your general medium for having a world.