UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
respect and dignity (because he is rational & free).
LESSON #1
08/09/2021
Philosophy – “philia” which means love; “sophia” which
means wisdom. The commitment to understand things.
“Philia” – love
 Agape – HIGHEST FORM. Unconditional love and
was said that no one has ever been in this level
since love has conditions.
 Philia – familial/ love towards friends involving
commitment and respect.
 Eros – romantic love towards a person. It bases
its love from the physical appearance. Primarily
influenced by lust.
Ex. Pagnanasa kay crush
 Estorge – love towards objects. Materialistic
therefore LOWEST FORM of love since it can
instantly change through a short period of time.
Ex. Nagka crush ka sa anime character but then
after watching a new anime mas nagging crush
mo yung bago at natabunan yung luma.
“Sophia” – intelligence VS. wisdom
INTELLIGENCE – only knowing ; WISDOM – needs
experience & understanding in knowing.
Ex. Intelligence is knowing that the ballpen is on the
table, but wisdom is about knowing why the ballpen is
on the table.
Terms & definitions:
SELF – “entity” which can be seen, felt, thought, or
assumed to be different from others.
IDENTITY – unity of your own self. Being’s sameness
with itself by reason of its unity (being one). Should not
be divided but separated from the identity of people.
Wholeness as a person.
CONSCIOUSNESS – recognition that human beings have
free thinking.
HUMAN BEING – separate from all human beings in the
world. Physical and are rational.
PERSON – signifies the human being as an object of
- He is the source of his own free acts ex. capable
of self-determination.
PERSONALITY – innermost core of human being-person
out of which develops his unique self. Individuality
(identity), spirituality, & inferiority of self.
WESTERN VIEW
ANCIENT = cosmological
 SOCRATES
“KNOW THYSELF” – life must be open in the pursuit of
truth & knowledge of the self and the world. Must know
yourself 1st before knowing your surroundings.
“THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING” –
what we need in life is about what existence is and not
only survival. YOLO therefore know your purpose and
what you want to do.
Elenchus/elenche – having a person give birth to the
idea.
Socrates was the 1st to develop DIALECTICS – movement
of thought in order to reach the knowledge of the
absolute good.
PLATO’S ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
Plato – Socrates – Aristotle – Alexander the Great
= PRISONERS – symbolizes us because we want and
we’re only satisfied with what we’re being given to us.
=SHADOWS/PUPPETS – the things that government,
school, and everyone provides/feeds us.
=OUTSIDE OF CAVE – it is the reality, wisdom, and the
world of forms where the material world came from.
=INSIDE/CAVE – world of material
Material world – the world that was perceived to us.
The world that we are in.
World of forms – the world beyond the material world.
The reality of things. It is like heaven (earth is good but
there is a better place wc is heaven)
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“Knowledge is virtue” – self is the soul (psuche) whose
task is to go back into the divine in the world of ideas.
DUALISM – body + soul
BODY SOUL
Material world World of forms
Prisoner of the soul Must get out of the body
MODERN = highly scientific/doubting
 Rene Decartes
“The charioteer and the chariot”
- In the world of forms, the charioteer rides a
chariot with 2 horses, the black and the white.
However, the 2 horses went to different paths
resulting for the chariot to break & the
charioteer with the 2 horses fell down into the
material world. The characters were known as
the soul.
+ Charioteer – mind (who guides and controls)
+ White horse – heart (because of goodness)
+ Black horse – stomach (black symbolizes greed &
endless passion which can be felt in the stomach)
THEORY OF RECOLLECTION
- Achievement of enlightment therefore we need
to reminisce/remember
 PLATO
- Man is essentially a soul imprisoned in a body
(Aristotle)
- Believes in metempsychosis = reincarnation
- Material world is pure copies of the world of
forms. We must always be oriented of doing the
good (ethics = also for politics bc will not only
affect us but also others).
- LEADER OF SOCIETY MUST BE A PHILOSOPHER
KING! Meaning:
+ ruler who possesses love for wisdom
+ possesses reliability, intelligence, and
willingness to live a simple life.
+ values others
MEDIEVAL = theological (involves God)
 St. Agustine
- Platonism and Christianity combined into a
philosophical synthesis that adopted dualism
bw material and intellectual world.
“faith and reason”
- St. Agustine believes that happiness can be only
formed in the love of God not in the material
world.
- “our hearts are restless until they rest in thee”
Eternal destiny
- Human beings are immortal souls
- “I think therefore I am” = all the things he
doubt, he can’t doubt that he’s doubting
therefore someone exists.
