THE PHILOSOPHICAL SELF

Pg.7-18, Understanding The Self Book

 Socrates
 Socrates was a Greek philosopher and of the very few
individuals who shaped Western thought.

 Unlike the philosophers during his time, Socrates never

wrote anything.
“Know that I
don’t know” Socrates was known for his method of inquiry
in testing an Idea. This is called Socrates
Method whereby an idea was tested by asking
a series of questions to determine underlying
beliefs and the extent of knowledge to guide
the person toward better understanding
Some of Socrates’ ideas were:
• The soul is immortal
• The care of the soul is the task of philosophy
• Virtue is necessary to attain happiness

Socrates believed that philosophy had a very important role to play in

the lives of the people.

One of his most-quoted phrases is “The unexamined life is not worth

living”
• Socrates said the existence of two
kinds:
1. The visible, and
2. The invisible
The visible in existence changes while
the invisible existence remains
constant.
According Socrates, this is the state of
the human being.
 Plato

• Plato was the student of Socrates.

• He wrote the Socratic Dialogue where

Socrates was the main character and
speaker.

• Plato’s philosophical method was what

he identified as “collection division”

“Balanced between mind and body”

• Heis best known for his Theory of Forms
that asserted the physical world is not really
the “real” world because the ultimate reality
exists beyond the physical world.

• Plato
is perhaps the single most important
influence of the Western concept of “self”.
According to Plato, the “soul” is indeed the
most divine aspect of the human being.
 The The The
Appetitive Rational Spirited
(sensual) (reasoning) (feeling)
The element that
The element forbids to enjoy the The element that
sensual is inclined toward
that enjoys reason but
experiences; the
sensual part that loves understands the
Experiences, truth, hence should demands of
such as food, rule over the other passion; the part
parts of the soul that loves honor
drink, and and victory
through the use of
sex. reason.
 St. Augustine
• Saint Augustine, Also called Saint
Augustine of Hippo, is one of the
Latin Fathers of the Church, One
of the doctors of the church, and
one of the most significant
Christian thinkers.

Man is both body

“All knowledge leads to God”
and soul
 René Descartes
He was a French philosopher, mathematician, and
scientist.

His method was called hyperbolical/metaphysical doubt,

also sometimes referred to as methodological skepticism.
- it is a systematic process of being skeptical about
the truth of one’s beliefs in order to determine which
beliefs could be ascertained as true.

“Cognito ergo sum”

-I think therefore I am

“I Think, Therefore I am”

 THE SOUL THE BODY

- It is conscious, thinking - It is a material substance that

substance that is unaffected by changes through time.
time.

- It is known only to itself ( only - It can be doubted; The public can

you know your own mental event correct claims about the body.
and others cannot correct your
mental states)

- It is not made up of parts. It - It is made up of physical,

views the entirely of itself with quantifiable . Divisible parts.
no hidden or separate
compartments. It is both
conscious and aware of itself at
the same time.
 John Locke
Believed that at birth the human mind is a
“tabula rasa”
Or a blank state, on which a experience
“writes” knowledge.

Tabula rasa is a Latin word that originates

from the Roman tabula or wax tablet used
for notes, which was blanked by heating the
wax and then smoothing it.

The mind in it’s hypothetical primary empty

“Human mind at birth is a tabula
state before receiving outside
rasa, which means that knowledge
is derived from experience”
 David Hume
• A Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian
during the Age of Enlightenment.

• A fierce opponent of Descartes’ Rationalism

• Hume along with Locke and bishop George

Berkeley was the main three figureheads of the
influential British Empiricism movement.

• Hume identified with the bundle theory wherein

he described the “self” or person (which Hume
assume the “mind”) as a bundle or a collection of
different perceptions that are moving in a very
fast and successive manner; Therefore it is in a
“perpetual flux”
“All knowledge is derived from
human senses”
• Hume divided the mind’s perceptions into two groups stating that
the difference between the two “consists in the degrees of force and
liveliness with which they strike upon the mind” (Hume, p. 10)

1. Impressions
these are the perceptions that are the most strong. They enter the
senses with most force. These are directly experienced; they result
from inward and outward sentiments.
2. Ideas
These are the less forcible and less lively counterparts of impressions.
These are mechanisms that copy and reproduce sense data formulated
based upon the previously perceived impressions.
Immanuel Kant
- is a central figure in modern philosophy.

- Among other ideas Kant proposed was

that, the human mind creates structure of
human experience

- Kant’s view of self is transcendental which

means “self” is related to a spiritual or
nonphysical realm.

- For Kant, the self is not the body

“reason is the final authority of morality. Morality is achieved only when there is
absence of war because of the result of enlightenment.”
Two kinds of consciousness of self (rationality):

1. Consciousness of oneself and one’s psychological states in inner senses, and

2. Consciousness of oneself and one’s states by performing acts of

apperception

Two components of the “self”

1. Inner self – The “self by which you are aware of alteration in your own
state.

2. Outer self – It includes your senses and the physical world.

Kant proposed that the “self” organizes information in three ways:

1. Raw perceptual input

2. Recognizing the concept, and
3. Reproducing in the imagination
Sigmund Freud
- Philosopher, physiologist and
psychologist

- One of the most influential thinkers in

the century

- His most important contribution,

particularly in psychology, was
psychoanalysis
“Wish fulfillment is
the road to the
unconscious”
Central to Freud's psychoanalytic theory was the
proposed existence of the unconscious as:
-A repository for traumatic repressed memories; and
-The source of anxiety-provoking drives that is socially or
ethically unacceptable to the individual.

Psychoanalytic Theory
Is a personality theory based on the notion that an
individual gets motivated by unseen forces, controlled by
the unconscious and the rational thought.
Three levels of consciousness
Gilbert Ryle
- Philosopher and professor, Gilbert Ryle

- Produced a critique on Descartes’ idea

that the mind is distinct from the body

- According to Ryle, rationalist view that

mental acts are distinct from physical
acts and there is a mental world distinct
from the physical world is a
misconception.
“I act, Therefore I am”
Paul Churchland
- Philosopher and professor Paul
Churchland is known for his studies in
neurophilosophy and the philosophy of
mind.

“The Physical brain and NOT the imaginary

mind gives us our sense of self”

“I act, Therefore I am”

Maurice Merleau-Ponty
- A philosopher and author.

- Emphasizing the body as the primary

site of knowing the world, Maurice
Merleau-Ponty’s idea of “self” is an
Embodied Subjectivity

- He asserted that human beings are

embodied subjectivities, and that the
understanding of the “self” should
begin from this fundamental fact.
Thank you…