CHAPTER 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL SELF
Socrates soul are mortal, and they perish when we die.
Believed that self exists in two parts:
● Physical - tangible and mortal aspect
of us that can be/is constantly
changing
● Soul - immortal
According to Socrates:
“When we are alive, our body and soul are
attached. When we die however, our body
stays in the physical realm, while our soul
travels to the ideal realm, thus making our
soul immortal.”
“The true self is not to be identified with what
we own, with our social status, with our
reputation, or even with our body. Instead, our
true self is our soul.”
“Ignorance is the beginning of wisdom.”
“Know thyself.”
-Socrates
• Our ignorance prods us to know ourselves,
our power, and limitations.
• To know ourselves means to acquire true
knowledge of ourselves, which is practical
knowledge.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
-Socrates
• An examining, a thinking, and an
investigating self is what the self essentially is.
PLATO
For PLATO, the self is an “immortal soul in a
mortal perishable body.”
The soul has a tripartite nature.
a. a soul or an immortal rational part
which existed before it became part of
the body;
b. a courageous or “spirited” part
c. an appetitive part
These courageous and spirited parts of the
What survives after we die is our soul, the
rational part of our self (Corpuz, et. al., 2019).
In Book IV of Plato’s Republic, the soul is the
“giver of life to the body, the permanent,
changeless and divine element “as opposed to
the changing, transitory, and perishable body.”
**This makes the self “a soul using the body.”
**The body is just a shell of the soul.
According to Plato:
“Our life is a “continuous ascent towards the
world of ideas.”
➔ Our life’s journey is a continuous
striving to free our soul from its
imprisonment in the body.
ARISTOTLE
For ARISTOTLE, the self is composed of body
and soul, mind and matter, sense and intellect,
passion and reason.
Reason is supreme in a human person and
so should govern all of life’s activities.
*When the senses, the lower nature of a
human nature of a human person, dominate a
human person’s life, he/she tends to live a
chaotic life.
*When reason rules over the senses, mind
over matter, the human person tends to live a
happy life.
Unlike Socrates and Plato, Aristotle put
emphasis on reason and does not neglect the
development of a human person’s physical,
economic, and social powers. Furthermore, he
believed that human happiness comes from
the harmonious development of the whole
self.
Perfection and happiness come from wisdom
and virtue.
 Wisdom is true
knowledge.
Virtue is doing
what’s best for
you.
GOLDEN MEAN THEORY ( Aristotle)
“means moderation; avoid the extremes;
avoid too much and too little”
➔ Living a life in moderation is doing
things in consonance with reason.
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHERS
ST. AUGUSTINE
St. Augustine combined Greek philosophy and
truths contained in the Scriptures.
The self is made up of a body and soul,
“a soul in possession of a body”
which “does not constitute two persons but
one man.”
Unlike the ancient Greek philosophers, St.
Augustine’s concept of self is in the context of
his relation to God.
❖ Every human person is created into the
image and likeness of God.
❖ Every human person is made for God.
❖ It is only upon his/her recognition of
God’s love and his/her response to the
invitation to love that he/she finds
inner peace.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
Like Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas proclaimed
the supremacy of the reason in human person.
● A human person can know the truth
with certainty by the use of his reason.
However, he stressed that there are some
truths which cannot be known through reason
alone, and which can be perceived only with
the aid of the light of divine revelation.
Those known through reason and those from
Divine Revelation can never contradict each
other.
Both emanate from the same source, God,
who is TRUTH Himself.
Like Aristotle, Aquinas taught that man’s
longing for happiness on earth comes with the
full development of man’s powers.
But Aquinas pointed to a higher form of
human’s perfection beyond this life because of
the immortality of the human soul – found in
God alone.
In this sense, St. Thomas Aquinas was like St.
Augustine who taught about the human soul
that is restless and imperfect until it rests in
God.