- We cannot trust our SENSES and our FEELINGS
+ self is defined as a subject that thinks (dualism)
because when our body expires, our soul separates
our body & goes somewhere else.
SOLIPSISM = does not approve existence of other
people
RATIONALISM = idea of self that has full
competence in the powers of human reason – can
justify what is true (w/o God)
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 John Locke
- All knowledge must come from experience =
empiricism
- No innate ideas therefore he opposes Plato and
Socrates because for them there are innate
ideas to remember (theory of recollection)
unlike Locke.
- Before there is knowledge, mind is a tabula
rasa (blank state).
LIBERAL HUMANISM
- Human being is rational and free. Person is a
thinking, intelligent being who has the ability to
think on its own.
PERSONAL IDENTITY
- Tao ay parehas lang in different times and
different places, di tayo nagbabago.
SELF CONSCIOUSNESS
- Ability to know yourself even confronted with
different situation.
 + ex. because you know na honest ka, you’ll be
honest kahit ano man na situation ang
hinaharap mo bc you’re the same.
 David Hume
- Certain knowledge about the obvious
perception and never the underlying truth
behind them.
BUNDLE OF PERCEPTION
- Self is essentially nothing but result of habits
that we develop by tracing actions to a source.
- Di mo kilala ang true self ng isang tao, only the
image that they want to show.
Habit = all things are a habit/ kasanayan lang.
= there is no casual origin of human action.
 Immanuel Kant
- Things can only be perceived by a priori
categories.
- Nakilala mo lang ako because of the
phenomena (what we appear to be) and not
the noumena (themselves).
POSTULATE OF PRACTICAL REASON
- Idea of God, self, freedom, and immortality
can’t be understood by our minds but we need
to know that they still exist. It is because they
are reasons for us to move on with our lives.
- You know what self, freedom, God and
immortality is pero di mo sila maexplain ng
maayos.
SELF AS UNITY OF APPRECEPTION
- Must be understood as freedom its self whose
ultimate nature is unknowable for us. We can
never have full knowledge of ourselves.
 Sigmund Freud
- Idea of self is divided, fragmented, and ruptured
into id, ego, superego.
- Instinct </3 (torn) requirements of civilization
+ Id – gagawin ko gusto ko. Governed by the
pleasure principle and does not distinguish what is
right and what is wrong.
= stomach (charioteer)
Ex. I have a jowa and nag cheat ako by entertaining
chats with guys whose intention is to flirt, I don’t
care about anything gusto ko lang magkaroon ng
kabit for my pleasure.
Ex. Online sabong, addicting siya which leads to
being bad na.
+ Ego – very realistic. Refers to the conscious self
that mediates the desires. Balance between
pleasure and reality principle which is being done
by lots of people.
= heart (charioteer)
Ex. I’ll entertain chats from guys pero without
malice even though I have jowa pero I won’t cheat.
Ex. I won’t drink too much kasi mag didrive pa ako
later at night, it would be too dangerous.
+ Superego – one that commands the ego to follow
the dictates of reason. It conflicts with the ego
because it supplies ego with guilt since it is the
conscience between ego and the id.
= mind (charioteer)
Ex. I have jowa therefore I will never ever cheat. I
am a faithful and loyal person.
Ex. Gutom ako during synchronous session, di ako
kakain kasi priority ko ang makinig kay ma’am/sir.
 Gilbert Ryle
- Mind does not exist!
“I act therefore I am”
- What makes us “us” is our actions. Self is a
pattern of behavior.
GHOST IN A MACHINE
- Mind exists to inhabit and control the body.
 Paul Churchland
- Eliminate materialism = there is no such thing as
mind, no such thing as soul
+ brain = self
+ no self, no freedom, no immortality so if we
die then it’s the end since brain is dead
therefore there’s no longer a self.
 Maurice Merleau Ponty
- Man is an incarnate subjectivity
- Body is the carrying subjects and the one who
perceives ourselves.
 - Difference between subject (self) and obj (body)
which are connected.

EASTERN VIEW
 Hinduism
- Self = Atman, cosmic self = Braham
- They believe in the soul/reincarnation
- Soul will connect with cosmic self if they die.
 Buddhism
- Self must be viewed as a non-self because of
reincarnation
+ if good ka = karma is positive
+ if bad ka = karma is negative
- The self must achieve freedom from suffering
towards the achievement of what is called
nirvana.
Need -> necessary; desire -> not important and is
insatiable
- For you to end sufferings you need to avoid
desires. To achieve nirvana means escaping the
cycle of reincarnation