Socrates

Biography
Socrates, a Greek philosopher whose way of life, character, and thought exerted a
profound influence on ancient and modern philosophy. He is famous for contributing to
philosophy:
 Pithy sayings
 The Socratic method of discussion or dialogue
 "Socratic irony"
A discussion of Greek democracy often focuses on a sadder aspect of his life: his state-
mandated execution.
Although we have many details about his death, we know little about the life of Socrates.
Plato provides us the names of some of his family members: Socrates' father was Sophroniscus,
his mother was Phaenarete, and his wife, Xanthippe (a proverbial shrew). Socrates had 3 sons,
Lamprocles, Sophroniscus, and Menexenus. The oldest, Lamprocles, was about 15 at the time his
father died.
The Council of 500 condemned Socrates to death for impiety for not believing in the
gods of the city and for introducing new gods. He was offered an alternative to death, paying a
fine, but refused it. Socrates fulfilled his sentence by drinking a cup of poison hemlock in front
of friends.
Socrates is remembered chiefly as a philosopher and the teacher of Plato, but he was also
a citizen of Athens, and served the military as a hoplite during the Peloponnesian War, at
Potidaea (432–429), where he saved Alcibiades' life in a skirmish, Delium (424), where he
remained calm while most around him were in a panic, and Amphipolis (422). Socrates also
participated in the Athenian democratic political organ, the Council of the 500.
The 5th century B.C. sophists, a name based on the Greek word for wisdom, are familiar
to us mostly from the writings of Aristophanes, Plato, and Xenophon, who opposed them.
Sophists taught valuable skills, especially rhetoric, for a price. Although Plato shows Socrates
opposing the sophists, and not charging for his instruction, Aristophanes, in his comedy Clouds,
portrays Socrates as a greedy master of the sophists' craft. Although Plato is considered the most
reliable source on Socrates and he says Socrates was not a sophist, opinions differ on whether
Socrates was essentially different from the other sophists.
Socrates is not known to have written anything. He is best known for the dialogues of
Plato, but before Plato painted his memorable portrait in his dialogues, Socrates was an object of
ridicule, described as a sophist, by Aristophanes. In addition to writing about his life and
teaching, Plato and Xenophon wrote about Socrates' defense at his trial, in separate works both
called Apology.
Socrates is known for the Socratic method (elenchus), Socratic irony, and the pursuit of
knowledge. Socrates is famous for saying that he knows nothing and that the unexamined life is
not worth living. The Socratic method involves asking a series of questions until a contradiction
emerges invalidating the initial assumption. Socratic irony is the position that the inquisitor takes
that he knows nothing while leading the questioning.

Perspective of Self
For Socrates, every man is composed of body and soul. this means that every human
person is dualistic, that is, he is composed of two important aspects of his personhood. This
means all individuals have an imperfect, impermanent aspect to his, and the body, while
maintaining that there is also a soul that is perfect and permanent.
Socrates believed that the “self” exists in two parts.
One part is the physical, tangible aspect of us. This is the part that is mortal and can be/is
constantly changing. Earth also belongs to this physical realm that our bodies belong in, because
just as us in terms of physicality, the Earth is constantly being modified. The second part is the
soul, which he believed to be immortal. The soul is the part that is unvarying across all realms (it
is unchanging while it is attached to your body and thus in the physical realm, but is also
unmodified once you die and your soul leaves the body to travel to the ideal realm).
References
Alata, E. P., Caslib, B. N., Pawilen, R. A., & Serafica, J. J. (2019). Understanding the Self.
Quezon City: Rex Book Store Inc.

Kraut, R. (2019). Socrates. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.

Gill, N. S. (2019). Profile of Socrates: An Ancient Philosopher and Sage. ThoughtCo. Retrieved
from: https://www.thoughtco.com/profile-of-socrates-121053

Menon, A. (2018). What is self according to Socrates? Quora. https://www.quora.com/What-is-

Biography
Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle, and founder
of the Academy, best known as the author of philosophical works of unparalleled influence. He
was one of the most famous, respected, and influential philosophers of all time. A type of love
(Platonic) is named for him.
The son of Ariston (his father) and Perictione (his mother), Plato was born in the year
after the death of the great Athenian statesman Pericles. His brothers Glaucon and Adeimantus
are portrayed as interlocutors in Plato’s masterpiece the Republic, and his half-brother Antiphon
figures in the Parmenides. Plato’s family was aristocratic and distinguished: his father’s side
claimed descent from the god Poseidon, and his mother’s side was related to the lawgiver Solon.
Plato was born around May 21 in 428 or 427 B.C., a year or two after Pericles died and
during the Peloponnesian War. He was related to Solon and could trace his ancestry to the last
legendary king of Athens, Codrus.
Plato was a student and follower of Socrates until 399, when the condemned Socrates
died after drinking the prescribed cup of hemlock. It is through Plato that we are most familiar
with Socrates' philosophy because he wrote dialogues in which his teacher took part, usually
asking leading questions -- the Socratic method. Plato's Apology is his version of the trial and the
Phaedo, the death of Socrates.
When Plato died, in 347 B.C., after Philip II of Macedonia had begun his conquest of
Greece, leadership of the Academy passed not to Aristotle, who had been a student and then
teacher there for 20 years, and who expected to follow, but to Plato's nephew Speusippus. The
Academy continued for several more centuries.
Plato's Symposium contains ideas on love held by various philosophers and other
Athenians. It entertains many points of view, including the idea that people were originally
doubled -- some with the same gender and others with the opposite, and that, once cut, they
spend their lives looking for their other part. This idea "explains" sexual preferences.
In the Middle Ages, Plato was known mostly through Latin translations of Arabic
translations and commentaries. In the Renaissance, when Greek became more familiar, far more
scholars studied Plato. Since then, he has had an impact on math and science, morals, and
political theory.
Instead of following a political path, Plato thought it more important to educate would-be
statesmen. For this reason, he set up a school for future leaders. His school was called the
Academy, named for the park in which it was located. Plato's Republic contains a treatise on
education.
Plato is considered by many to be the most important philosopher who ever lived. He is
known as the father of idealism in philosophy. His ideas were elitist, with the philosopher king
the ideal ruler.
Plato is perhaps best known to college students for his parable of a cave, which appears
in Plato's Republic.

