COLEGIO DE LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION

The School of the Archdiocese of Capiz

School of Graduate Studies
Roxas City, Capiz 5800

EDM 211 – Philosophy of Man

A.Y. 2022 – 2023 | First Semester

Topic: MAN AND HIMSELF: CONCEPT OF SELF AND BUBER’S I-THOU

Discussant: PHOEBE ABALEÑA and CHRISTINE JOY V. PERION
Program: MASTER OF ARTS IN EDUCATION major in EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

THE SELF from Various Philosophical Perspectives

PHILOSOPHY

 Study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially in an

academic discipline.
 A particular theory that someone has about how to live or how to deal with a particular
situation.
 Academic discipline concerned with investigating the nature of significance of ordinary
and scientific beliefs - investigates the legitimacy of concepts by rational argument
concerning their implications, relationships as well as reality, knowledge, moral
judgment, etc.
 As used originally by the ancient Greeks, the term "philosophy" meant the pursuit of
knowledge for its own sake, and comprised ALL areas of speculative thought, including
the arts, sciences and religion.
 Philosophical questions (unlike those of the sciences) are usually foundational and
abstract in nature. Philosophy is done primarily through reflection and does not tend to
rely on experiment, although the methods used to study it may be analogous to those
used in the study of the natural sciences.

MUCH OF PHILOSOPHY CONCERNS WITH THE FUNDAMENTAL NATURE OF SELF:

 The Greeks were the ones who seriously questioned myths and moved away from them to
understand reality and respond to perennial questions of curiosity, including the question
of the self.
 The following are discussions of different perspectives and under- standings of the self-
according to its prime movers. From philosophers of the ancient times to the
contemporary period.

THE PRE-SOCRATICS

The Pre-Socratics philosophers were Thales, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus, and

Empedocles. They were concerned with answering questions such as:

 What is the world really made up of?

 Why is the world the way it is?
 What explains the changes that happen around us?

THE PRE-SOCRATICS
  Arché- origin or source/the “soul”/the primal matter.
 The soul’s movement is the ultimate arché of all other movement.
 Arché has no origin outside itself and cannot be destroyed.
 Explains the multiplicity of things in the world.
THE ANCIENT TRIUMVIRATE

A. SOCRATES (469-399 BC)

 Considered father of Western Philosophy.

 Plato, one of his students, kept his teachings and beliefs alive in his writing documenting
Socrates incarceration and eventually his execution.
 Concerned with the problem of the self
 “the true task of the philosopher is to know oneself”
 “the unexamined life is not worth living”
 Underwent a trial for ‘corrupting the minds of the youth’
 Succeeded made people think about who they are
 ‘the worst thing that can happen to anyone is to live but die inside’
 “every person is dualistic”
 Man = body + soul
 Individual = imperfect/permanent (body) + perfect & permanent (soul)

Socrates Beliefs
 Wisdom is awareness of own self ignorance, especially through the acquisition of
self- awareness and self-knowledge
 Self-awareness and self-knowledge were key to becoming an individual who can
think and analyze for himself/herself
 Seeking the truth in all things by asking questions and constantly dissecting all
viewpoints and ideas
 Freewheel discussion with the youth of Athens- to discover or expand upon new
ideas
 Questioned everything

Quotes
 “As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.”
 “False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”
 “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about
life, ourselves, and the world around us.”
 “Wisdom begins in wonder.”

B. PLATO (427-347 BC)

3 COMPONENTS TO THE SOUL

1. rational soul – reason & intellect to govern affairs
2. spirited soul – emotions should be kept at bay
3. appetitive soul – base desires (food, drink, sleep, sexual needs, etc.) • when these
are attained, the human person’s soul becomes just & virtuous

THE REPUBLIC

 It is one of the longest works of Plato. (more than 450 pages in length).
 It is written in dialogue form (as are most of Plato’s books), & it addresses major
issues in almost all of the branches of philosophy.
  The selection in the text begins at a point in the Republic after Socrates, Glaucon,
& other characters have been discussing the nature of justice and the marks of a
just political system for some time.

According to Socrates (Plato), a true philosopher…

 Loves the whole of wisdom and is satisfied with nothing less;
 Recognizes the difference between particular things and the essences (or forms) of
which particular things are likenesses (e.g., beautiful things vs. Beauty itself); and
 Knows the differences between knowledge, ignorance, and opinion.

Plato argues that …

Someone who really loves something must love that thing as a whole and not just some
aspects of it. On that basis, he concludes that a true philosopher (lover of wisdom) must desire
wisdom as a whole and not be content with having just some wisdom.

C. ARISTOTLE (427-347 BC)

 He was born in the city of Stagira.

