the

philosophical
perspective
about self
chapter 1
UNDS 111
What would you
ask to yourself
right now?
 what is
philosophy?
Philosophy is often called the mother of all
disciplines simply because all fields of study began
as philosophical discourses.
 philosophy

philia shopia
love wisdom
who am i?
what am i?
why am i?
 The people tend to
search for truth.
Search is to look for
something.
Search for meaning.
Search for answers.
Search for importance,
significance, value, and
relevance
philosophy &
the self
SOCRATES
know thyself
● for him, by fully knowing
oneself a person will be
able to achieve
happiness.

● he could be considered
as the first martyr of
education, knowledge
and philosophy. Thus,
dying as a martyr that
fought against ignorance
and narrow-mindedness.
● socrates also posited that
possession of knowledge
is a virtue and that
ignorance is a criminal

● “SOCRATIC METHOD”

● by continuously asking
and evaluating who we
are, we as a person will
also be able to
understand our strengths
and weaknesses
PLATO
the self is the soul
● “father of the academy”

● according to Plato, a
person who is a follower
of truth and wisdom will
not be tempted by vices
and will always be just.

● plato presented the idea

the ones’ soul is divided
into 3 different parts that
has different views
leading to different
behaviors
plato’s 3 part of the soul
appetitive soul
part of the person that is driven by
desire and need to satisfy oneself
spirited soul
attributed to the courageous part of
a person, one who wants to do
something or to right the wrongs
that they observe.
rational soul
“the conscious mind.” the driver of
our lives, this is the part that thinks
and plan for the future.
ST.
AUGUSTINE
i am doubting, therefore i am
● “belief that everything is
better if we devote
ourselves”

● his idea of a man and how

to understand who we are
as a person is related to
our understanding of who
we are and how we
question ourselves

● St. Augustine also rejected

the doubtfulness of the
academy in which one
cannot or should not
accept ideas from others.
● people is in need to
establish their relationship
with god through being
virtuous, but at the same
time, to be able to stand
by on what we think is true

● by continuously
questioning and finding
the truth will we be able to
find the best answer to
who we are and what our
role is in the world
RENE
DESCARTE
i think, therefore i am
● also known to be the
proponent of the
“Methodical Doubt”
which simply meant of a
continuous process of
questioning.

● “Cogito Ergo Sum”

● According to him a person is

comprised of mind and body, the
body that perceives from the
different senses and the mind that
thinks and question or doubt what
the body has experienced
JOHN
LOCKE
the self is consciousness
● his work on the self is
most represented by the
concept “Tabula Rasa”
which means a Blank
Slate.

● unlike what the other

Philosophers view on
human experiences and
senses, John Locke does
not disregard the
experiences of the person
in the identification and
establishment of who we
are as a person.
● he stated that a person is
born with knowing
nothing and that is
susceptible to stimulation
and accumulation of
learning from the
experiences, failures,
references, and
observations of the
person
DAVID
HUME
there is no self
● according to him, there is
no permanent “self”, that
since our impressions of
things based from our
experiences and from
such impressions we can
create our ideas and
knowledge

● leads to the argument

that since our impression
and ideas change, it may
improve or totally be
replaced
the impression of “self”
IMMANUEL
KANT
we construct our self
● kant argued that the
awareness of different
emotions that we have,
impressions and behavior
is only a part of our self.

● “Transcendental
Apperception”

● we also have the

capabilities to
understand beyond those
experiences and be able
to think and have a clear
identification who we are
SIGMUND
FREUD
the ego is not master of its
own house
● freud believed that we are
a by-product of our
experiences in the past.
Driven by the idea of
resisting or avoiding pain,
and are molded from our
need for pleasure or being
happy.

● he also introduced the idea

that the accumulation of
the experiences of a person
helps build his personality
although such information
are not identification who
we are
level of consciousness
conscious
where minority of our memories are being
stored and the memories that are in the
conscious is easier to be tapped or accessed.

pre-consscious
the middle part of the entirety of our
consciousness, the memories stored in this
area can still be accessed but with a little
difficulty.

unconscious
this area is where majority of our
memories since childhood are deeply
stored.
● believed that man has
different constructs of
personality that interacts
with each other and along
with his concept of the
different levels of
consciousness provides an
idea how a person
develops a sense of self.
 aspect of personality
ID
also known as the child
aspect of a person, The
ID’s attention is on
satisfaction of one’s
needs and self-
gratification. It is driven
by the pleasure
principle.
SUPER EGO EGO
is the conscience of the sometimes known as the
one’s personality, has Police or the mediator
the inclination to between id and
uphold justice and do superego. It operates
what is morally right within the boundaries of
reality, primary function
and socially acceptable
is to maintain the
actions.
impulses of the ID to an
acceptable degree.
GILBERT
RYLE
the self is the way people
behave
● to him, once we encounter
others, their perceptions of
what we do, how we act,
and the way we behave
will then result to the
understanding of other
people and establishing of
who we are.

● the idea of Ryle is saying

that the things that we do,
how we behave and react
and all other components
like the way we talk, walk,
and look is generally who
we are as a person.
PAUL
CHURCHLAND
the self is the brain
● churchland’s work revolves
around challenging of the
notion and terms being
used to explain behavior or
to explain how a person
feels, thinks, and act with
regards to physiological
phenomenon that is
happening in the body

● built the idea of

“eliminative materialism”.
Basically, eliminative
materialism opposes that
people’s common sense
understanding of the mind
is false
MAURICE JEAN
JACQUES
MARLEAU-PONTY
the self is embodied
subjectivity
● the unity of the function of
the mind and body, this
idea is called the
Phenomenology of
Perception.

● his idea of perception

follows the idea of Gestalt
psychology which gives
important on the whole
than the sum of its part.
 PHENOMENOLOGY OF PERCEPTION

people & the

the body perceived world world
both receives the are the accumulation of enable one to not only be
experience as well as the perception as able to integrate the
integrates such integrated by the other objects in the world
experiences in the experiences of the but also to be able to
different perception. body. experience the cultural
aspect and relate to
others.