Perspective of Self
Plato basically took off from his master and supported the idea that man is a dual nature
of body soul. In addition to what Socrates earlier espoused, Plato added that there are three
components of soul: the rational soul, the spirited soul, and the appetitive soul. In his magnum
opus, “The Republic” (Plato 2000), Plato emphasizes that justice in the human person can only
be attained of the three parts of the souls are working harmoniously with one another. the
rational soul forged by reason and intellect has to govern the affairs of the human person, the
spirited part which is in charge of emotions should be kept at bat, and the appetitive soul in
charge of base desires like eating, drinking, sleeping, and having sex are controlled as well.
When this ideal state is attained, then the human person’s soul becomes just and virtuous.
References
Alata, E. P., Caslib, B. N., Pawilen, R. A., & Serafica, J. J. (2019). Understanding the Self.
Quezon City: Rex Book Store Inc.

Meinwald, C. C. (2019). Plato. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retried from:

Gill, N. S. (2019). An Introduction to Plato and His Philosophical Ideas: One of the Most
Important Philosophers and a Student of Socrates. ThoughtCo. Retrieved from:
https://www.thoughtco.com/plato-important-philosophers-120328
Aristotle

Biography
Aristotle (384–322 BCE) was one of the most important western philosophers in history.
A student of Plato, Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great. He later went on to form his own
Lyceum (school) in Athens, where he developed important philosophical, scientific, and practical
theories, many of which had great significance during the Middle Ages and are still influential
today. Aristotle wrote on logic, nature, psychology, ethics, politics, and art, developed one of the
first systems for classifying plants and animals, and posited significant theories on topics ranging
from the physics of motion to the qualities of the soul. He is credited with developing deductive
("top-down") reasoning, a form of logic used in the scientific process and highly valued in
business, finance, and other modern settings.
Aristotle was born in 384 BCE in the city of Stagira in Macedonia, a seaport on the
Thracian coast. His father Nichomacus was the personal physician to King Amyntas of
Macedonia. Nichomacus died while Aristotle was still young, so he came under the guardianship
of Proxenus. It was Proxenus who sent Aristotle, at age 17, to complete his education in Athens.
Upon arriving in Athens, Aristotle attended the institution of philosophical learning
known as the Academy, which was founded by Socrates' pupil Plato, where he stayed until
Plato's death in 347. Aristotle was an outstanding pupil and soon began giving his own lectures
on rhetoric. Despite his impressive reputation, however, Aristotle often disagreed with Plato's
ideas; the result was that, when a successor to Plato was selected, Aristotle was passed over in
favor of Plato's nephew Speusippus.
With no future at the Academy, Aristotle was not at loose ends for long. Hermeas, ruler
of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia, issued an invitation for Aristotle to join his court. Aristotle
remained in Mysia for three years, during which he married the king's niece Pythias. At the end
of the three years, Hermeas was attacked by the Persians, leading Aristotle to leave the country
and head to the island of Lesbos.
In 343 BCE, Aristotle received a request from King Phillip II of Macedonia to tutor his
son Alexander. Aristotle agreed to the request, spending seven years working closely with the
young man who would later become the famous Alexander the Great. At the end of seven years,
Alexander was crowned king and Aristotle's work was complete. Though he left Macedonia,
however, Aristotle stayed in close touch with the young king, corresponding regularly; it is likely
that Aristotle's counsel had a significant impact on Alexander for many years, inspiring his love
of literature and the arts.
In 323 BCE when Alexander the Great died, the Assembly in Athens declared war
against Alexander's successor, Antiphon. Aristotle was considered an anti-Athenian, pro-
Macedonian, and so he was charged with impiety. Bearing in mind the fate of Socrates, who was
unjustly put to death, Aristotle went into voluntary exile to Chalcis, where he died one year later
of a digestive ailment in 322 BCE at the age of 63.