 His father was a physician and served the grandfather of Alexander the Great.
 Married the daughter dictator’s daughter, Pythias. She died when she gave birth to
their only child.
 He was a student of Plato. He disagreed with him in a lot of things.
 Tutored the son of King Phillip II for four years
 He has a school in Athens called Lyceum

Aristotle’s Belief
1. He argued that science could rationally treat only information gathered by senses.
2. He numbered the so-called five senses of vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
3. He explored the nature of cause and effect.
4. He pointed out that people differ from one other living thing in their capacity for rational
thought.
5. He outlined laws of associationism that have lain at the heart of learning theory for
more than 2,000 years.
6. He also declared that people are more motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain – a
view that remains as current today as it was in ancient Greece.
Aristotle’s Arguments

 Soul – the principle which causes movement

 Movement – life is a movement
 Humans are a combinations of body (matter) and soul (form) > soul actualizes body
(matter)
 Essence – what makes you, you.
▪ Self-Nutrition and Reproductions
-autonomic biological systems = life = begins/generates & corrupts (dies)
▪ Perception
-5 senses – you perceive atoms which causes your eyes, ears, nose, etc… to take –form of what
you believe you are perceiving
-selects focus
-helps discriminate
 ▪ Thinking
-reason and logic, attention, knowing and understanding

▪ Desire
-body and soul are “in love”

▪ Practical Reason
-discriminate
-choose

Joined Plato’s Academy

 Studied under him, attending his lectures for a period of twenty years and began to
lecture on rhetoric.
 Plato died in 347, but Aristotle was not designated to lead academy divergence
from Plato’s teaching was too great

MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

A. ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (13 November 354 AD - 8 August 430 AD - age 75)
 ‘spirit of man’ in medieval philosophy
 Following view of Plato but adds Christianity
 Man is of a bifurcated nature
 Part of man dwells in the world (imperfect) and yearns to be with the Divine
 Other part is capable of reaching immortality • body – dies on earth; soul – lives
eternally in spiritual bliss with “God”
Aim:
 to focus on the life of Augustine and primarily his most defining works, the Confessions
and the City of God
St. Augustine Major Themes
1. Search for happiness is not easy…
2. Struggle as an adolescent to believe in God and live a virtuous life…
3. Virtue as character strengths that develop over time…
4. Sexuality and holiness = can we bridge the two?

B. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (Patron Saint of Students and Universities 1227 – 1274)

 Man = matter + form

 Matter (hyle) – “common stuff that makes up everything in the universe”
 Form (morphe) – “essence of a substance or thing”; (what makes it what it is)
 The body of the human is similar to animals/objects, but what makes a human is his
essence
 “the soul is what makes us humans”

MODERN PHILOSOPHY

A. RENE DESCARTES

 Father of Modern Philosophy

 Human person = body + mind
 “there is so much that we should doubt”
 “if something is so clear and lucid as not to be doubted, that’s the only time one should
believe.”
 The only thing one can’t doubt is existence of the self
 “I think, therefore I am”
 The self = cogito (the thing that thinks) + extenza (extension of mind/body)
 The body is a machine attached to the mind
 It’s the mind that makes the man
 “I am a thinking thing. . . A thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses,
imagines, perceives.”

B. JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

His most important works:

 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

 Two Treatises of Civil Government (1689)
 A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)

Major Works Essay Concerning Human Understanding

 In his Essay, Locke tries to determine the limits of our understanding, discussing the
sources of human knowledge and what can and what cannot be known.
 He argues that people are not born with innate knowledge, but rather that their mind is a
tabula rasa, a blank slate, on which the thread of experience writes.
 All of humanity is born equal in the realms of natural intelligence.
 The father of modern philosophy, expounded the theory that all knowledge should be
proven as illustrated by his famous statement, "I think, therefore I am".
 Locke reportedly declared that he would "rather learn Descartes than Aristotle.“
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 Locke developed his ideas in a very different direction than Descartes; he rejected his
predecessor's conviction in the existence of innate ideas.
 Locke believed that man is not born with innate ideas, but rather develops his ideas by
means of experience.

C. DAVID HUME (1711-1776)

 Disagrees with the all the other aforementioned philosophers

 “one can only know what comes from the senses & experiences” (he is an empiricist)
 “the self is not an entity beyond the physical body”
 You know that other people are humans not because you have seen their soul, but
because you see them, hear them, feel them etc.
 “the self is nothing but a bundle of impressions and ideas”
 Impression – - basic objects of our experience/sensation - forms the core of our thoughts
 Idea – - copies of impressions - not as “real” as impressions
 Self = a collection of different perceptions which rapidly succeed each other
 Self = in a perpetual flux and movement • we want to believe that there is a unified,
coherent self, soul, mind, etc. But ~~actually~~ it is all just a combination of
experiences.

D. IMMANUEL KANT

 Agrees with HUME that everything starts with perception/sensation of impressions.

