Philosophy
world
- “Love for wisdom”
- Answers questions regarding the nature
of and existence of man and the world.
- (Socrates, Plato, St. Augustine,
Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Hume,
Freud, Ryle, Churchland, Monty-Ponty)
Socrates (Greek)
- He was the mentor of plato
- A stonemason with a sharp man
- He was known by his “socratic method”
- Acquisition of wisdom through
“knowing oneself’ or “know thyself”
- Self = soul “inner being”
- Self ≠ spiritual entity
- Self ≠ religious thing
- Self = soul + body
- Thinking and willing subject
- “Knowing oneself”, “gnothi seuton’ =
“know thyself”
- As a person, we should continuouslt ask
and evaluate ourselves for us to
understand our strengths and
weaknesses.
- Fully knowing oneself a person will be
able to achieve happiness.
- Introspection – internal questioning
Plato (Greek)
- Aristocles
- Student of Socrates
- Father of academe
- He was nicknamed Plato because of his
physical built which means wide/broad.
- He was established school known
“Academy”
- Theory of forms (representation of the
reality)
- Self = soul + body
- Soul – immaterial and indestructible part
- Body – material and destructible part
- The person’s body and soul form the
person as a whole
- Justice in human person could only be
attained if the three parts of the soul are
working harmoniously with one another.
Plato’s division of body and soul
1. Rational soul – “the conscious mind”;
decides, plans and thinks
2. Spirited sou; - courageous part of the
person; one who wants to do something
or right the wrongs
3. Appetitive soul – needs and wants that
are to be satisfied
St. Augustine
- Religion, christianity
- Saint and philosopher of the church
- Teaching of the church and establishing
our sense of self with God identifies the
essence of our existence and role in the
- He stated that real happiness can only be
found in God
- Everything is better if we devote
ourselves in mending our relationship
with God
- Self = soul (religion, Christianity)
- The struggle of both body and soul to
find happiness, which exists only in
God’s love
- Follows the notion that everything is
better if we devote ourselves to God
- The physical body is bound to die on
earth while the soul is to anticipate
living eternally in communion with God.
Modern Philosophy
Rene Descartes (French)
- Father of modern philosophy
- Human person = body + mind
- “there is so much that we should doubt”
- “if something is so clear and lucid as not
to be doubted, that’s the only time one
should believe.”
- The only thing one can’t doubt is
existence of self
- Self = mind + body
- Mind – seat of consciousness
- “I think, therefore I am”
- The self = cogito (the thing that thinks)
+ extenza (extension of mind/body)
- The body is a machine attached to the
mind
- It’s the mind that makes the man
- “I am a thinking thing… A thing that
doubts, understands, affirms, denies,
wills, refuses, imagines, perceives.”
John Locke (English)
- Father of liberalism
- Coming from an era where proper
decorum, conservative thinking and
compliance to a collective imposition of
the known authority, John Locke posited
liberalism not just from physical
bandage but from psychological and
spiritual bondage as well.
- John Locke’s profession was that of a
country lawyer and he even had a degree
in medicine, fortunately for the field of
philosophy, the mark of John Locke was
in advancing the idea of empiricism
(which is no wonder, since he is by
profession, a lawyer).
- The other remarkable contribution of his
country lawyer was the notion of tabula
rasa. This concept posits that everyone
started as a blank state, and the content
is provided by experiences and by what
one could prove, as collected by life
experiences.
 - Self = memories
- He holds that personal identity is a
matter of psychological continuity. He
considered personal identity (or the self)
to be founded on consciousness (viz.
memory), and not on the substance of
either the soul or the body.
- He believes that experiences and
perceptions of a person is important in
the establishment of who that person can
become.
David Hume
- Prolific and successful writer in
philosophy, history and economics.
- He was suspected of atheism
- The French called him “le bon David”
- “The self is nothing but a bundle of
impressions and ideas”
- Impression
o Basic objects of our
experience/sensation
o Forms the core of our thoughts
- Idea
o Copies of impressions
o Not as “real” as impressions
o Feeling mo lang yun!
- Self = impression + ideas
- According to him, there is no permanent
self
- Hume’s first attack on the self argues
that there is no impression of the self.
And if there is one, it is constantly in
change and hence there is no constant
and non-changing thing which we can
call the self.
Immanuel Kant
- German Philosopher
- Believed that the intentions behind an
action were more important than the
consequences.
- Agrees with Hume that everything starts
with perception/sensation of impressions
- There is a mind that regulates these
impressions
- “time, space, etc. are ideas that one
cannot find in the world, but is built in
our minds”
- “Apparatus of the mind”
- Self = consciousness
- The self organizes different impressions
that one gets in relation to his own
existence
- We need active intelligence to
synthesize all knowledge and experience
- The self is not only personality but also
the seat of knowledge
- Synthesizing one’s accumulation of
experiences, intuition and imagination
could provide us an understanding of
ourselves
- Transcendental apperception/self-
consiousness
Sigmund Freud (Australian)
- Father of psychoanalysis
- Predicted on sex and aggression with the
unconscious mind as the platform.
- Present self or personality is greatly
shaped by the person’s past experiences.
- Utilized introspection as a tool
- Self = id, ego, superego
- Personality is formed through
interaction among three fundamental
structures of human mind
- He also believed that we are by-product
of our experiences in the past
Structure of mind:
 Id – pleasure principle
 Ego – reality principle
 Superego – morality principle
Gilbert Ryle
- Self is how we behave
- His notion is dualism is that behavior
that we show, emotions and actions are
the reflection of our minds and as such a
manifestation of who we are.
