The Self from Various Perspectives
SOC PHILOSOPHICAL
SCI PERSPECTIVE
OF THE SELF
02 Our objectives and where we're headed
MAIN POINTS OF TODAY'S DISCUSSION
01 Activity 02 What is Philosophy
03 Philosophy and the Self 04 Application & Assessment
Learning Outcomes
1. EXPLAIN THE ROLE OF PHILOSOPHY IN UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
2. DISCUSS THE DIFFERENT CONCEPTS OF THE SELF FROM THE
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE
3. DIFFERENTIATE THE VARIOUS CONCEPTS OF THE SELF AND
IDENTIFY THEIR SIMILARITIES
4. DEVELOP YOUR OWN PHILOSOPHY OF THE SELF
WHAT IS
PHILOSOPHY?
LOVE OF WISDOM
PHILO SOPHIA
Greek word for Love Greek word for Wisdom
PHILOSOPHY is about:
Finding answers to serious questions about ourselves and
about the world we live in:
What is morally right and wrong? And why?
What is a good life?
Does God Exist?
What is the mind?
etc.
Questioning existing knowledge and intuitions to get
closer to the truth
01 Critical thinking
What will
you get out
02 Argument skills
of 03 Communication
Philosophy? 04 Reasoning
Analysis and Problem
05
Solving
skills mentioned above
will allow you to:
Justify your opinions
What will you
get out of Spot bad argument, no matter what the topic is
Philosophy? Explain to people why they are wrong
Philosophy basically tecahes you to think!
PYTHAGORAS
First to use the term PHILOSOPHY
ORIGIN OF PHILOSOPHY & LOGIC
search for truth
search is to look for something
search for meaning
Importance
Significance
Value
Relevance
philosophy ask a lot of questions
PHILOSOPHY AND THE SELF
ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS
SOCRATES PLATO
SOCRATES
AN UNEXAMINED
LIFE IS NOT
WORTH LIVING
"KNOW THYSELF"
SOCRATES
Philosophers agree that self-knowledge
is a prerequisite to a happy and
meaningful life
SOCRATES
Socrates was the first thinker to focus on the full
power of reason on the human self:
who we are, who we should be, and who we will
become.
The soul strives for wisdom and perfection, and
reason is the soul's tool to achieve an exalted state
of life.
SOCRATES
A person can have a meaningful and happy life only if
he becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself
that can be achieved through constant soul-
searching.
For him, this is best achieved when one tries to
separate the body from the soul as much possible
SOCRATES
Every man is dualistic
Composed of Body and Soul
Two important aspects
of personhood
Body - imperfect and impermanent
Soul - perfect and permanent
Socrates' two dichotomous realms
1 2
Physical Realm Ideal Realm
changeable, transient, and unchanging, eternal, and
imperfect immortal
the body belongs to this the soul belongs to this
realm realm
PLATO
THE SOUL IS
IMMORTAL
PLATO
A student of Socrates
Philosophy of the self can be explained as a
process of self-knowledge and purification of the
soul.
He believed that in the existence of the mind and
soul
PLATO: SOUL HAS THREE PARTS
1 Rational Soul
reason and intellect
divine essence that enables us to think
deeply, make wise choices, and
achieve a true understanding of eternal
thruths
PLATO: SOUL HAS THREE PARTS
2 Spirited Soul
emotion and passion
basic emotion such as love, anger,
ambition, empathy, and
aggressiveness.
PLATO: SOUL HAS THREE PARTS
3 Appetitive Soul
basic needs
includes our basic biological needs
such as hunger, thirst, and sexual
desire.
PLATO
These three elements of our selves are in a dynamic
relationship with one another, sometimes in conflict.
When conflict occurs, Plato believes that it is the
responsibility of our Reason to sort things out and
exert control, restoring a harmonious relationship
among the three elements of our selves.
PLATO
Plato believes that genuine happiness can only be
achieved by people who consistently make sure that
their Reason is in control of their Spirits and
Appetites.
THE SELF IN MEDIEVAL
PHILOSOPHY
ST. AGUSTINE
I AM DOUBTING,
THEREFORE
I AM
ST. AGUSTINE
Integrated the ideas of Plato and Christianity.
Augustine's view of the human person
reflects the entire spirit of the medieval world
The soul is united with the body so that man
may be entire and complete.
Believed Humankind is created in the image
and likeness of God.
ST. AGUSTINE
Therefore, the human person being a creation
of God is always geared towards the good.
The self is known only through knowing God.
Self-knowledge is a consequence of
knowledge of God.
ST. AUGUSTINE
"Knowledge can only come by seeing
the truth that dwells within us"
The truth of which Augustine spoke refers to the truth
of knowing God
THE SELF IN THE MODERN
PHILOSOPHY
RENE DESCARTES
I THINK,
THEREFORE
I AM
Descartes' two substances
1 2
Cogito Extenza
the thing that thinks the extension
soul body
mind finite
infinite
RENE DESCARTES
COGITO ERGO SUM
"I think therefore, I am"
RENE DESCARTES
The act of thinking about self - of
being self-conscious - is in itself
proof that there is self.
JOHN LOCKE
THE SELF IS
CONSCIOUSNESS
JOHN LOCKE
The human mind at birth is tabula rasa or
blank slate.
He felt that the self is constructed primarily
from sense experiences.
CONSCIOUSNESS
necessary to have a coherent personal identity or
knowledge of the self as a person.
what makes possible our belief that we are the
same identity in different situations.
DAVID HUME
THERE IS NO
SELF
DAVID HUME
Self is simply a bundle or collection of
different perceptions, which succeed each
other with an inconceivable rapidly and are in
a perpetual flux and movement
The idea of personal identity is a result of
imagination
There is no self
DAVID HUME
What is the self that we experience according to Hume? A ‘bundle
or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other
with an inconceivable rapidity and are in a perpetual flux and
movement’. Humans so desperately want to believe that they have
a unified and continuous self or soul that they use their
imaginations to construct a fictional self… Mind is a theater, a
container for fleeting sensations and disconnected ideas and our
reasoning ability is merely a slave to the passions (Chaffe, J., 2013,
p. 126).
IMMANUEL KANT
WE
CONSTRUCT
THE SELF
IMMANUEL KANT
He agreed that everything starts with
experiences including perceptions and
sensation of impressions.
The self constructs its own reality creating a
world that is familiar and predictable
Through our rationality, the self transcends
sense experience
GILBERT RYLE
THE SELF IS THE
WAY PEOPLE
BEHAVE
GILBERT RYLE
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
"I act therefore I am",
The self is the way people behave
PATRICIA AND PAUL
CHURCHLAND
THE SELF IS THE
BRAIN
CHURCHLAND
The self is inseparable from the brain and the
physiology of the body
All we have is the brain and so, if the brain is
gone, there is no self
The physical brain and not the imaginary
mind, gives us our sense of self
CHURCHLAND
The mind does not really exist
It is the brain and not the imaginary mind that
gives us our sense of self
The self is the brain
MAURICE
MARLEAU-PONTY
THE SELF IS
EMBODIED
SUBJECTIVELY
MAURICE MARLEAU-PONTY
The mind-body bifurcation that has been
going on for a long time is a futile endeavor
and an invalid problem
All knowledge of our selves and our world is
based on subjective experience
The self can never be truly objectified or
known in a completely objective sort of way
Thank you!
