UNDERSTANDING

THE SELF

Dominican College of Tarlac

COLLEGE DEPARTMENT
PHILOSOPHICAL
PERSPECTIVE
OF THE SELF
LESSON 1
 LESSON OBJECTIVES:

• Explain why it is essential to understand the

self
• Describe and discuss the different notions
of the self from the points of view of various
philosophers across time and place;
• Compare and contrast how the self has
been represented in different philosophical
• schools; and
• Examine one’s self against the different
views of the self that were discussed in
class
QUESTIONS:

• What is “self”?
• Where do you get your
sense of identity (self)?
• What makes you “You”?
 THE “SELF” FROM THE PERPECTIVE
OF THE FOLLOWING PHILOSOPHERS

ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

• SOCRATES
• PLATO
• ARISTOTLE
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHERS
• ST. AUGUSTINE
• ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
MODERN PHILOSOPHER
• RENE DESCARTES
• JOHN LOCKE
• IMMANUEL KANT
• DAVID HUME
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHERS
• GILBERT RYLE
• PAUL CHURCHLAND
• MAURICE MERLAU-PONTY
THE SELF FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF
ANCIENT
PHILOSOPHY
 SOCRATES

Know thyself.
An unexamined life is not
worth living.
 SOCRATES
Socrates was the first philosopher
to focus on the full power of
reason on the human self.

There was a transition in terms of

the subject of philosophizing -
from materiality of the world to
methods on how we should live
out our lives to reach happiness as
the ultimate purpose of the SELF.
 SOCRATES
Socrates was charged for
corrupting the mind of the youth

Imprisoned and sentenced to die

by drinking poison.

He doesn’t fear death, for he

believes that he will continue to
exist as a disembodied mind/self
 SOCRATES

Socrates used his

death as a final
lesson for his
students to face his
adversities of life
squarely and
calmly.
 SOCRATES
• Philosophy must obtain practical
results for the greater well-being of
society.
• The very first step towards the
realization of this goal is the
acquisition of wisdom through
knowing oneself.

• “ULTIMATE WISDOM COMES

FROM KNOWING ONESELF”
 SOCRATES
The person must begin at the
source of all knowledge and
significance -the self.
The Socratic method,
the so-called introspection, is a
method of carefully examining
one’s thoughts and emotions - to
gain self-knowledge
 SOCRATES
• The Key to understanding Socrates’s concept
of the self is through the philosopher’s take
on the SOUL.

• Soul refers to the THINKING & WILLING

subject: The intellectual and moral
personality of humans.
• It is the essence of humans to THINK and
WILL, the responsible agent in knowing &
acting rightly or wrongly.

• THE SOUL IS THE ESSENCE OF THE

HUMAN PERSON
 SOCRATES
• For Socrates, the Soul is the person’s true
self. When we turn inward in search for self-
knowledge, we would eventually discover our
true self.“THE SELF IS OUR INNER BEING”
• Socrates urges us to take care of our souls.
• We need to take care of our soul to attain the
GOOD LIFE which is the goal of Socrates’
philosophy.
• Having good life means being wise and
virtuous. It is attained through the acquisition of
knowledge, wisdom and virtues.
 SOCRATES
He must begin at the source of all
knowledge and significance
-the self.
The Socratic method,
the so-called introspection, is a
method of carefully examining
one’s thoughts and emotions - to
gain self-knowledge
 SOCRATES
Socrates suggests that man must live an
examined life and a life of purpose and
value.
The individual person can have a
meaningful and happy life only if he can
become virtuous and knows the values
himself that can be achieved through
incessant soul-searching.

“THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH

LIVING”
 PLATO

The self is the

immortal soul.
 PLATO

The same as Socrates’ belief, the

self is synonymous with the soul.

The TRIPARTITE SOUL

1. Reason
2. Physical Appetite
3. Spirit
 PLATO: Tripartite Soul
Reason – is the divine essence that
enables us to think deeply. Seeks truth
and is swayed by facts and arguments

Spirit – It is how feelings fuel your actions

that includes basic emotions such as
love, anger, ambition and empathy.

