Fiel, Raleigh Michelangelo V.

BSN 1-3

Activity Number 1- Sept 8 2021

In your own words, state what “self” is for each of the

philosophers enumerated below. After doing so, explain how
your concept of “self” is compatible with how they conceived
of the “self.”

Socrates – He states that “self” is divided into two parts, the first
part is our “body” which is the physical and the substantial aspect
of us. Whilst, the other part is our “soul”, which Socrates believed
to be immortal, and also, He claimed that our soul is a piece that
remains constant through all realms.

- I agree with him because I believe self is similar to the soul and I
think that every human being has an eternal soul that lives on after
the physical body dies.

Plato – According to him, the definition of the self and

understanding are inexorably connected. This is partly related to
Plato's feasible construction of the self on the basis of his
perceptions of the nature of the rational soul as the finest level of
consciousness.

- I agree with Plato because the three elements of soul/self is

important because without that we cant survive in the world without
the basic needs, feelings and critical thinking skills.

Aristotle - Aristotle concept of the self is hylomorphic, that is, the

self or the human person is composed of body and soul. The two
are inseparable. Thus, we cannot talk about the self with a soul
only or a self with a body only. For Aristotle, the self is essentially
body and soul. Indeed, for Aristotle, the self is unified creature.

- I agree with Aristotle because in order to build your personality

completely the body and soul must be connected.

John Locke – Our selves are formed on cognition rather than the
factual basis of the soul and the human body.
--We have a comparable concept since self consciousness is
required for a cohesive personal identity or knowledge of oneself
as a person.

St. Augustine – According to St. Augustine of Hippo, our selves

are open to a relationship with our God, he sees that our selves
are absolutely connected to our God in 2 main ways:
selfpresentation and self-realization. Based on Augustine’s
experience made him realize that we are meant for God and
nothing less than God can gratify the human soul.

- We share a similar definition because I think that all of us and all

of the good things we do are for God and that anything that having
to do with God is always correct.

Rene Descartes – Descartes said that our intellect is the center of

consciousness; it is where we obtain our feelings, desires, and
interpretations. Furthermore, he presumed that everything that
we truly are, or our personality, are only originated merely from our
consciousness.

-I disagree with him since, in my opinion, our personality or our

selves will never be dependent on our consciousness.

David Hume – He defined the self as nothing but a compilation of

various insights or perceptions and it is not a different thing from
our body. And he said that what we think is only a unified self
because it is only a combination of our experiences with a
particular individual.

- I disagree with him because, in order to develop your entire

personality, your mind and body must function together.

Immanuel Kant – Kant believed that “self” is divided into two the
Inner and Outer self, which combined to form our consciousness,
our mental state and intellect are the inner and our senses and the
reality thru our world are outer.

- I agree with Immanuel Kant since what we think and do

produces consciousness or awareness, mental state, intelligence,
and many other things.
Sigmund Freud - Freud’s view of the self was multitiered, divided
among the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.

- I agree with him because Freud’s Three levels of mind will help
me a lot as a student because it can improve our mental
processing, memory and rational thinking. It also has
disadvantages, proof that situation in our life is always balance.

Gilbert Ryle – Ryle said that ourselves is the same as our

behavior and he contradicts the existence of one physical self, it
means he only believed in the human body but not the existent of
the soul, according to him our behavior is actually a manifestation
of self in our daily lives, it is because we can see the person
through his or her behavior.

- We have the same definition of self, for me, the person’s true self
depends on how he or she acts, our behavior is what we really are.
But I also disagree because I believe in soul.