 There is a MIND that regulates these impressions.
 “time, space, etc. Are ideas that one cannot find in the world, but is built in our minds
“apparatus of the mind”
 The self organizes different impressions that one gets in relation to his own existence.
 We need active intelligence to synthesize all knowledge and experience.
 The self is not only personality but also the seat of knowledge.

E. GILBERT RYLE

 Denies the internal, non-physical self

 “what truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his day-to-day life.”
 The self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient name
that we use to refer to the behaviors that we make

F. MERLEAU PONTY

 A phenomenologist who says the mind- body bifurcation is an invalid problem

 Mind and body are inseparable
 “one’s body is his opening toward his existence to the world”
 The living body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one.
 If you hate this subject, Merleau-Ponty understands you.

MARTIN BUBER’S I – THOU

Martin Buber, (born February 8, 1878, Vienna—died June 13, 1965, Jerusalem), German-
Jewish religious philosopher, biblical translator and interpreter, and master of German prose
style. Buber’s philosophy was centered on the encounter, or dialogue, of man with other
beings, particularly exemplified in the relation with other men but ultimately resting on and
pointing to the relation with God. This thought reached its fullest dialogical expression in Ich
und Du (1923; I and Thou).

Buber was the son of Carl Buber, an agronomist, and his wife—both assimilated Jews. When
Martin was three his mother left his father, and the boy was brought up by his grandparents in
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Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine). The search after the lost mother became a strong motive for his
dialogical thinking—his I–Thou philosophy.

Martin Buber’s I and Thou (Ich und Du, 1923) presents a philosophy of personal dialogue, in
that it describes how personal dialogue can define the nature of reality. Buber’s major theme is
that human existence may be defined by the way in which we engage in dialogue with each
other, with the world, and with God.

According to Buber, human beings may adopt two attitudes toward the world: I-Thou or I-It. I-
Thou is a relation of subject-to-subject, while I-It is a relation of subject-to-object. In the I-
Thou relationship, human beings are aware of each oher as having a unity of being. In the I-
Thou relationship, human beings do not perceive each other as consisting of specific, isolated
qualities, but engage in a dialogue involving each other’s whole being. In the I-It relationship,
on the other hand, human beings perceive each other as consisting of specific, isolated
qualities, and view themselves as part of a world which consists of things. I-Thou is a
relationship of mutuality and reciprocity, while I-It is a relationship of separateness and
detachment.

Buber explains that human beings may try to convert the subject-to-subject relation to a
subject-to-object relation, or vice versa. However, the being of a subject is a unity which cannot
be analyzed as an object. When a subject is analyzed as an object, the subject is no longer a
subject, but becomes an object. When a subject is analyzed as an object, the subject is no
longer a Thou, but becomes an It. The being which is analyzed as an object is the It in an I-It
relation.

Love, as a relation between I and Thou, is a subject-to-subject relation. Buber claims that love
is not a relation of subject-to-object. In the I-Thou relation, subjects do not perceive each other
as objects, but perceive each other’s unity of being. Love is an I-Thou relation in which subjects
share this unity of being. Love is also a relation in which I and Thou share a sense of caring,
respect, commitment, and responsibility.

Buber also explains that the I-Thou relation may have either potential being or actual being.
When the I-It relation becomes an I-Thou relation, the potential being of the I-Thou relation
becomes the actual being of the I-Thou relation. However, the I-Thou relation between the
individual and God does not become, or evolve from, an I-It relation, because God, as the
eternal Thou, is eternally present as actual Being.
DIALOGUE:
- It is a deep and genuine relationship between persons. It happens when
two persons truly acknowledge each other’s presence and treat each
other as equals.

I-Thou relationship VS I-IT relationship

I-Thou relationship – refers to the world of encounter and relationships

where there are persons. It is concrete encounter without any
qualification of one another.

I-IT relationship – refers to the world of experience and sensation where

there are objects. An individual treats other things, people etc., as object
to be used and experienced.

Famous Quotations from Martin Buber’s I-Thou:

“Feelings dwell in man; but man dwells in his love. That is no metaphor, but the actual truth. Love
does not cling to the I in such a way as to have the Thou only for its " content," its object; but love is
between I and Thou. The man who does not know this, with his very being know this, does not know
love; even though he ascribes to it the feelings he lives through, experiences, enjoys, and expresses.”
― Martin Buber, I and Thou
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“Love is responsibility of an I for a You: in this consists what cannot consist in any feeling - the
equality of all lovers..”
― Martin Buber, I and Thou

“All actual life is encounter.”

― Martin Buber, I and Thou

References:

Martin Buber Quotes (Author of I and Thou) (goodreads.com)

Self-Concept in Psychology: Definition, Development, Theories (verywellmind.com)

What Is Self-Concept in Psychology? (thoughtco.com)