Physical Appetite - It drives you to eat,

have sex and protect yourself which
includes the biological needs such as
hunger, thirst and sexual desire.
 PLATO

These 3 elements are in a dynamic

relationship with one another,
sometimes in conflict. When
conflict occurs, it is the
responsibility of the Reason to sort
things and restore the equilibrium
among the 3 elements of the self.
PLATO: Theory of Forms

Plato introduces the concepts

of the two worlds:

• The World of Matter/ Sense

(Reality)

• The World of Forms

(Non-physical ideas)
 PLATO: Theory of Forms

The World of Matter/ Sense

(Reality)

Represents our physical world, and the

way experience it and everything in it.

All that exist in this world are just copies,

imperfect and impermanent.
PLATO: Theory of Forms

The World of Forms (Non-

physical ideas)

Represents the ideal and perfect

version of everything we experience
in the physical world.
 PLATO
Our physical self (body) belongs to the
world of matter, imperfect, impermanent
and just a copy.

Our soul is the perfect and ideal version

of the self, the original, and permanent
that belongs to world of forms.

Man should give more emphasis to the

soul than the physical body which resides
in the world of sense
 ARISTOTLE

Aristotle believes that the soul is merely a

set of defining features of the self and
does not consider the body and soul as
separate entities.
 ARISTOTLE

Anything with life has a soul.

ARISTOTLE: Three Kinds of Soul

Aristotle introduces three kinds of

soul

1. Vegetative soul
2. Sentient soul
3. Rational soul
ARISTOTLE: Three Kinds of Soul

Vegetative/ Nutritive Soul

• is the first and most widely shared
among all living things.
• anything that takes in nutrition, grows
from this nutrition, and eventually
decays over time has a soul. Example
are the plants
• is what urges any creature to protect
itself whenever possible, but also to
produce offspring in any form
ARISTOTLE: Three Kinds of Soul

Sentient/Sensible Soul
• Also known as the soul of perception
that allows us to perceive the world
around us.
• It encompasses the senses but also
allows us to remember things that
happened to us, experience pain and
pleasure, and have appetites and desires.
• Most animals and all humans possess
the sensible soul while plants do not.
• But not all animals have the same
abilities of perception.
 ARISTOTLE: Three Kinds of
Soul
Rational Soul
• The rational soul belongs to man alone.
• It is what makes us human.
• The rational soul is that by virtue of
which we possess the capacity for
rational thought.

• The purpose of Rational Soul of the

Self is to lead a good, flourishing and
exalted state of existence.
 ARISTOTLE

The soul is the essence of all

living things, and the soul is
the essence of the self.
THE SELF FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF
MEDIEVAL
PHILOSOPHY
ST. AUGUSTIN OF HIPPO

The Self has an immortal

soul
The body is the spouse of
the soul
 ST. AUGUSTIN OF HIPPO
• He believes that the body is
united with the soul so that man
may be entire and complete.

• He contemplates on the nature of

man with emphasis on the soul
as an essential element of man.

• He believes that the soul is what

governs and defines man.
 ST. AUGUSTIN OF HIPPO
• Human person, being a creation
of God is always geared towards
the good.
• The self is known only through
knowing God.
• Self-knowledge is a consequence
of knowledge of God.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

Man is composed of two

(2) parts:
• Matter
• Form.
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

• Matter (hyle in Greek), refers

to the common stuff that
makes up everything in the
universe.

• Man’s body is part of this

matter.
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
• Form (morphe in Greek) refers
to the essence or the substance.

“Substance is what makes

it what it is.”

• To Aquinas, just as for Aristotle,

the soul is what animates the
body, it is what makes us human.
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
• Things are not what they are
because of what they are
made of.
• They are what they are
because of their substance
THE SELF FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF
MODERN
PHILOSOPHY
 RENE DESCARTES

Cogito Ergo Sum

I think therefore I am
 RENE DESCARTES
• Descartes is a man of doubt, the
father of skepticism
• You can doubt everything
including your senses except the
fact that you are doubting - which
is a form of thinking

• I am thinking therefore I am
existing
 RENE DESCARTES
• the act of thinking about the self - of
being self conscious - is in itself
proof there is a self.

• this is the essence of the human

existence - a thinking entity that
doubts, understands and analyzes
questions and reasons.
• The thinking self can exist
independently from the physical body
 JOHN LOCKE

The self is
consciousness
 JOHN LOCKE
The human mind at birth is
Tabularasa (clean slate)
the self is constructed primarily from
the self experience. These experiences
shape and mold the self throughout a
person’s life.

the essence of the self is its conscious

awareness of itself as thinking,
reasoning and reflecting identity
 JOHN LOCKE
The essential property of the “self” that
makes you “you” (the same person) over
time is not your body nor your mind but
rather your consciousness.