Perspective of Self
Aristotle undeniably diverged from Plato in his view of what a human being most truly
and fundamentally is. Plato, at least in many of his dialogues, held that the true self of human
beings is the reason or the intellect that constitutes their soul and that is separable from their
body. Aristotle, for his part, insisted that the human being is a composite of body and soul and
that the soul cannot be separated from the body. Aristotle’s philosophy of self was constructed in
terms of hylomorphism in which the soul of a human being is the form or the structure of the
human body or the human matter.

References
Gill, N. S. (2019). Biography of Aristotle, Influential Greek Philosopher and Scientist.
ThoughtCo. Retrieved from: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-life-and-legacy-of-aristotle-
112489

Sihvola, J. (2008). Aristotle on the Individuality of Self. Springer. Retrieved from:

Biography
His Latin Name is Aurelius Augustinus, born on november 13, 354 on Tagaste, Numidia
(Souk Ahras, Algeria). He was one of the Latin fathers of the chirch and the most significant
thinker after St. Paul. His teachings created a theological system of great power and lasting
influence. He is formally recognized as a doctor of the church. His works includes
“Confessions” and “The city of God”
He went to the university at Carthage to study rhetoric to become a lawyer but eventually
he gave it up and had a child named Adeodatus in 372. On 384, he accepted the chair of rhetoric
at Milan and returned to his Christian faith and was baptized on Easter Eve on 387. At the death
of his mother, he returned to Africa, sold his properties and gave the proceeds to the poor and
founded a monastery at Tagaste. He moved to hippo and established a community. After five
years he became the bishop of Hippo. He became a dominant figure in African church and
fought against Manichaeism, Donatism, Pelagianism and others. His later thinking can be
summed up in a line from his writings: "Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are
restless until they rest in you."  Called Doctor of Grace, he is one of the greatest of the Fathers
and Doctors of the Church, and with the possible exception of Thomas Aquinas, the greatest
single intellect the Catholic Church has ever produced.

Perspective of Self
His view of human person reflects the entire spirit of the medieval world when it comes
to man. He agreed that man is a bifurcated nature. 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. The body
can only thrive in the imperfect which is the physical world while the soul can stay in the eternal
realm with God.

References
O’Donell, James. (2019, November 09). Encyclopedia Britannica, St. Augustine. Retrieved
from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Augustine

St. Augustine Catholic Church. (2017). Life of Saint Augustine. Retrieved from:
http://www.staugustinecc.com/life_of_st_augustine.htm

Alata, E. P., Caslib, B. N., Pawilen, R. A., & Serafica, J. J. (2019). Understanding the Self.
Quezon City: Rex Book Store Inc.
St. Thomas Aquinas

Biography
His italian name is San Tommaso d’Aqiuno (Doctor Angelius). He was born on 1225, in
Roccasecca, near Aquino, terra di Lavoro, Kingdom of Sicily (Italy) and died on March 7, 1274.
He was canonized on July 18, 2323, he was an Italian Dominican Theologian. He is recognized
by the Roman Catholic Church as a western philosopher and theologian. His works includes
Summa Theologiae and Summa contra gentiles
He was the youngest son to a Sicilian noble family in 1225. He studied in a university in
Naples and was directed by members of the newly founded Dominican Order, when he became a
member despite objections from his family. He went to France in 1245 and continued his studies
under the Aristotelian commentator and fellow Dominican, Albert Magnus before joining the
University of Paris as regent master in theology. Then he returned to Italy in 1259 where he was
called to Rome by Pope Clement IV to serve as a papal theologian and he continued to teach. In
1268 he was called once again to serve as a regent master in Paris then again returned to Naples
where he became a regent again in a Dominican University. In 1274, Pope Gregory X called the
Second Council of Lyons in an attempt to repair the great schism that had taken place within the
Church in 1054. Summoned to the council, Aquinas suffered an accident while traveling, fell ill,
and died several days later on March 7, 1274. Fifty years following his death, Aquinas ascended
to sainthood and, then, in 1567, was named a Doctor of the Church.

Perspective of Self
He believed that a man is composed of 2 parts: Matter and Form. Matter refers to the
common stuff that makes up everything in the human world. A man’s body is a part of matter
while Form refers to the essence of a substance of a thing, It makes it what it is. A body of a
human person is something that he shares even with animals and the soul is what animates the
body, it what makes us humans.

References
Chenu, Marie-Dominique. (2019, October 29). Encyclopedia Britannica, St. Thomas
Aquinas.Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Thomas-Aquinas

Mclnerny, Ralph. (2004). Great Thinkers, Thomas Aquinas. Retrieved from:

Alata, E. P., Caslib, B. N., Pawilen, R. A., & Serafica, J. J. (2019). Understanding the Self.
Quezon City: Rex Book Store Inc.
René Descartes

Biography
René Descartes (1596-1650), an important French philosopher, mathematician, and
scientist, is considered the father of modern philosophy. Under his influence, philosophy became
centered on epistemology (the study of knowledge) for three centuries. The question “What do I
really know?” became a starting point for many philosophies after him. Especially influential
were his idea that knowledge of the self is the foundation of all other knowledge, the search for
the foundation of knowledge (foundationalism), and the mind-body problem in its modern form.
He also produced important works in mathematics, geometry, and science.

