Understanding the Self

The Self from Various

Philosophical Perspectives Aristotle

Plato
 Understanding the Self

Objectives
1 Explain the importance of understanding the
self

2 Describe and discuss the different notions of the self from the
points of view of different philosophers across time and place.

Compare and contrast how the self has been

3 represented in different philosophical schools

4 Examine oneself against the different views of the

self
 Understanding the Self

Every man is composed of body and soul

To know yourself - to bring his inner self to life

"the man who does not follow good fails to do so

because he does not recognize it"

VIRTUE is the deepest and most basic

propensity of man

SELF-KNOWLEDGE is a source of all wisdom

Socrates
 Understanding the Self

Name: Socrates
Date of Birth: 469 BCE
Place of Birth: Athens, Greece
Date of Death: 399 BCE
Trial and Death:
• Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth
and impiety in Athens.
• He was tried and convicted, and sentenced to
death by drinking hemlock.
• His death was seen as a symbol of the conflict
between individual freedom of thought and
speech, and the authority of the state.
Socrates
 Understanding the Self

Man is also a double nature of body and soul

Three components of the soul so first he have the

rational soul the spirit and soul and the repetitive
soul

Man - omniscient or all knowing

Contemplation - allows man to regain perfections

Happiness - fruit of virtue; attained by constant
imitation of the divine exemplar of virtue.
Plato
 Understanding the Self

Plato's theory of the tripartite soul can be

found in his work "The Republic."

Reason (logos) - This is the rational part of the

soul that enables us to think, reflect, and make
decisions based on logic and evidence.
Spirit (thumos) - This is the spirited or
emotional part of the soul that drives our desires,
passions, and ambitions.

Appetite (epithumia) - This is the instinctual

or appetitive part of the soul that is responsible
for our basic needs and desires, such as hunger,
Plato thirst, and sexual desire.
 Understanding the Self

Name: Plato
Date of Birth: 428/427 BCE
Place of Birth: Athens, Greece
Date of Death: 348/347 BCE
• Plato's philosophy focused on the nature of
reality, ethics, politics, and the human soul
• He believed in the existence of objective,
eternal Forms or Ideas that underlie the
physical world
• His theory of Forms has had a profound
influence on subsequent philosophy and
intellectual history

Plato
 Understanding the Self

Man is of a bifurcated nature

It is by the illumination of God, by "divine light",

that we can knowledge

"only some divinity can show man what is

true

St. Augustine
 Understanding the Self

Name: Augustine of Hippo (St. Augustine)

Date of Birth: November 13, 354 CE
Place of Birth: Thagaste, Numidia (now Algeria)
Date of Death: August 28, 430 CE

• Augustine's philosophy emphasized the

importance of faith and the divine (2)
• He believed in the existence of an absolute,
objective truth that transcends human reason
(2)
• His ideas on free will and predestination
continue to be debated by philosophers and
theologians today
St. Augustine
 Understanding the Self

St. Thomas Aquinas: Self-Knowledge

Man is composed of matter and form

Theory of self-knowledge- all our self-

knowledge is dependent on our
experience of the world

argues that our awareness of ourselves is

triggered and shaped by our experiences of
St. Thomas Aquin a s objects in our environments
 Understanding the Self

Name: Thomas Aquinas (St. Thomas Aquinas)

Date of Birth: January 28, 1225
Place of Birth: Roccasecca, Kingdom of Sicily
(now Italy)
Date of Death: March 7, 1274

• Aquinas is regarded as one of the most

important figures in the history of Western
philosophy and theology
• His ideas continue to influence philosophy,
theology, and ethics today
• He was canonized as a saint by the Catholic
St. Thomas Aquin a s Church in 1323
 Understanding the Self

Man is actually a thinking

entity distinct from
the body

Rene Descartes
 Understanding the Self

Name: René Descartes

Date of Birth: March 31, 1596
Place of Birth: La Haye en Touraine, Kingdom of
France (now France)
Date of Death: February 11, 1650

• Descartes is often called the "father of modern

philosophy" due to his role in the development
of modern Western philosophy
• He is known for his method of doubt, which
involves doubting all previous knowledge and
building a new foundation of knowledge based
on reason and deduction
• His philosophy emphasized the importance of
Rene Descartes the individual and the power of the mind
 Understanding the Self

Man has no clearand intelligible idea of the self

Self - bundle or collection of different

perceptions which succeed each other
 Impressions - basic objects of our
experience or sensation
 Ideas - copies of impressions

David Hume
 Understanding the Self

Name: David Hume

Date of Birth: May 7, 1711
Place of Birth: Edinburgh, Scotland
Date of Death: August 25, 1776
 Hume is primarily known as a of our
philosopher, historian, and economist
 He wrote numerous works on
philosophy, including his most famous
work, "A Treatise of Human Nature" (1)
 He also made significant contributions
to the fields of history and economics
David Hume
 Understanding the Self

Man is the only creature who governs

and directs himself and his
actions

Immanuel Kant
 Understanding the Self

Name: Immanuel Kant

Date of Birth: April 22, 1724
Place of Birth: Königsberg, Prussia
Date of Death: February 12, 1804
• Kant's philosophy emphasizes the role of
reason and rationality in understanding
the world
• He developed a systematic approach to
epistemology, or the theory of knowledge,
and argued that knowledge is a product of
both reason and experience
• His moral philosophy, based on the
concept of the "categorical imperative,"
emphasized the importance of treating
Immanuel Kant people as ends in themselves, rather than
as means to an end
 Understanding the Self

Summarizes the essential elements of

the dualistic view of the self

The "self" is not an entity one can

locate and analyze, but simply the
convenient name that people use to
refer to all behaviors that people
make

Gilbert Ryle
 Understanding the Self

Name: Gilbert Ryle

Date of Birth: August 19, 1900
Place of Birth: Brighton, England
Date of Death: October 6, 1976
• Ryle's philosophy emphasizes the importance
of understanding concepts in their everyday
usage, rather than in isolation or abstraction (2)
• He rejected the traditional mind-body dualism
and argued that the mind is not a separate
entity, but rather a collection of mental
activities and dispositions
• His approach to philosophy influenced the
development of linguistic philosophy and
analytic philosophy
Gilbert Ryle
 Understanding the Self

The division between the mind

and the body is a product of confused
thinking

the mind and the body are so

intertwined that they could not be
separated from one another

Maurice Merleau-
Ponty
 Understanding the Self
Name: Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Date of Birth: March 14, 1908
Place of Birth: Rochefort-sur-Mer, France
Date of Death: May 3, 1961
• Merleau-Ponty's philosophy
emphasizes the importance of the body
and sensory experience in
understanding the world
• He rejected the traditional mind-body
dualism and argued that the body and
mind are inseparable
• His phenomenological approach
emphasized the role of perception in
Maurice Merleau- shaping our understanding of the
Ponty world
Understanding the Self
 Understanding the Self

Thank You!!!!

For Listening…… Aristotle

P l a to