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LESSON 1: PHILOSOPHY:
THE SELF FROM PHILOSOPHICAL
PERSPECTIVES

According to Corpuz et al. (2019), SELF is commonly defined by the

following characteristics:

1. SEPARATE - self is unique or distinct from others.

2. SELF CONTAINED and INDEPENDENT - independent and
contained with its own thoughts, characteristics and volition.
3. CONSISTENT - has a personality that is enduring and persistent
which allow it to be examined, described and measured. It also means that
self traits, characteristics, tendencies, and potentialities are more or less the
same.
4. UNITARY- self is the center of all experiences and thoughts where all
processes, emotions, and thoughts converge or in command.
5. PRIVATE - each person sorts out information, feelings and emotions
within the self that is not accessible to others.

The definition given by Stevens (1996) shows us a comprehensive

characterization of the self. Additionally, it is also important to identify the
factors affecting the
development of the self. Macayan et al. (2018) outlined four factors affecting
one’s being; these are:
1. Heredity
Heredity plays a significant role in the development of the
various aspects of the self. In this process, parents ‘characteristics/
traits are transmitted to their offspring. For instance, you have a
dark complexion because you inherit the complexion of one or
both of your parents. Aside from physical, you may also inherit
psychological conditions like being emotionally unstable.

2. Environment
Another factor affecting our development is the environment.
For instance, you learned to smoke because you are surrounded by
family members who smoke. You are aggressive because you are
exposed in an hostile environment.

3. Biological
Biological factors like the functioning of the brain, hormones,
and neurotransmitter substances also affect the development of the self.
For instance, you are depressed because of the imbalance of
neurotransmitter substances such as serotonin and dopamine.
 4. Personal choice
Another factor is a personal choice with emphasis on the role
of free will or free choice. For instance, instead of saying that you
smoke because of the influence of your friends (environmental), it
should be “I smoke because I choose to smoke.”

After knowing what are the characteristics of the self and the factors
affecting its development. Let us now proceed to the philosophical
perspective of the self.

Have you ever asked yourself about who you are? This question may
seem too easy to ask but so hard to grasp. If we will go back in time it was
said that “philosophy focuses on the fundamentals nature of the self”. As a
matter of fact, the earliest thinkers were known to have been continuously
fixated on knowing one’s self. Early thinkers particularly the Greeks were
recognized to be the one who seriously questioned myths and moved away
from them in attempting to understand reality and respond to the lasting
questions of curiosity on the subject of the self.

The following philosophers below have found out different

perspectives with regards to understanding one’s self. So, let’s explore their
belief and understanding about the mystery behind one’s self.