As a young man Descartes studied law, then decided to become a professional military
officer. While studying military engineering, he studied mathematics and science, and started
thinking about a method for scientific knowledge. He then left the military, and continued
studying in various places in Europe, meeting and corresponding with important scholars, and
teaching. He published works in mathematics and philosophy, some of which were disliked by
religious authorities. In 1649 he was invited by Queen Christina of Sweden, and started giving to
her lessons in early morning, in cold weather. He soon contracted pneumonia and died.
Perspective of Self
In his book, Meditations on the First Philosophy, composed of six “meditations” or
chapters, he searches for a foundation of all knowledge. He starts by refusing to believe anything
which is not completely certain, including his memory, his belief that the objects he sees around
him really exist, and that he has a human body (he might be dreaming, or tricked by an evil
deceiver). In the second meditation he finds that the only thing which he knows for sure is that
he himself exists. But since his body is still in doubt, he concludes that he is a thinking being.

On the basis of this knowledge, Descartes builds, in later meditations, other pieces of knowledge:
that God exists, that the material world outside him exists, and the nature of material objects and
of the soul.

Descartes says that since much of what we think and believe are not infallible, they may
turn out to be false. One should only believe that since which can pass the test of doubt
(Descartes 2008). If something is so clear and lucid as not to be even doubted, then that is the
only time when one should actually buy a proposition. In the end, Descartes thought that the only
thing that one cannot doubt is the existence of the self, for even if one doubts oneself, that only
proves that there is a doubting self, a thing that thinks and therefore, that cannot be doubted.
Thus, his famous, cogito ergo sum, “I think therefore, I am.” The fact that one things should lead
one to conclude without a trace of doubt that he exists. The self them for Descartes is also a
combination of two distinct entities, the cogito, the thing that thinks, which is the mind, and the
extenza or extension of the mind, which is the body. In Descartes’ view, 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. If at all, that is the mind. Descartes says, “But what then, am I? A thinking thing. It
has been said. But what is a thinking thing? It is a thing that doubts, understands (conceives),
affirms, denies, wills, refuses; that imagines also, and perceives” (Descartes 2008).

References
Alata, E. J. P., Caslib, B. N., Serafica, J. P. J., & Pilawen, R. A. (2018). Understanding the
Self (1st Edition). Quezon City: Rex Bookstore.
Lahav, R., & Zavala, C. (Eds.). (2016, May). Topics - The Self. Retrieved November 14, 2019,
from https://www.philopractice.org/web/self?fbclid=IwAR26fGeu9GZC22fzka1qEXM
5Ox5sphIBIrRZK0EIrnNL6ge-ZYTo32_BdJc.
David Hume

Biography
David Hume (1711-1776) was a major figure in modern philosophy, one the three main
British Empiricists of the 18th century (together with John Locke and George Berkeley). He
grew up in Edinburgh, where he also studied at university. At the age of 28, after four years of
writing, he finished his book Treatise of Human Nature, hoping to make some money out of it,
since he was quite poor. Unfortunately, the book was not well received, although later it had an
immense influence on the history of philosophy. Some additional texts he wrote did not see
much success either. His second major philosophy book, An Inquiry Concerning Human
Understanding, was a little more successful. He continued to have financial difficulties, and to
search for jobs and sources of income. Only after he published his six volumes on the history of
England did he achieve success, and some of the volumes became best sellers. He died from
cancer at the age of 65.
Perspective of Self
From the section “On Personal Identity” in David Hume’s first philosophy book Treatise
of Human Nature (Book 1, Part 4, section 6), here he argues, against Descartes and others like
him, that there is no entity that is the “self.” If my self is supposed to be an entity that is simple
(not made of parts), and that is stable and continuous and preserves my personal identify through
time, then there is no such thing.
According to Hume’s Empiricist approach, every intelligible idea must come from
“impressions” — experiences of color and shape, of sound, touch, coldness, warmth, pain,
pleasure, etc. However, if I look at my consciousness, I find no stable experience of a self — no
impression of anything stable, only a stream of impressions which keep changing and replacing
each other. Our consciousness is a “theater” with no observer, with no “owner,” no “I.”
What, then, am I? I am a stream of experiences, a bundle of “impressions.”
Impressions are the basic objects of our experience of sensation. They therefore form the
core of our thoughts. When one touches an ice cube, the cold sensation is an impression.
Impressions therefore are vivid because they are products of our direct experience with the
world. Ideas, on the other hand, are copies of impressions. Because of this they are not as lively
and vivid as our impressions. When one imagines the feeling of being on love for the first time,
that still is an idea.

What is the self then? Self, according to Hume, is simply a bundle or collection of
different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a
perpetual flux and movement (Hume and Sternberg 1992). Men simply want to believe that there
is a unified, coherent self, a soul or mind just like what the previous philosophers thought. In
reality, what one thinks is a unified self is simply a combination of all experiences with a
particular person.

