UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Mr. Danilo M. Villamil Jr. MOP

 What is the importance of
Understanding the Self in your
curriculum?
What is the Nature of the Self?
Philosophical Perspective
Sociological Perspective
Anthropological Perspective
Psychological Perspective
The Western and Eastern
Concepts
 Who are you?
You are hanging out with a
friend. He tells you that he needs
to meet with classmates to catch
up on a group project.
You join your friend in his meet-
up with his classmates. Everyone
waits for your friend to introduce
you to the group, but he forgets
to do so.
After few minutes, your friend’s
classmates address you and say,
“We’re sorry but we didn’t catch
your name.” Who are you?
You awkwardly say your name.
 Who are you?
Usually, in such a situation,
you will say your name when
asked, “Who are you?”
Your name is a label that
identifies you and sets you
apart from everyone else.
Yet you know that the
question “Who are you”
does not get answered simply
with label assigned to you by
birth. You are more than just
your given name.
Philosophical Perspective
The etymological
definition of
Philosophy “love of
wisdom” could pertain
to the desire for truth
by formulating never
ending questions to
provide answers to
every inquiry about
the nature of human
existence.
Do you know who they are?
 SOCRATES:
“An unexamined life is not worth living”
Socrates believed that every man is dualistic,
composed of body and soul. All individuals
have imperfect and impermanent aspect which
is the body. On the other hand, there is a
perfect and permanent aspect which is the soul.
The world is composed of physical and mental
things. This is the basis of the concept of
duality in the self. The body is a physical thing
which is imperfect and impermanent.
 SOCRATES:
“An unexamined life is not worth living”
It may be physically present today, but changes
through the years and will decay upon death. It
will be gone from the face to the earth forever.
The soul is a mental thing and is permanent. It
exists and manifests in the body today but
separates when the body leaves the face of the
Earth. This is one reason why there is a belief that
one continues to be present even after death.
Since the soul is mental, it can exist even without
the physical body.
 SOCRATES:
“An unexamined life is not worth
living”

For Socrates, the self is synonymous

with the soul. He believes that every
human possesses an immortal soul that
survives the physical body. He was the
first to focus on the full power of
reason on the human self: who we are
and who we should be.
 SOCRATES:
“An unexamined life is not worth living”

Socrates suggests that man must live

an examined life and a life of purpose
and value. The individual person can
have a meaningful and a happy life
only if he becomes virtuous and knows
the value of himself that can be
achieved through soul-searching.
 PLATO:
“The Self is an Immortal Soul”
Plato supported the idea of duality and
added that there are three concepts of the
soul. His philosophy can be explained as a
process of self-knowledge and purification
of the soul.
He introduced the idea of a three-part
soul/self:
1. Reason
2. Physical Appetite
3. Spirit or Passion
 PLATO:
“The Self is an Immortal Soul”
• Reason
Example: When you are able to justify why you need to continue
pursuing a college degree to your parents, that is the reason
helping you out.
• Physical Appetite
Example: When you are able to handle your hunger in the middle
of the meeting and can actually focus on it, that is your
physical appetite taking charge of your needs.
• Spirit or Passion
Example: When you are able to contain your feelings and argue
on the topic with a logical perspective, that is your spirit or
passion taking charge of your emotions.
 ARISTOTLE:
“The Soul is the essence of the Self”
He believes that the soul is merely a set of
defining features and does not consider the body
and soul as separate entities. Aristotle holds that
the soul is the essence of all living things. Thus,
the soul is the essence of the self.
He introduced the three kinds of soul:
1. Vegetative soul
2. Sentient soul
3. Rational soul
 ST. AUGUSTINE:
“The Self has an Immortal Soul”
The African Philosopher, Augustine is regarded as a saint
in the Catholic Church. He integrates the ideas of Plato and
teachings of Christianity. Augustine believes that the
physical body is radically different from and inferior to its
inhabitant, the immortal soul. As his thinking matured, he
developed a more unified perspective on the body and
soul. He ultimately came to view the body as spouse of
the soul, both attached to one another by a “natural
appetite”. He believes that the body is united with the
soul, so that the man may be entire and complete.
Nevertheless, as a religious philosopher, he contemplates
on the nature of man with emphasis on the soul
 ST. AUGUSTINE:
“The Self has an Immortal Soul”
as an important element of a man. He believes that the
soul is govern and defines a man.
In his work, Confessions, Augustine describes that
humankind is created in the image and likeness of
God. Everything created by God who is all good is
good. Therefore, the human person, being a creation of
God is always geared towards the good. He
highlighted the significance of reflection, as well as the
importance of prayers and confessions to arrive at a
justification for the existence of God.
 RENE DESCARTES:
“I think therefore I am”
French philosopher Rene Descartes is the
father of modern philosophy. He has
brought an entirely new perspective to
philosophy and the self. He wants to
penetrate the nature of reasoning process
and understand its relationship to the human
self. For him, the act of thinking about the
self- of being self-conscious --- is in itself
proof that there is a self. He is confident that
no rational person will doubt his or her own
existence as a conscious, thinking entity.
 RENE DESCARTES:
“I think therefore I am”
He contends that if man reflects
thoughtfully, he will realize that there are
two dimensions of human self:

