TOPIC 1: PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE
Dr. Kathlyn Mata, RGC, PhD
“To find yourself, think for yourself.” – Socrates
In efforts to appreciate and understand reality, and retort to
persistent questions of inquisitiveness, including the inquiry of
self, it was the Greeks who earnestly probed legends and folklore,
and turned away from them.
This topic on the philosophical perspective of the self (which will
utilize 3 hours) will then allow you to reexamine its key movers
for you to be able to identify the most imperative assumptions
made by philosophers from the
www.thoughtco.com ancient to the contemporary
times.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
1. cite highlights in the life of the philosophers that influenced their concepts and principles;
2. identify and differentiate the philosophers’ perspectives of self; and
3. create your own concept/ theory of the self.
LET’S LEARN 2
Do This! Classroom Walkway Tour
a. Walk around the room, write down notes, and reflect on the concepts that you see.
b. Match the photos posted in the corners of the room with the concepts.
c. Do this for 5 minutes. Then lecture-discussion will proceed to check on your transcripts.
Note to teacher:
Prepare, photos, concepts on self, phrases associated with the eleven philosophers, paste them
in manila papers and display them around the room.
PHILOSOPHERS’ PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF
The way you choose to spend your life contributes to the development of your identity and self-
understanding. Your past is a contributory factor to who you are today, but who you will be
tomorrow greatly depends on your
perspective about yourself.
1. SOCRATES (470-399 B.C.)
He explored his philosophy of immortality in the days following his trial and before his sentence
to death was executed.
According to him, an unexamined life is not worth living. This statement is reflected in his idea
of the self.
He believed in dualism that aside from the physical body (material substance), each person has
an immortal soul (immaterial substance).
The body belongs to the physical realm and the soul to the ideal realm. When you die, your
body dies but not your soul. There is a life after the death of your physical body. There is a
world after death.
According to him, in order for you to have a good life, you must live a good life, a life with a
purpose, and that purpose is for you to do well. Then there you will be happy after your body
dies.
2. PLATO (428/427-348/347 BC) 3
He was greatly affected by Socrates’ death.
Socrates was Plato’s teacher.
He believed that the self is immortal and it
consists of 3 parts:
a. Reason – the divine essence that enables
you to think deeply, make wise choices
and achieve an understanding of eternal
truths;
b. Physical Appetite - your basic biological
needs such as hunger, thirst, and sexual
desire and;
c. Spirit or Passion – your basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness, and
empathy.
The 3 components may work together or in conflict. If human beings do not live in accordance
with their nature/function, the result will be an
injustice.
3. ST. AUGUSTINE (354-430)
He was a great explorer in his youth and
young adulthood; he spent great times with his
friends and up to the extent of fathering an
illegitimate child.
His explorations led to his conversion to Christianity wherein he spent the remainder of his day
serving the bishop of Hippo and writing books and letters including his idea of the self.
At first, he thought the body as the “slave” of the soul but ultimately, regarded the body as the
“spouse” of the soul both attached to one another. He believed that the body is united with the
soul, so that man may be entire and complete. His first principle was, “I doubt, therefore I am.”
The self seeks to be united with God through faith and reason and he described that humanity is
created in the image and likeness of God, that God is supreme and all-knowing and everything
created by God who is all good is good.
4. RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650) 4
Descartes was a scientist in his
professional life and during his time, scientists
believed that after death the physical body dies,
hence the self also dies.
He was a devout Catholic who believed
in the immortal souls and eternal life. By having
the idea of both the thinking self and the
physical body, Descartes was able to reconcile
his being a scientist and a devout Catholic.
The self is a thinking thing, distinct from the
body. The thinking self or soul is
nonmaterial, immortal, conscious while the
physical body is material, mortal, non-
thinking entity, fully governed by the physical laws of nature.
“Cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I Am) is the keystone to his concept of the self. The
essence of existing as a human identity is the possibility of being aware of oneself.