References
Alata, E. J. P., Caslib, B. N., Serafica, J. P. J., & Pilawen, R. A. (2018). Understanding the
Self (1st Edition). Quezon City: Rex Bookstore.
Lahav, R., & Zavala, C. (Eds.). (2016, May). Topics - The Self. Retrieved November 14, 2019,
from https://www.philopractice.org/web/self?fbclid=IwAR26fGeu9GZC22fzka1qEXM
5Ox5sphIBIrRZK0EIrnNL6ge-ZYTo32_BdJc.
John Locke

Biography
English philosopher John Locke's works lie at the foundation of modern philosophical
empiricism and political liberalism. He was an inspirer of both the European Enlightenment and
the Constitution of the United States. His philosophical thinking was close to that of the founders
of modern science, especially Robert Boyle, Sir Isaac Newton, and other members of the Royal
Society. His political thought was grounded in the notion of a social contract between citizens
and in the importance of toleration, especially in matters of religion. Much of what he advocated
in the realm of politics was accepted in England after the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89 and in
the United States after the country’s declaration of independence in 1776.
John Locke, born on August 29, 1632, in Wrington, Somerset, England, went to
Westminster school and then Christ Church, University of Oxford. At Oxford he studied
medicine, which would play a central role in his life. He became a highly influential philosopher,
writing about such topics as political philosophy, epistemology, and education. Locke's writings
helped found modern Western philosophy.
Influential philosopher and physician John Locke, whose writings had a significant
impact on Western philosophy, was born on August 29, 1632, in Wrington, a village in the
English county of Somerset. His father was a country lawyer and military man who had served
as a captain during the English civil war.
Both his parents were Puritans and as such, Locke was raised that way. Because of his
father's connections and allegiance to the English government, Locke received an outstanding
education.
In 1647 he enrolled at Westminster School in London, where Locke earned the distinct
honor of being named a King's Scholar, a privilege that went to only select number of boys and
paved the way for Locke to attend Christ Church, Oxford in 1652.
At Christ Church, perhaps Oxford's most prestigious school, Locke immersed himself in
logic and metaphysics, as well as the classical languages. After graduating in 1656, he returned
to Christ Church two years later for a Master of Arts, which led in just a few short years to Locke
taking on tutorial work at the college.
Long afflicted with delicate health, Locke died on October 28, 1704, in Essex, where he'd
resided over the last decade of his life.
Years after his death we are still gauging his impact on Western thought. His theories
concerning the separation of Church and State, religious freedom, and liberty, not only
influenced European thinkers such as the French Enlightenment writer, Voltaire, but shaped the
thinking of America's founders, from Alexander Hamilton to Thomas Jefferson.

Perspective of Self
According to Locke, personal identity (the self) "depends on consciousness, not on
substance" nor on the soul. We are the same person to the extent that we are conscious of the
past and future thoughts and actions in the same way as we are conscious of present thoughts and
actions. 
Neither is self-identity founded on the body substance, argues Locke, as the body may
change while the person remains the same. Even the identity of animals is not founded on their
body: "animal identity is preserved in identity of life, and not of substance", as the body of the
animal grows and changes during its life. On the other hand, identity of humans is based on their
consciousness.
Locke is proposing a radically different version of the self than the philosophical tradition
before him. Plato, Plotinus, St. Augustine, Descartes—they all had agreed that the self existed in
the form of an immortal, nonmaterial soul that continues to exist following the death of the body.
In a fascinating twist, Locke denies that the individual self necessarily exists in a single soul or
substance. For Locke, the essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself as a thinking,
reasoning, reflecting identity. But this in no way means that this self is necessarily imbedded in a
single substance or soul—it might very well take up residence in any number of substances or
souls.
In Locke’s mind, conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys
to understanding the self. In other words, you have a coherent concept of your self as a personal
identity because you are aware of your self when you are thinking, feeling, and willing. And, you
have memories of times when you were aware of your self in the past, in other situations—for
example, at the party two weeks ago, or your high school graduation several years ago. But, as
we noted earlier, there are many moments when we are not consciously aware of our self when
we are thinking, feeling, and willing—we are simply, unreflectively, existing. What’s more,
there are many past experiences that we have forgotten or have faulty recollections of. All of
which means that during those lapses, when we were not aware of our self, or don’t remember
being aware of our self, we can’t be sure if we were the same person, the same substance, the
same soul! Our personal identity is not in doubt or jeopardy, because we are aware of our self (or
remember being aware of it). But we have no way of knowing if our personal identity has been
existing in one substance (soul) or a number of substances (souls).