- the self as a thinking entity (soul)

-the self as a physical body
 JOHN LOCKE:
“The Self is Consciousness”
For English Philosopher John Locke, the human
mind at birth is tabula rasa which means blank
slate. He feels that the self or personal identity is
constructed primarily from sense of experiences or
more specifically what people hear, see, smell,
taste and feel. These experiences shape and mold
the self throughout a person’s life. For Locke,
conscious awareness and memory of previous
experiences are the keys to understanding the self.
 JOHN LOCKE:
“The Self is Consciousness”
He believes that the essence of the self is its
conscious awareness of itself as thinking,
reasoning, and reflecting identity. Self-
consciousness is necessary to have a coherent
personal (self) identity or knowledge of the self as
a person. Consciousness is what makes identity of
a person similar in different situations.
He is proposing that people could use the power of
reason to gain knowledge and consequently use
this knowledge to understand experience.
Knowledge is based on careful observation.
 DAVID HUME:
“There is no Self”
Philosopher David Hume suggests that if
people carefully examine their sense experience
through the process of introspection, they will
discover that there is no self. According to
Hume, what people experience is just a bundle
or collection of different perceptions. He argues
that it cannot be from any of these impressions
that the idea of self is derived and consequently,
there is no self.
 IMMANUEL KANT:
“We construct the Self”
German Philosopher Immanuel Kant, it is the self
that makes experiencing an intelligible world
possible because it is the self that is actively
organizing and synthesizing all of our thoughts and
perceptions. The self, in the form of consciousness,
utilizes conceptual categories which he calls
transcendental deduction of categories, to construct
an orderly and objective world that is stable and
can be investigated scientifically. Kant believes
that the self is an organizing principle that makes a
unified and intelligible experience possible.
 SIGMUND FREUD:
“The Self is Multilayered”
Austrian Psychoanalyst Sigmund
Freud is not a philosopher. But his
views on the nature of the self have a
far-reaching impact on philosophical
thinking as well as other discipline
psychology and sociology.
He holds that the self consists of three
layers: conscious, preconscious and
unconscious.
The Iceberg Metaphor
 GILBERT RYLE:
“The Self is the way people behave”
British philosopher Gilbert Ryle believes that the
self is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the
tendency or disposition of a person to behave in a
certain way in certain circumstances. Ryle’s
concept of the human self thus provides the
philosophical principle, “I act therefore I am”. He
considers mind to be intrinsically linked in
complex and intimate ways. In short, the self is the
same as bodily behavior. He concludes that the
mind is the totality of human dispositions that is
known through the way people behave.
Nevertheless, Ryle is convinced that
the mind expresses the entire system of
thoughts, emotions and actions that
make up the human self.
 PAUL CHURCHLAND:
“The Self is the Brain”
Canadian philosopher Paul Churchland
advocates the idea of eliminative
materialism or the idea that the self is
inseparable from the brain and the
physiology of the body. All a person has a
brain, and so if the brain is gone, there is no
self. For him, the physical brain and not the
imaginary mind, gives the people the sense
of self. The mind does not really exist
because it cannot be experienced by the
senses.
 MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
“The Self is embodied Subjectivity”
French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty argues
that all knowledge about the self (e.g.,
understanding the nature of self) is based on the
“phenomena” of experience. The “I” is a single
integrated core identity, a combination of the
mental, physical, and emotional structures around
a core identity of the self. He further articulates
that when people examine the self as the
fundamental level of direct human experience,
people will discover that the mind and body are
unified, not separate.
He notes that everything that people are aware of
is contained within consciousness.
Consciousness is a dynamic form responsible for
actively structuring conscious ideas and physical
behavior. He is convinced that consciousness,
the world and the human body are intricately
intertwined in perceiving the world. For him,
perception is not merely a consequence of
sensory experience. Thus, the self is embodied
subjectivity.