5. JOHN LOCKE (1634-1704)
The intolerant and charged
atmosphere in England kept Locke to stay
abroad and freedom from political intrigues
and duties allowed him to develop his
philosophy.
According to Locke, the human mind at birth is
a tabula rasa (“blank slate”). The self or
personal identity is constructed primarily from sense experiences which shape and mold the self
throughout a person’s life.
Personal identity is made possible by self-consciousness. In order to discover the nature of
personal identity, you to have to find out what it means to be a person. A person is a thinking,
intelligent being who has abilities to reason and to reflect. A person is also someone who
considers itself to be the same thing at different times and different places.
Consciousness means being aware that you are thinking; this what makes your belief5possible
that you are the same identity at different times and in different places. The essence of the self is
its conscious awareness of itself as thinking, reasoning, reflecting identity.
6. DAVID HUME (1711-1776)
He left the University of Edinburg at the age of
15, to study privately. Although he was
encouraged to take up law, his interest
was philosophy. It is during his private
study that he began raising questions about
religion.
For him, there is no “self” only a bundle of
perceptions passing through the theatre of
your minds.
According to him, humans are so desperately
wanting to believe that they have a unified and
continuous self or soul that they use their imaginations to construct a fictional self. The mind is
a theatre, a container for fleeting sensations and disconnected ideas and your reasoning ability is
merely a slave to the passions. Hence, personal identity is just a result of imagination.
7. IMMANUEL KANT (1724- 1804)
Although Kant recognizes the legitimacy
in Hume’s account, he opposes the idea of
Hume that everything starts with perception
and sensation of impressions, that’s why he
brought out the idea of the self as a response
against the idea of Hume.
For Kant, there is unavoidably a mind that
systematizes the impressions that men get
from the external world.
Therefore, Kant believed that the self is a product of reason because the self regulates experience
by making unified experience possible.
We construct the self. The self exists independently of experience and the self goes beyond
experience.
8. SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) 6
Freud develops his theories during a period in
which he experienced heart
irregularities, disturbing dreams and periods of
depression. He read William
Shakespeare in English throughout his life.
Based on him, the self is composed of three
layers, conscious, preconscious and
unconscious.
The conscious mind includes thoughts, feelings,
and actions that you are currently aware of;
the preconscious mind includes mental activities
that are stored in your memory, not presently
active but can be accessed or recalled; while the
unconscious mind includes activities that you
are not aware of.
According to him, there are thoughts, feelings, desires, and urges that the conscious mind wants
to hide, buried in your unconscious, but may shed light to your unexplained behavior.
9. GILBERT RYLE (1900-1976)
His father was a general practitioner but had a
keen interest in philosophy and
astronomy that he passed it on to his children;
they had an impressive library where Ryle
enjoyed being an omnivorous reader.
He graduated with first class honors in the New
Modern Greats School of Philosophy, Politic,
and Economics.
His concept of the self is provided in his
philosophical statement, “I Act therefore
I am.” Ryle views the self as the way people
behave, which is composed of a set of patterned
behavior.
Basically, for Ryle, the self is the same as your behavior.
10. PAUL CHURCHLAND (1942) 7
Churchland became a professor at the University
of California where he later became the
department chair and member of the Cognitive
Science Faculty, a member of the Institute
for Neural Computation. His
membership to these organizations prompted
him to dwell on the brain as the self.
Churchland’s theory is anchored in the
statement, “the self is the brain.” The self is
inseparable from the brain and the
physiological body because the physical
brain gives the sense of self. In short, the brain
and the self are one. Once the brain is dead,
the self is dead too.
11. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY (1908-1961)
When he won the school’s “Award for Outstanding
Achievement” in Philosophy it traced his
commitment to the vocation of Philosophy.
His concept, “the self has embodied subjectivity”
explained that all your knowledge about yourself and
the world is based on your subjective experiences
and everything that you are aware of is contained in
your consciousness.
For him, your body is your general medium for
having a world.