References
Rogers, G. (2019). John Locke | Biography, Treatises, Works, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Locke
Unknown. (2019). John Locke Biography. The Biography.com. Retrieved from:
https://www.biography.com/scholar/john-locke
Unknown. (2019) Locke on Personal Identity. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved
from: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-personal-identity/
Maurice Merleau - Ponty

Biography
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) was a French philosopher, known for his work on
the philosophy of the body. He studied philosophy at École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He then
taught at several academic institutions, and eventually became Chair of Philosophy at Collège de
France. He died of a stroke at the age of 53.
Merleau-Ponty was an important phenomenologist. Phenomenology is a philosophical
movement of the first half of the 20th century, founded by Edmund Husserl. Its basic idea is that
experience is the foundation of our world. For example, to learn about the fundamental nature of
time, you need to investigate the experience of time.
Merleau-Ponty took phenomenology in a new direction, pointing out the centrality of the
body in our experience. According to him, I experience myself as living in my body, as acting
through my body. It is through my body that I can move in space, touch objects, and interact
with others. My experiences are not private representations in a private mind, but primarily
action in the world.
Perspective of Self
From Merleau-Ponty’s main book Phenomenology of Perception (1945),here are some
important themes: First, I do not experience my body as an object in space – rather, I inhabit my
body, I act through my body, I encounter the world through my body. Second, my body knows
how to move and act – I do not have to calculate how to move it. My body has body-knowledge.
Third, the world which I experience is a public world, not a private representation inside my
mind.
Merleau-Ponty says that 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, man are in the world. Merleau-Ponty dismisses the Cartesian Dualism
that has spelled so much devastation in the history of man. For him, the Cartesian problem is
nothing else but plain misunderstanding. The living boy, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences
are all one.

References
Alata, E. J. P., Caslib, B. N., Serafica, J. P. J., & Pilawen, R. A. (2018). Understanding the
Self (1st Edition). Quezon City: Rex Bookstore.
Lahav, R., & Zavala, C. (Eds.). (2016, May). Topics - The Self. Retrieved November 14, 2019,
from https://www.philopractice.org/web/self?fbclid=IwAR26fGeu9GZC22fzka1qEXM
5Ox5sphIBIrRZK0EIrnNL6ge-ZYTo32_BdJc.
Paul Churchland

Biography
Paul Churchland was born on October 21, 1942, Vancouver Canada. A philosopher noted
for his studies in neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. Churchland is the husband of
philosopher Patricia Churchland. He is also the father of two children, Mark and Anne
Churchland, both of whom are neuroscientists. He died on March 7, 1274 and one of his works
is the “Could a machine think?”
He studied at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, from 1960 to 1964, and
graduated with a B.A. (honors) in philosophy, physics, and mathematics. From 1964 to 1967, he
studied at the University of Pittsburgh, one of the world’s leading centers for studies in the
philosophy of science. He received his Ph.D. from this institution in the fields of philosophy of
science and philosophy of mind. In 1966, Churchland served as an instructor in philosophy at the
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburgh and then moved to the University of Toronto, where he
served as a lecturer in philosophy from 1967 to 1969, moving in 1969 to the University of
Manitoba, where he rose from assistant professor to full professor. Churchland has supervised a
number of PhD students, including Matthew J. Brown (now at UT Dallas), P.D. Magnus (now at
the University at Albany), Philip Brey (now at the University of Twente).

Perspective of Self
He adheres to materialism, the belief that nothing but matter exists. In other words, if it
can't somehow be recognized by the senses then it's akin to a fairy tale.  Churchland asserts that
since the mind can't be experienced by our senses, then the mind doesn't really exist. Based on
this assertion, Churchland holds to eliminative materialism. Stated simply, eliminative
materialism argues that the ordinary folk psychology of the mind is wrong. It is the physical
brain and not the imaginary mind that gives us our sense of self.

References
Poem Hunter. (2019). Biography of Paul Churchland. Retrieved from:
https://www.poemhunter.com/paul-churchland/biography

Roth, John K. (2019, November). Paul M. Churchland - Biography" Survey of World Philosophers.

Whittemore, Jessica. (2018). The self as the brain according to Paul Churchland. Retrieved from:
https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-self-as-the-brain-according-to-paul-churchland.html
Immanuel Kant

Biography
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher during the Enlightenment era of the late 18th
century. His best-known work is the Critique of Pure Reason.
Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724, in Konigsberg, Prussia, or what is now
Kaliningrad, Russia. While tutoring, he published science papers, including "General Natural
History and Theory of the Heavens" in 1755. He spent the next 15 years as a metaphysics
lecturer. In 1781, he published the first part of Critique of Pure Reason. He published more
critiques in the years preceding his death on February 12, 1804, in the city of his birth.
Immanuel Kant was the fourth of nine children born to Johann Georg Cant, a harness
maker, and Anna Regina Cant. Later in his life, Immanuel changed the spelling of his name to
Kant to adhere to German spelling practices. Both parents were devout followers of Pietism, an
18th-century branch of the Lutheran Church. Seeing the potential in the young man, a local
pastor arranged for the young Kant's education. While at school, Kant gained a deep appreciation
for the Latin classics.
In 1740, Kant enrolled at the University of Konigsberg as a theology student but was
soon attracted to mathematics and physics. In 1746, his father died, and he was forced to leave
the university to help his family. For a decade, he worked as a private tutor for the wealthy.
During this time, he published several papers dealing with scientific questions exploring the
middle ground between rationalism and empiricism.
In 1755, Immanuel Kant returned to the University of Konigsberg to continue his
education. That same year he received his doctorate of philosophy. For the next 15 years, he
worked as a lecturer and tutor and wrote major works on philosophy. In 1770, he became a full
professor at the University of Konigsberg, teaching metaphysics and logic.
In 1781, Immanuel Kant published the Critique of Pure Reason, an enormous work and
one of the most important on Western thought. He attempted to explain how reason and
experiences interact with thought and understanding. This revolutionary proposal explained how
an individual’s mind organizes experiences into understanding the way the world works. 
Kant focused on ethics, the philosophical study of moral actions. He proposed a moral
law called the “categorical imperative,” stating that morality is derived from rationality and all
moral judgments are rationally supported. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong;
there is no grey area. Human beings are obligated to follow this imperative unconditionally if
they are to claim to be moral.
Though the Critique of Pure Reason received little attention at the time, Kant continued
to refine his theories in a series of essays that comprised the Critique of Practical
Reason and Critique of Judgement. Kant continued to write on philosophy until shortly before
his death. In his last years, he became embittered due to his loss of memory. He died in 1804 at
age 80.