PHILOSOPHER PERSPECTIVE ON THE SELF

 -- Adapted
The some
first oneideaswho
from became
Aristotle, more
Aquinas said
concerned thatthe
about indeed man of
problem is the self.
Socrates - His lifelong mission is to knowand
composed of two parts: matter form.
oneself.
-- Matter
He refers to the
emphasized that“common
the true stuff
task that
of a
makes up everything in
philosopher is to know oneself.the universe”.
-- Form
He refersthat
stated to the
the“essence
true taskof of
substance
the
or thing”.
unexamined life is not worth living.
-- He thought
He believedthatthatthe
what makes
worst thatus
canhuman
is our soul,
happen our essence.
to anyone is to live but die
inside.
- Socrates believed that every man is
composed of body and soul.
- He explained that all individuals have an
imperfect, impermanent aspect which is
the body and while maintaining that
there is also a soul that is perfect and
permanent.
- Plato is Socrates’ student who supported
his teacher’s idea.
- He added that there are three
Plato components of the soul. The rational
soul, spirited and appetitive soul.
a. The rational soul which is the
combination of reason and intellect
that governs the affairs of the human
person.
b. The spirited part is in charge of
emotions.
c. The appetitive soul is in charge of
one’s desire.
- Plato stressed that “justice in the human
person can only be attained if the three
(3) parts of the soul are working
harmoniously with one another”.
- Augustine’s view of the human person
reflects the entire spirit of the medieval
world when it comes to man.
Augustine - Following the ancient view of Plato and
infusing it with a newfound doctrine of
Christianity.
- He speculated that man is of bifurcated
nature.
- He believed that the body is bound to
die on earth and the soul is to anticipate
living eternally in a realm of spiritual
bliss in communion with God.
- He asserted that the goal of every
human person is to attain this
communion and bliss with the Divine
by living his life on earth in virtue.
 - Father of Modern Philosophy.
Rene Descartes - He claims that there is so much that we
should doubt.
- The only thing one cannot doubt is the
existence of the self.
- His famous Cogito ergo sum “I think
therefore I am”.
- Descartes believed we are composed of
the cogito (the mind) and the extenza
(extension of the mind which is the
body).
- The body is nothing else but a machine
that is attached to the mind.
- He says “but what then, am I? A
thinking thing. It has been said. But
what is a thinking thing? It is a thing
that doubts, understands (conceives),
affirms, denies, wills, refuses; imagine
also and perceives.
- For Descartes, the self is nothing but a
mind-body dichotomy. Thought (mind)
always precedes action (body).
- It is the thought that sets direction to
human actions but humans are always
free to choose.
 - Scottish Philosopher
- An empiricist who believes that one can
know only what comes from the senses
and experiences.
David Hume - Empiricism is the school of thought that
espouses the idea that knowledge can
only be possible if it is sensed and
experienced.
- He believed that the self is nothing else
but a bundle of impressions which is
categorized into two: impressions and
ideas.
- He believed that self is a bundle or
collections of different perceptions,
which succeed each other with an
inconceivable rapidity, and are in
perpetual flux and movement.
- He believed that there is no self as a
mental entity for “what we call a mind is
nothing but a heap or collection of
different perceptions…”
- He reduced personality and cognition to
a machine that may be activated or
deactivated. Death, according to him
obliterates the perception one has.
- Kant thinks that the things that men
perceive around them are not just
Immanuel Kant randomly infused into the human person
without an organizing principle that
regulates the relationship of these
impressions.
- There is necessarily a mind that
organizes the impression that men get
from the external world.
- He suggests that the self is an actively
engaged intelligence in man that
synthesizes all knowledge and
experience.
- The self is not just what gives one his
personality. It is also the seat of
knowledge acquisition for human persons.
 - Gilbert Ryle solves the mind-body
dichotomy.
- In searching for the self, one cannot be
simultaneously be the hunter and the
Gilbert Ryle hunted.
- For him, what truly matters is the
behavior that a person manifests in his
day-to-day life.
- Ryle suggests that the “self” is not an
entity one can locate and analyze but
simply the convenient name that people
use to refer to all the behaviors that
people make.
- His theory is called logical behaviorism
or analytical behaviorism- a theory of
mind which states that mental concepts
can be understood through observable
events.
- He believed that the self is a
combination of the mind and the body.
For him, self is taken as a whole.
- He also posited the maxim, “I act,
therefore I am.”
- A phenomenologist who asserts that the
mind- body bifurcation is a futile
endeavor and an invalid problem.
Merleau-Ponty - He believed in “I am my body”.
- He says that the mind and body are so
intertwined that they cannot be
separated from one another.
- He believed that the living body, his
thoughts, emotions and experiences are
all one.
- He believed that the body has its own
intelligence and it perceived it based on
its senses.
- We know not through our intellect but
through our experience.
 - His main philosophy on personal
identity is founded on consciousness or
memory.
John Locke - For him, consciousness is the perception
of what passes a man’s own mind. He
rejected that brain has something to do
with consciousness as the brain and the
body may change, while consciousness
remains the same.
- He concluded that personal identity is
not in the brain but in one’s
consciousness.
- He believed that consciousness may
transfer from one substance to other
(body and soul).
- He believed in tabula rasa which discuss
that everyone started with a blank slate
and the content is provided by one’s
experiences over time.
- He believed that the self is multi-
layered.
- The human mind is composed of three
Sigmund Freud structures- id, ego and superego.
- Id- exists since birth, pertaining to
instincts.
- Ego operates according to the reality
principle.
- Superego operates according to the
morality principle. It has two
systems: conscience; and ideal self.

- Both neuroscientist that introduced the

eliminative materialism- “a radical claim
that ordinary, common sense
Paul and Patricia understanding of the mind is deeply
Churchland wrong and that some or all of the mental
states posited by common sense do not
actually exist”.
- For them, self is nothing else but brain,
or simply the self is contained entirely
within the physical brain.