UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
UNIT |: The self from various perspective
1. Philosophical Perspective
> “Reflective and critical thinking”
2. Sociological Perspective
> “Family”
3. Anthropological Perspective
> “Culture”
4. Psychological Perspective
> “Inner character and emotion life”
5. The Self in Western and Eastern thoughts
> “Characteristics we share”
1) SOCRATES
 ancient Greek philosopher
 lived in Athens in the 5th century BCE
 admired by his followers for his integrity, self-mastery,
profound philosophical insight and his argumentative skill.
 He believed in Dualism.
A. EXIST IN PHYSICAL (material substance)
 body belongs to the physical realm
 mortal and constantly changing
 believed that when we are in the physical realm, we are
alive and our body and soul are attached, therefore
making both parts of our “self” present in the physical
realm.
 “There is world after death.”
B. SOUL (immaterial substance)
 belongs to the ideal realm
 Immortal
 it is unchanging while it is attached to our body and thus in
the physical realm, but it is also unmodified.
 SOCRATES urges to TAKECARE OF OUR “SOUL”, WHY? TO
ATTAIN THE GOOD LIFE.
2) PLATO
 born around 428 B.C
 grew up during Peloponnesian War (431-404)
 he was educated in philosophy, poetry, and gymnastics by
distinguished Athenian teachers.
 The SOUL is the SELF
SOUL has 3 parts,
1. Rational/Reason - the divine essence that enables you
think deeply, make wise choices and achieve an
understanding of eternal truths.
2. Spirit or Passion- basic emotions such love, happiness, joy,
anger, empathy, and other emotional feelings.
3. Physical Appetite- basic biological needs such as hunger,
thirst, sexual desires and other physical wants
 “If we do not live in accordance with their nature/
components, the result will be injustice.”
3) ST. AGUSTINE
 born in Tagaste, North Africa.
 son of a Roman citizen and a Christian woman, Monica.
 Bishop of Hippo Regius, present day Annaba, Algeria.
 Latin philosopher and theologian from the Africa
Province of the Roman Empire.
 one of the greatest Christian thinkers of all time.
 He believed in parts of the soul, like Plato.
PLATO ST. AUGUSTINE
1. SOUL- achieves eternal 1. SOUL- strives to achieve
realm through intellectual God through faith and
enlightenment. reason.
2. BODY is inferior 2. BODY- is inferior and
our physical world is proving
ground for eternal destiny.
 At first, he thought the body as the “slave” of the soul
but ultimately, regarded the body as the “spouse” of the
soul both attached to one another.
 He believed that body is united with the soul, so that
man may be entire and complete.
 The self seeks to be united with God through faith and
reason.
 “Humanity is created in the image of and likeness of
God, that God is supreme and all-knowing and
everything created by God who is all good is good.”
4) RENE DESCARTES
 Born in conservative France (1956)
 Finished his studies in law
 Engaged as a soldier in diverse army
 Met Isaac Beeckman (Dutch philosopher and scientist;
sparked his interest in mathematics and the New
Physics)
 After several dreams, he quitted army career for the
study of philosophy and mathematics
 The self is the thinking thing, distinct from the body.
 Soul/thinking self-non material, immortal, conscious.
 Physical body- material, mortal, non-thinking entity,
fully governed by the physical laws of nature.
“Cogito ergo sum.”
“I think, therefore | am.”
5) JOHN LOCKE
 He was born in Wrington the 29" of August, 1632.
 He studied natural sciences, medicine and State’s
theory.
 Locke never married nor had children. However, he was
very close with Lady Damaris Cudworth Masham that
lasted till his death on October 28', 1704 at the age of
72.
  Locke is recognized as the founder of empiricism.
 Human mind at birth is a tabula rasa (“blank slate”)
 The self or personal identity is constructed primarily from
sense experiences which shape and mold the self
throughout a person’s life.
 Personality is made possible by self-consciousness.
 Conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences
are the keys in understanding the self.
6) DAVID HUME
 Born April 26» 1711
 Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist.
 Studied law for 3 years.
 He is widely regarded as “The greatest English
philosopher”
 Failed to get university appointments because of his
“atheism”
 He attended the Jesuit college in France where Descartes
also studied.
 Hume completely undercuts Descartes and Locke’s view of
self-identity.