Perspective of Self
Kant recognizes the veracity of Hume’s account that everything starts with perception
and sensation of impressions. However, Kant thinks that the things that men perceive around
them are not just randomly infused into the human person without an organizing principle that
regulates the relationships of all these impressions. To Kant, there is necessarily a mind that
organizes the impressions that men get from the external world. Time and space, for example,
are ideas that one cannot find in the world, but is built in our minds. Kant calls these the
apparatuses of the mind.
According to him, we humans have both an inner and an outer self which unify to give us
consciousness. The inner self is comprised of our psychological state and our rational intellect.
The outer self includes our sense and the physical world.
Along with the different apparatuses of the mind goes the “self.” Without the self, one
cannot organize the different impressions that one gets in relation to his own existence. Kant
therefore suggests that it is an actively engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes all
knowledge and experience. Thus, the self is not just what gives one his personality. In addition, it
is also the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons.
References
Unknown. (2019). Immanuel Kant Biography. The Biography.com. Retrieved from:
https://www.biography.com/scholar/immanuel-kant
Whittemore, J. (2018). Immanuel Kant's Metaphysics of the Self. Study.com. Retrieved from:
https://study.com/academy/lesson/immanuel-kants-metaphysics-of-the-self.html
Alata, E. P., Caslib, B. N., Pawilen, R. A., & Serafica, J. J. (2019). Understanding the Self.
Quezon City: Rex Book Store Inc.
Herrera, J. et al. (2018). Philosophical Perspectives about Self. Slideshare. Retrieved from:
https://www.slideshare.net/JoebrenHerrera/philosophical-perspectives-about-self
Gilbert Ryle

Biography
The English philosopher Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) ranked among the leaders of the
contemporary analytic movement in British philosophy. His most original work was his analysis
of the concept of mind.
Gilbert Ryle was born on August 19, 1900, in Brighton. One of ten children, he came
from a prosperous family and enjoyed a liberal and stimulating childhood and adolescence. His
father was a general practitioner but had keen interests in philosophy and astronomy that he
passed on to his children and an impressive library where Ryle enjoyed being an “omnivorous
reader”. He was educated at Brighton College and then entered Queen's College, Oxford, where
he took first honors in two subjects: classical honor moderations and the school of philosophy,
politics, and economics.
As a result of his brilliant academic work, Ryle was appointed lecturer in 1924. A year
later, he became a tutor in philosophy, both appointments at Christ Church, Oxford. In 1940, he
was commissioned in the Welsh Guards, serving for the duration of World War II and ending his
military career as a major.
Ryle returned to Oxford to become Waynflete professor of metaphysical philosophy, a
post he held from 1945 to 1968. In 1947, he inherited from G. E. Moore the editorship of Mind,
the most influential journal of English philosophy.
Early in his philosophical career, Ryle decided that the task of philosophy was "the
detection of the sources in linguistic idioms of recurrent misconceptions and absurd theories." In
his Tanner Lectures, published as Dilemmas (1954), he showed how certain philosophical
impasses could be dissolved by a clearer understanding of the concepts employed by the
apparently contradictory views.
In his major work, The Concept of Mind (1949), Ryle mounted a devastating attack on
Cartesian dualism and, in particular, on the view of mind as a separate substance apart from the
body. He caricatured this view as the "myth of the ghost in the machine" proposed by Descartes.
Ryle's own view of mental reality is that it consists in dispositions to behave in certain ways. He
tried to show that mental concepts do not refer to private, unwitnessable events, maintaining
against critics that his view was not identical with behaviorism.
In Plato's Progress (1966), Ryle exhibited an unexpected talent for ingenious speculation
in an attempt to reconstruct the historical genesis of Plato's dialogues. Ryle, a bachelor, lived
most of his life in college rooms. Friends said that "the Common Room atmosphere fits him like
a glove."
Quick and formidable in debate, Ryle was also the writer of clear and witty prose. He
took particular delight in exploding pompous views and in inventing fresh metaphors and vivid
aphorisms. Though professing to dislike erudition and intellectual matters, Ryle was both learned
and highly intellectual. He was said to distrust imagination and its works, but he had a typically
British love of gardening.