- Ghost in the machine.
- Man is a complex machine with
different functioning parts, other
characteristics of man (e.g. intelligence)
is represented by the ghost
- His most original work was his analysis
of the concept of mind
- The self is not an entity one can locate
and analyze but simply the convenient
name that we use to refer to the
behaviors that we make
- Self = antecedent
Paul Churchland
- Self is defined by the movements of the
brain
- He believed that to fully understand
one’s behavior, one should understand
the different emotions, feelings, actions
and reaction and how such brain
movements affect the body.
- In order to understand the self, one
should not rely on common sense
“ELIMINATE MATERIALISM”
- Self = movement of the brain
Maurice Jean Pacques Merleau-Ponty
- His idea of the self, regarded that the
body and mind are not separate entities,
but rather those two components is one
and the same.
- One’s action, behavior and language
used could be said to be the reflection of
our united perception of the world.
 - Phenomenology of perception
- A phenomenologist who says the mind-
body bifurcation is an invalid problem
- Mind and body are inseparable
- “One’s body is his opening toward his
existence to the world”
- The living body, his thoughts, emotions,
and experiences are all one.
Sociology
- The study of how human society is
established, its structures and how it
works, the people’s interactions with
each other and the effects they have to
one another.
The self as product of modern society
- The establishment of the “self” based on
social structures could give us a better
understanding of who we are and
provide reasons why how our
interactions can affect us as a person.
Characteristics of self:
1. Separate – it is distinct from other
selves, it is always unique and has in its
own identity.
2. Self-contained – it is distinctive with its
own thoughts, characteristics and
volition and does not require any other
self to exist.
3. Independent – it is consistent and
unitary
4. Private – it means isolated from the
external world. (feelings, emotions,
private thoughts)
George Herbart Mead and Social Self
- father of American pragmatism
- He rejected the notion of the biological
determination of the self
- He is one of the pioneers in the field of
social psychology
- He rejected the idea of biological
determination of the self (inborn)
- He believed that a person with regards
to who they are develops from one’s
social interaction with other people.
Mead’s concept of social self
Me
- Part of self created through socialization
- Predictability and conformity come from
the “me”
- are characteristics, behavior, and or
actions done by a person that follows
the “generalized others” that person
I
- Part of self that is spontaneous,
unpredictable, and creative
- Acts in extreme situations of rage to
excitement
- is the reaction of the individual to the
attitude of others as well as the
manifestation of the individuality of the
person.
Mead’s Stages of self-development
1. Preparatory Stage
- birth-2 years old
- the children are engaged in social
interaction with others by imitation
2. Play Stage
- 2-6 years old
- The stage where the child practices real
life situations through pretend play (role
taking).
3. Game Stage
- 6-9 years old
- The child can recognize the rules of the
game.
- Stage where child realizes how his/her
attitudes and viewpoints are taken into
account by the expectations of society as
a whole.
The idea of “self” may be based on the general
attitudes and behaviors of other people or the
individuality of the person that manifests as a
response to those attitudes and behavior of
others.
Anthropology
- A systematic exploration of human
biology and cultural diversity
Sub discipline of anthropology
1. Cultural – it describes, analyzes,
interprets and explain social and cultural
similarities and differences.
2. Archeological – it reconstructs,
describes and interprets human behavior
cultural patterns through the material
remains.
3. Physical – it focuses on human
evolutions
4. Linguistics – it studies the language in
its social and cultural context across
space and over time.
How is the self shaped in the lens of
anthropology?
- Cultural norms
- Family
- Gender
Culture
- Customary behavior and beliefs that are
passed on through enculturation (Kottak,
2008)
1. It is a social process that is learned and
passes from generation to the next.
2. It depends on images, which have a
specific significance and incentive for
individuals who share a culture.
3. Culture oblige people, yet the activities
of people can change culture.
Acceptance
Conformity
Obedience
Compliance
Normative Influence
- conformity based on a person’s desire to
fulfill other’s expectations, often to gain
acceptance.
- Salient when we are in public
- Concern for social image
Individualism
- the concept of giving priority to one’s
own goals over group goals and defining
one’s identity in terms of attributes
rather than group identifications.
- Can result to independent self (identity
as unique individual)
Collectivism
- Giving priority to the goals of one’s
group and defining one’s identity
accordingly.
- Can result to interdependent self
(identity in relation to others)
Self-esteem
- Overall self-evaluation or sense of self-
worth.
Americans tend to have high self-esteem with
disengaged emotions – feeling effective,
superior and proud. (Kitayama and Markus,
2000)
Asians tend to have high self-esteem with
positive social engagement – feeling close,
friendly and respectful. (Kitayama and Markus,
2000)

Informational Influence
- Conformity occurring when people
accept evidence about reality provided
by other people.
- Salient when we feel incompetent and
when task is difficult.
- Desire to be correct
Spotlight effect
- The belief that others are paying more
attention to one’s appearance and
behavior than they really are.
Illusion of transparency
- The illusion that our concealed emotion
are “leak out” and can be easily ready by
others.
Social surroundings - naffect our self-awareness
when we feel out of place or OP.
Self-interest - colors our social judgment. We
tend to blame other people for something bad or
credit ourselves for something good.
Self-concern – motivates out social behavios.
We agonize our self-appearance to make a good
impression.
Social relationships – help define our selves.