 Humans are so desperately wanting to believe that they
have a unified and continuous soul that they use their
imaginations to construct a fictional self.
 The idea of a personal identity is just a result of
imagination.
 “There is no self”, only a bundle of perceptions passing
through the theatre of your minds.
7) IMMANUEL KANT
 Born 1724, Died 1804 at Konikgsberg, East Prussia
 Appointed as a professor of Logic and Metaphysics when
he was 45
 He stands as part of the “European Enlightenment”- the
attempt to get beyond authority and superstition and deal
with the world on the basis of HUMAN REASON.
 He opposes the idea of Hume that everything starts with
perception and sensation of impressions.
 There is unavoidably a mind that systematizes the
impressions that men get from the external world.
 -“We construct the self.”
 Self is a product of Reason because the self regulates
experience by making unified experience possible.
 Self constructs its own reality, actively creating a world
that is familiar and predictable.
8) SIGMUND FREUD
 Born May 6, 1856, Austria Empire (now Pribor, Czech
Republic)
 Died September 23, 1939
 He was an Austrian neurologist
 Founder of Psychoanalysis
 Self is composed of three (3) layers.
1. conscious
2. preconscious
3. unconscious
 Conscious mind- thoughts, feelings, and actions that you
are currently aware of
 human awareness of both internal and external stimuli
A. Preconscious mind- mental activities that are stored
in your memory
>consists of those things we could pay conscious
attention to if we so desired, and where many
memories are restored for easy retrieval.
> (e.g., the “tip of the tongue” effect)
B. Unconscious mind- includes activities that you are
not aware of.
> largely inaccessible, such as in dreams or slips
of the tongue.
> e.g., A man who accidentally uses a former’s
girlfriend name when referring to a current
girlfriend.)
9) GILBERT RYLE
 Born August 19,1900 in Brighton, Sussex, England and
died on October 6, 1976.
 His father was a general practitioner but had a keen
interest in philosophy and astronomy that he passed it
on to his children
 He was educated at Brighton College and then entered
Queen's College, Oxford
 “I Act therefore I am.”, in short the self is the same as
bodily behavior.
 Arguing that the mind does not exist and therefore can’t
be the seat of self.
 views the self as the way people behave, which is
composed of a set of patterned behavior.
 Basically, for Ryle, the self is the same as your behavior.
 The workings of the mind are not distinct from the
actions of the body but are one and the same.
 Self is defined in terms of the behavior that is presented
in to the world, a view that is known in Psychology as
Behaviorism.
 Logical Behaviorism therefore holds that any mental
term can be understood in terms of observable physical
processes or events.
10) PAUL CHURCHLAND
 born on October 21, 1942 in Vancouver, Canada
 Canadian philosopher and author known for neuro
philosophy and philosophy of mind
 married to fellow philosopher Patricia Churchland
 his research focuses on epistemology, perception,
philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of mind,
philosophy of neuroscience, and philosophy of science.
 “the self is the brain.”
 The self is inseparable from the brain and the
physiological body because the physical brain gives the
sense of self.
 the brain and the self are one.
 Once the brain is dead, the self is dead too.
  He believed that to fully understand one’s behavior, one
should understand the different neurological movement
of the brain that pertains to different emotions, feelings,
actions, and reactions and how such brain movements
affect the body.

11) MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY

 Born March 14, 1908 in Rochefort, France
 Died May 1961 in Paris
 Educator, philosopher, political scientist, academic author,
editor, and journalist
 Lost his father in WWI
 Served in the infantry in WWII
 Elected chair of Philosophy in 1952 until his death
 “the self has embodied subjectivity”
 the term “embodied” is a verb that means to give a body
to (usually an immaterial substance like a soul)
 A subject acts upon or affects some other entity, which in
philosophy called “object”
 Subjectivity possesses conscious experiences: feelings,
belief, desire
 Therefore, a subject is something that exists, can take
action, and can cause real effects (on an object)
 believed the physical body to be an important part of what
makes up the subjective self. 
 All knowledge of ourselves and our world is based on
subjective experience.
 The self can never truly objectified or known in a
completely objective sort of way.
 all your knowledge about yourself and the world is based
on your subjective experiences and everything that you
are aware of is contained in your consciousness.
 “Your body is your general medium for having a world.”