MEMORY THEORY
Personal identity persists over time
because you retain memories of yourself
at different points and each of those
memories is connected to one before it.
 JOHN LOCKE

• Self consciousness is necessary

to have a coherent personal
identity of the self as person.

• Consciousness is what makes the

identity of a person similar in
diverse situations.
 IMMANUEL KANT

Being true to
oneself is
respecting oneself
 IMMANUEL KANT

• The human person has 2-fold

natures:
1. Homonoumenon
2. Homophaenomenon
 IMMANUEL KANT
• Everything has two natures; same goes
with HUMAN/ SELF
• Homo noumenon
- god-like self of the human person
which comprises the psychological
state and intellect (intellect & will).
• Homo phaenomenon
- Merely the human self - the physical
self
 IMMANUEL KANT
• The Homo noumenon or the noumenal
self (or God-like Self) can be put under
moral obligation simply because it is the
self that is endowed with freedom.
• Therefore, the noumenal self is the
FREE AGENT.
• The idea of freedom that the noumenal
self is said to have an ABSOLUTE
INNER WORTH, a value which is beyond
any price and which beyond respect.
 IMMANUEL KANT
• The Noumenal Self has 2 Aspects:

1. Free Choice – the capacity of the

self to act without being determined to
do so by any external material forces.

2. Will – the capacity of the self to set

forth unconditionally binding moral
laws.
 IMMANUEL KANT
• Therefore, as a free agent, a person
can do what he wants to do (free
choice) but without violating his self-
imposed moral law (will).
• The noumenal Self is the True Self
and being true to oneself, is
respecting oneself

• It is our duty to respect our own

selves.
 DAVID HUME

There is no Self.
 DAVID HUME

• The concept of self is just an

illusion.

• There are only two distinct

entities: impressions and ideas.
 DAVID HUME
• Hume’s THEORY OF IDEAS

Ideas = Impressions
(Sensation & Reflection)

We can have an idea about something if we

experience them concretely. Therefore,
ideas that do not represent something in
reality is an abstract idea and therefore,
MEANINGLESS.
 DAVID HUME
• The only evidence assuring us of any
real existence and matters of facts is
EXPERIENCE, that is:

• 1. the present testimony of our senses

• 2. the records of our memory
• 3. the causal (experiential) reasoning
based on the empirically observed
regularities of past experiences
 DAVID HUME

• For Hume, we cannot experience the

“self” concretely. We have no reason
to suppose that we are “selves”,
“mind” or “souls”.
• We are just bunch of impressions
• We are just inclined to think about
the “self” because we exist
THE SELF FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF
CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
 GILBERT RYLE

I act therefore I am
 GILBERT RYLE

The self is best understood as

a pattern of behavior, the
tendency or disposition of a
person to behave in a certain
way in certain circumstances.
 GILBERT RYLE

The self is the way people

behave

What you do identifies who

you are.

The self is the same as the

bodily behavior.
PAUL CHURCHLAND

The Self is the

Brain.
 PAUL CHURCHLAND

He advocates the idea of

eliminative materialism - the
idea that the self is
inseparable from the brain and
the physiology of the body.
 PAUL CHURCHLAND

All person has is the brain,

and so if the brain is gone,
there is no self. If the brain is
damaged so as the sense of
self.

The physical brain gives

people the sense of self.
MAURICE MERLAU-PONTY

The Self is embodied

subjectivity
MAURICE MERLAU-PONTY
Subjectivity in Philosophy is a state of
being a subject, an entity that possesses
conscious experiences such as feelings,
beliefs, perspectives, and desires.

To be embodied is to give a body to

“soul”.

He argued that the mind is part of the

body and not just a mere house where
mind resides
MAURICE MERLAU-PONTY

The body acts what the mind

perceives. Therefore, the
physical body is an important part of
what makes up the subjective self

knowledge about ourselves is based

on the phenomena of experience.
MAURICE MERLAU-PONTY
When people examine the self at
central level of direct experience,
people will find that the mind and
body are unified.

Perception is not merely a

consequence of sensory experience;
rather, it is conscious experience.
Thus, the self is embodied
subjectivity.
QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Why do I need to have an established

understanding of “self”?

Which among the perspectives of the

self do you most agree with? Why?