ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS AND THEIR BELIEFS

PHILOSOPHER SELF

SOCRATES "An unexamined life is not worth living"

the true task of the philosopher is to know oneself

every man is dualistic (composed of body and soul)

Two important aspects of his personhood

BODY- imperfect and impermanent
SOUL- perfect and permanent

Two dichotomous realms

PHYSICAL - changeable, transient and imperfect
IDEAL - unchanging, eternal, and immortal

“KNOW THYSELF”

• “Who we are, who we should be, who we will become”

• soul strives for wisdom and perfection
• reason, the soul's tool to achieve an exalted state of life
• Our preoccupation with bodily needs such as food, drink, sex,
pleasure, material possessions, and wealth keep us from
attaining wisdom.
• A person can have a meaningful and happy life, only if he
becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can be
achieved through constant soul - searching.

PLATO A student of Socrates

philosophy of the self can be explained as a process of self-knowledge
and purification of the soul
He believed in the existence of mind and soul

There are three components to the soul

the rational soul, the spirited soul, the appetitive soul

Rational Soul
• reason and intellect
• divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise choices,
and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths

Spirited Soul
• emotion and passion
• basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition, empathy, and
aggressiveness

Appetitive Soul
• In charge of basic needs or desire
 • Includes our basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, sleep, and
sexual desire

These three elements of ourselves are in a dynamic relationship with

one another, sometimes in conflict

When conflict occurs, it is the responsibility of our Reason to sort

things out and exert control

believes that genuine happiness can only be achieved by people who

consistently make sure that their Reason is in control of their Spirits
and Appetites.

ARISTOTLE Body and Soul are not two separate things.

The soul is simply the form of the body and is not capable of existing
without the body.

The soul is that which makes a person a person.

The soul is the essence of the self.

Suggests that the rational nature of the self is to lead a good,

flourishing, and fulfilling life. Anything with life has soul.

Three Kinds of Soul

Vegetative – includes the physical body that can grow
Sentient – includes sensual desires, feelings, emotions
Rational – is what makes man human. Includes the intellect that
makes a man know and understand things.

ST. AUGUSTINE Integrated ideas of Plato and Christianity.

The soul is united with the body so that man may be entire and
complete.

Believed humankind is created in the image and likeness of God.

Self-knowledge is a consequence of the knowledge of God.

The soul is united with the body so that man may be entire and
complete.

Two Parts:
Matter or hyle (common stuff)
Form or morphe (essence of a substance)

RENE DESCARTES Father of Modern Philosophy

The act of thinking about self – of being self-conscious is in itself
proof that there is self. “I think, therefore I am” Cogito ergo sum
 The thinking about self or being self-conscious is in itself proof that
there is self.

Two distinct entities:

Cogito – the thing that thinks, mind
Extenza – extension of the mind, body

JOHN LOCKE The Self is Consciousness - Personal Identity = SELF

Human Mind from birth is tabula rasa or blank slate,

He felt that the self is constructed primarily from sense experiences

Personal Identity is a matter of psychological continuity

Consciousness - means having coherent personal identity or

knowledge of the self as a person

DAVID HUME Believes that there is no self, he believes that self is simply a bundle
or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with
an inconceivable rapidly and are in perpetual flux and movement.

The idea of personal identity is a result of imagination.

IMMANUEL KANT We construct the self.

Self is not just what gives one his personality but also the seat of
knowledge acquisition for all human persons
The self, constructs its own reality creating a world that is familiar and
predictable.
With our rationality, we transcend sense experience.

GILBERT RYLE The self is the way people behave. “I act, therefore I am”, the self is
the same as bodily behavior. Self is not an entity one can locate and
analyze but simply the convenient name people use to refer to all
behaviors people make

PAUL CHURCHLAND THE SELF IS THE BRAIN

The self is inseparable from the brain and the physiology of the body

All we have is the brain and so, if the brain is gone, there is no self

The physical brain and not imaginary mind, gives us our sense of self
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY THE SELF IS EMBODIED SUBJECTIVITY
All knowledge of ourselves and our world is based on subjective
experience.
That self, is derived from subjective experience. The self can never be
objectified or known in a completely objective sort of way.
Self is constructed from people’s subjective experiences.