Happiness is the end-all and the be-all of

human living and this happiness can be found
in God alone.
 THE SELF ACCORDING TO MODERN
PHILOSOPHERS
RENE DESCARTE
He is a French philosopher, mathematician,
and is considered the Father of Modern
Philosophy
For him, the act of thinking about self - being
self conscious is in itself proof that there is a
self
“I think, therefore, I am.”
Cogito, ergo sum
- Rene Descartes
JOHN LOCKE
He was an English Philosopher and Physician
Father of Liberalism
Tabula Rasa
He felt that the self, or personal identity is
constructed primarily from sense experiences.
Consciousness is what makes possible our
belief, is that we are the identity in different
situations
“Freedom of individuals to author their own
soul”
- John Locke
IMMANUEL KANT
According to Kant, a human person has an
inner and an outer self which, together, form
his/her consciousness. The inner self consists
of his/her psychological state and rational
intellect. The outer self is a human person's
senses and the physical world.
Like St. Augustine, ant sees the self as prone
to corruption. Life is a constant struggle
between beauty and pleasure, between the
inner self and the outer self. The fact that we
are human has value in itself.
“Act only according to that maxim by which
you can at the same time that will that it
should become a natural law."
➔ This simply means that if you do an
action, then everyone else should also
be able to do it.
➔ Example: If a person cheats then the
other can cheat too.
“Act so as to treat people as ends in
themselves never as mere means”
- Immanuel Kant
THE SELF ACCORDING TO
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHERS
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
Unlike Plato and other philosophers who look
at the body as a mere tool in the service of the
mind or spirit, the self, according to Maurice
Merleau-Ponty, is an inextricable union
between mind and body. For Merleau- Ponty,
there is no experience that is not an embodied
experience. Corpuz, et al (2019) assert that
"Everything that we experience in this world -
experiences of joy, sadness, love, remorse -
happens with our bodies. There is never a
moment in which we are separated from our
bodies as if it is a clothing that we can shed
off."
With Merleau-Ponty, it is clear that "the mind
and the body w are so intertwined that we
cannot even distinguish where the work of the
mind ends and where the work of the body
begins. Bodily knowledge shows that the body
is also intelligent. Conversely, the mind is not
pure spirit, detached from the material world
through its cognitive activity. The mind always
thinks in an embodied way." (Corpuz, et al,
2019).
 GILBERT RYLE
Ryle believes that
"the workings of the mind are not distinct from
the actions of the body but are one and the
same.”
The mind is a set of capacities and abilities
belonging to the body. The mind is a
mysterious entity that controls the mechanical
workings of the body.
The mind should not be viewed as an
additional mysterious thing that is subjected
to observation or to mechanical laws. Rather,
the mind should be seen as the form or
organizing principle of the body.
Another teaching of Ryle that relates to
understanding and developing your self is the
distinction among knowing how (technical
ability), knowing that (facts and propositions),
sam and knowing what. (acquaintance with
things and persons).
Ryle asserts that knowing that (some fact) is
empty intellectualism without knowing how to
make use of the fact. Effective possession of a
piece of knowledge (museum possession of
knowledge) involves knowing how to use that
knowledge, when required, for the solution of
other theoretical or practical problems
(workshop-possession of knowledge)
PAUL CHURCHLAND
● the self is inseparable from the brain
and the physiology of the body
● if there is no brain, there is no self
● the physical brain and not the
imaginary mind is what gives us our
sense of self
Churchland adheres to materialism, the belief
that nothing except matter exists. If a thing
can't be recognized by the senses then it is not
real. Churchland asserts that since the mind
can't be experienced by our senses, then the
mind doesn't really exist. It is the physical
brain and not the mind that gives us our sense
of self.
Churchland defends his eliminative
materialism.
"First, why should we believe in a mind when
science is proving that mental health is
connected to the physical brain? For instance
depression is strongly linked to brain chemicals
gone wrong. Yes some people still say things
like, 'She's lost her mind.' However
neuroscience says, "No, it's a physical problem
and we aim to fix it!"
For Churchland, decision-making and moral
behavior are biological phenomena. Human
behavior must be explained rather by a
mature cognitive neuroscience. Human
behavior must be explained materially in
terms of "recurrent neural network." Thus
Churchland speaks of a neuro-conscience.
 THE SELF FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL others and understand the "generalized
other." This leads them to consider both
PERSPECTIVE
personal beliefs and societal expectations
SOCIALIZATION
when acting.

Mead (1967) talks about our personality as the

Sociology
"I" and the "me." The "I" is the natural,
The study of human behavior. Sociology refers existential aspect of the self. The "me" "is the
to social behavior, society, patterns of social socialized "me" or the "cultured self."
relationships, social interaction, and culture
CHARLES COOLEY (1864-1929)
that surrounds everyday life.

Socialization
is the whole and lifetime process by which
people learn the values, attitudes and
behaviors that are appropriate and expected
by their culture and community. It the process
of internalizing the norms of society which
influence. one's beliefs, actions and behavior.
The process of socialization helps shape a
person's image.
GEORGE HRBERT MEAD
Charles Cooley explains how we develop our
sense of self or self-image by his looking-glass
self theory. Based on this theory, we learn to
view ourselves as we think others view us. This
is Cooley's looking-glass self. According to
Cooley, there are three steps in the formation
of the looking glass self:
1. We imagine how we appear to others.
2. We imagine how others judge our
appearance.

3. We develop feelings about and responses to

According to sociologist George Herbert Mead,
these judgments. (Brinker hoof, D. & White, L.
the self is not present at birth and is not
K., 1989).
determined by innate biological traits. Instead,
the self evolves and develops through social For Example:
experiences and interactions.
An instructor whose students openly talk to
It is not a pre-existing entity but emerges as one another or doze during class is likely to
individuals engage with their social develop the concept that her students think
environment and interact with others. In she is a bad instructor. She does not need,
essence, the self is formed through one's however, to accept this view of herself. The
interactions within society and is an ongoing. third stage in the formation of the
evolving process. looking-glass self is the instructor may accept
the students' judgment and conclude that he
Our self-concept is formed through social
is a bad instructor or reject their judgment and
interactions, particularly by observing and
conclude that the students are simply not
engaging with how others perceive us.
smart enough.
"Significant others," like parents and teachers,
have a strong influence, but this impact is
limited to specific life stages.

Young children focus on their own world and

are less concerned about others' opinions. As
they grow and become more socialized, they
start caring about how they are perceived by