Perspective of Self
Gilbert Ryle solves the mind-body dichotomy that has been running for a long time in the
history of thought by blatantly denying the concept of an internal, non-physical self. For Ryle,
what truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his da-to-day life. According to him,
every human being has both a physical body and a non-physical mind which are ordinarily
“harnessed together” while alive. However, after the death of the body, the persons’ minds may
continue to exist and function.
Ryle also mentions that “human bodies are in space and are subject to the mechanical
laws which govern all other bodies in space and are accessible to external observers. But minds
are not in space, their operations are not subject to mechanical laws, and the processes of the
mind are not accessible to other people—its career is private. Only I am able to perceive and
experience the states and processes of my own mind.” Therefore, he concludes that a person
lives through two collateral histories, one consisting of what happens in and to his body, and
other consisting of what happens in and to his mind - the first is public, the second is private.
For him, looking for and trying to understand a self as it really exists is like visiting a
friend’s university and looking for the “university”. One can roam around the campus, visit the
library and the football field, and meet the administrators and faculty and still end up not finding
the “university”. This is because the campus, the people, the systems, and the territory all form
the university. Ryle suggests that the “self” is not an entity one can locate and analyze but
simplythe convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people make.

References
Gilbert Ryle. (2015, February 4). Retrieved November 16, 2019, from Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ryle/
The Self Is How You Behave: Ryle. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2019, from Pearson:
https://revelpreview.pearson.com/epubs/pearson_chaffee/OPS/xhtml/ch03_sec_09.xhtml
Gilbert Ryle Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2019, from YourDictionary:
biography.yourdictionary.com/gilbert-ryle
Sigmund Freud

Biography
Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 to September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist who
developed psychoanalysis, a method through which an analyst unpacks unconscious conflicts
based on the free associations, dreams and fantasies of the patient. His theories on child
sexuality, libido and the ego, among other topics, were some of the most influential academic
concepts of the 20th century.
In 1873, Freud began to study medicine at the University of Vienna. After graduating, he
worked at the Vienna General Hospital and collaborated with Josef Breuer in treating hysteria by
the recall of painful experiences under hypnosis. In 1885, Freud went to Paris as a student of the
neurologist Jean Charcot. On his return to Vienna the following year, Freud set up in private
practice, specializing in nervous and brain disorders.
Freud developed the theory that humans have an unconscious mind in which sexual and
aggressive impulses are in perpetual conflict for supremacy with the defenses against them. In
1897, he began an intensive analysis of himself. In 1900, his major work 'The Interpretation of
Dreams' was published in which Freud analyzed dreams in terms of unconscious desires and
experiences.
After World War One, Freud spent less time in clinical observation and concentrated on
the application of his theories to history, art, literature and anthropology. In 1923, he published
'The Ego and the Id', which suggested a new structural model of the mind, divided into three: the
'id’, the 'ego' and the 'superego'.

Perspective of Self
Freud's view of the self was multitiered, divided among the conscious, pre-conscious, and
unconscious. According to him, the two levels of human functioning—the conscious and
the unconscious—differ radically both in their content and in the rules and logic that govern
them.
The unconscious contains basic instinctual drives including sexuality, aggressiveness,
and self-destruction; traumatic memories; unfulfilled wishes and childhood fantasies; thoughts
and feelings that would be considered socially taboo. The unconscious level is characterized by
the most primitive level of human motivation and human functioning. At this level, the most
basic instinctual drives seek immediate gratification or discharge. Unheedful of the demands and
restrictions of reality, the naked impulses at this level are governed solely by the “pleasure
principle.”
Freud also suggests that the unconscious self embodies a mode of operation that precedes
the development of all other forms of our mental functioning. It includes throughout everyone’s
lives- the primitive rock-bottom activities, the primal strivings on which all human functioning is
ultimately based. The unconscious self operates at a pre-logical and pre-rational level. And
though it exists and influences every person throughout their lives, it is not directly observable
and its existence can only be inferred from such phenomena as neurotic symptoms, dreams, and
“slips of the tongue.”
In contrast, the conscious self is governed by the “reality principle” (rather than the
“pleasure principle”), and at this level of functioning, behavior and experience are organized in
ways that are rational, practical, and appropriate to the social environment. Although the ultimate
goals of the conscious self are the same as the unconscious self—the gratification of needs and
the reduction of tensions to optimal levels—the means of achieving these goals are entirely
different. Instead of seeking these goals by means that are direct, impulsive, and irrational, the
conscious self usually takes into account the realistic demands of the situation, the consequences
of various actions, and the overriding need to preserve the equilibrium of the entire
psychodynamic system. To this end, the conscious self has the task of controlling the constant
pressures of the unconscious self, as its primitive impulses continually seek for immediate
discharge.

References
Biography.com Editors. (2014, April 2). Sigmund Freud Biography. Retrieved November 16,
2019, from The Biography.com website: https://www.biography.com/scholar/sigmund-
freud
History - Sigmund Freud. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2019, from BBC:
bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/freud_sigmund.shtml
The Self is Multilayered: Freud. (n.d.). Retrieved from Pearson: November 16, 2019, from
https://revelpreview.pearson.com/epubs/pearson_chaffee/OPS/xhtml/ch03_sec_08.xhtml