CEBU DOCTORS’ UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Department of Psychology
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UTS Activity # 1
Philosophical Aspect of the Self
Name: OMO, KAYEMARIE DIANE B. Section: BSMT-1C
Activity 1.1
Directions: Using the table below, list down four philosophers and their views on the self. Then, cite the
similarities and differences in their philosophical perspectives.
Philosopher Philosophical View/s Similarities Differences
on the Self
John Locke Personal identity (self) We begin life with a Locke believed that
is a matter of “tabula rasa” which material objects feed
psychological means a blank slate for us sensory information.
continuity. Personal a mind. Copies of our He believed in
identity is founded on sensory perceptions causality. All
consciousness are impressed upon knowledge is derived
(memory) and not on this blank slate, from our senses, which
the substance of either thereby filling our produce impressions
the soul of the body. minds with the on the mind which turn
contents of our sensory to ideas.
experience, upon our
subsequent rational
faculties can operate.
Much of our sense of
self is shaped by
external and past
experiences outside
our direct control.
Man has no “clear and To know oneself is to He believed that
David Hume intelligible” idea of the understand the ways in causality is not
self. He said that no which your past something that can be
single impression of experiences have known as a direct
the self exists; rather, shaped and defined experience of cause,
the self is just the thing oneself, including cannot be sensed. He
to which all habits, reactions, believed that all
perceptions of a man is emotions, and the knowledge is derived
ascribed. entire conceptual from experiences
framework.
Immanuel Kant He takes the idea that He has been called a He rejects the idea that
knowledge is synthesis of rationalism we cannot learn any
CEBU DOCTORS’ UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Department of Psychology
_____________________________________________________________________________________
essentially knowledge and empiricism. From necessary truths about
of experience, but empiricism, he takes experience, and in
rejects the idea that we the idea that doing so, he rejects
cannot learn any knowledge is Hume’s skepticism. He
necessary truths about essentially knowledge points out that our
experience, and in of experience knowledge from
doing experience extends far
beyond what the
senses can report. Our
senses can report
sensations but they
cannot give these
sensations a structurer
in space and time, or
organize them
according to cause and
effect.
Berkeley He wholeheartedly He is classified as an The only issue involves
believes that we do empiricist who believes what the source is of
acquire all of our that knowledge is those sense
knowledge through gained through the perception. Berkeley
sense perception. senses, rather than believed that God
through innate ideas. performs that role, and
not material things.
Activity 1.2
Directions: In your own words, explain the following statements.
1. “Know thyself.”
CEBU DOCTORS’ UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Department of Psychology
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Knowing yourself is recognizing your mind or soul’s potential and understanding the
essence of philosophical concepts such as justice, love, goodness, and etc. It means something
like our uniqueness are being recognized and accepted. It is a matter of accepting your own
capability to create a life story for yourself that is consciously and ideally tailored to you. We
need to know our own self, and it is important because only then we’ll be able to know our own
strengths and weaknesses. It is by knowing one’s character that one can strive for a change
within one’s self.
What we may think about ourselves may not be true, but reaching that realization is
enough because you began to think critically and assess ourselves. Through the passing of time,
man’s struggles of searching for the truth and identity have essentially remained the same.
Through meditation and enlightenment, some individuals have found themselves.
2. “I think, therefore I am.”
I think so I know that I exist. Our beliefs about ourselves, others, the life, and the world
are shaped by the weight of our thoughts. I believe that as humans, we feel the way we think.
So, if we think that we are a “big loser” and we define a big loser as someone who can’t do
something right, we keep repeating this nonsensical assertion to ourselves from day to day but
does that mean it is true that we are a big loser? The answer is no. We still think we are a big
loser and for a very long time, we’ve been worrying about these unhealthy feelings associated
with it. However, the trick is to create a real, acceptable logical belief and to consistently state it
to ourselves until it is embedded in us.
Activity 1.3
Directions: Watch the movie entitled Bleeding Steel (2017) starring Jacky Chan. Relate the movie to the
philosophy of John Locke about personal identity, consciousness and memory.
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CEBU DOCTORS’ UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Department of Psychology
_____________________________________________________________________________________
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Activity 1.4
Directions: After reading all of the philosophical perspectives on the self, create your own theory of the
self.
Some of the inspiration for what we are trying to experience non-conceptually tells us that our ultimate
nature is like a cloudless sky: boundless, perfectly clear, undisturbed by any form of agitation. It is a
state of peacefulness and bliss, paradoxically both empty of anything as well as offering the potential for
everything – because all things begin with thought. This “open field” state is one in which our usually
tightly-held sense of me-ness dissolves into a more panoramic vista that things simply are, without
subject or object, self or other.
To me, even just to catch a glimpse of this ‘self’ is the most important benefit of meditation. I know of
no other practice which has the potential to transform my understanding of who, or what, I am – and,
by contrast, what I am not.
