Self accdg.

to
Philosophical
Perspectives

PPT by: CJ Lao

Kamusta ka?
What is
Philosophy?
It means love of wisdom.

It is an activity people undertake when

they seek to understand fundamental
truths about themselves, the world in
which they live, and their relationships
to the world and to each other. 
 Socrates
He was the first philosopher who ever engaged in a
systematic questioning about the self. 

The true task of a philosopher is to know oneself.

He thought that this is the worst that can happen to

anyone: to live but die inside.

Every man is dualistic – composed of body and soul.

The body signifies the imperfect and impermanent
aspect of man, WHILE the soul signifies otherwise.
 Plato
He said that there are three components of the soul:

• The rational soul is forged by reason and intellect. It

has to govern the affairs of the human person.
• The spirited soul is the one in charge of emotions and
should be kept at bay.
• The appetitive soul is in charge of base desires like
eating, sleeping, drinking, and having sex. It must be
controlled as well.

When this ideal state is attained, then the human person's

soul becomes just and virtuous.
 St. Augustine
His view of the human person reflects the
entire spirit of the medieval world when it
comes to man. 

He believed that an aspect of man dwells in

the world. It's imperfect and continuously
yearns to be with the Divine AND the other is
capable of reaching immortality.

The body is bound to die on earth and the soul

is to anticipate living eternally in a realm of
spiritual bliss in communion with God.
 Thomas Aquinas

Man is composed of two parts: matter and

form.

• Matter refers to the communion stuff that

makes up everything in the universe.
• Form refers to the essence of a substance
or thing. 

The soul is what animates the body. It is

what makes us humans.
 Rene Descartes
Self is a combination of two distinct entities: 

• The cogito or the thing that thinks (the mind).

• The extenza or the extension of the mind (the
body).

The body is nothing else but a machine that is

attached to the mind. The human person has it but it
is not what makes a man a man.

cogito ergo sum or "I think therefore, I am"

 David Hume
Empiricism – knowledge can only be possible if it
is sense and experienced.

The self is  a bundle/ collection of different

perceptions, which succeed each other with an
inconceivable rapidity and are in a perpetual flux
and movement.

• Impressions are the basic objects of our

experience or sensation. It forms the core of our
thoughts. It is the products of our direct
experience with the world.
• Ideas are copies of impressions. It is not as lively
and vivid as impressions.
 Immanuel Kant

Without the self, one cannot organize the different

impressions that one gets in relation to his own
existence.

The self is an actively engaged intelligence in man

that synthesizes all knowledge and experience.

The self is not just what gives one his personality

but it is the seat of knowledge acquisition for all
human persons.
 Gilbert Ryle
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
people use to refer to all the behaviors that
people make.
 Maurice Merleau-Ponty 

The mind and body are so intertwined that they

cannot be separated from one another.

One cannot find any experience that is not an

embodied experience. All experience is embodied.
One's body is his opening toward his existence to
the world. Because of these bodies, men are in the
world.
 References

• Alata, EJ., Caslib, BN., Serafica, JP., and Pawilen, RA. (2018) Understanding the
Self. Rex Book Store. 856 Nicanor Reyes, Sr. St., Sampaloc, Manila

• https://philosophy.fsu.edu/undergraduate-study/why-philosophy/What-is-
Philosophy. Accessed on September 14, 2021
 1. Socrates
State the definition 2. Plato
of SELF accdg. to 3. St. Agustine
the following 4. Aquinas
philosophers. 5. Descartes
Thereafter, 6. Hume
differentiate your
7. Kant
concept of "self"
9. Ryle
from their concept.
10. Meleau-Ponty