THE SELF FROM THE VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES
PHILOSOPHY - study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence
especially in an academic discipline.
SOCRATES
Father of Western philosophy
Socratic Method
HUMAN NATURE
He believes that man is composed of body and soul.
Soul is the person's core identity, his/her unique spirit that
makes one distinct.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
THE HUMAN MIND
Man is uniquely defined through his ability to think and
question his own existence.
Man is a rational being , thus he distinguish virtue,
knowledge from ignorance.
He believed that the goal of life is to be happy.
The virtuous man is a happy man and that virtue alone is the
one and only supreme good that will secure his/her
happiness.
PLATO
Greek philosopher; he became a pupil and friend of Socrates.
He founded the Academy
His philosophical method was “collection and division”
HUMAN NATURE
He also believed that man is composed of body and soul
He believed that soul exists before birth and after death.
TRI-PARTITE SOUL
Rational (Reasoning) : our divine essence that enables us to
think deeply, make wise choices and achieve a true
understanding of eternal truths.
the element that forbids the person to enjoy the sensual
experiences
the part that loves truth hence, should rule over the other
parts of the soul through the use of reason.
Appetitive (Sensual) : Our basic biological needs
Spirit/Passion (Feeling) : Our basic emotions
The element that is inclined toward reason but understands
the demands of passion; the part that loves honor and victory
According to Plato, each of us is driven by three different parts
of our soul.
ARISTOTLE
an Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who is still
considered one of the greatest thinkers in politics, psychology
and ethics.
When Aristotle turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy.
Aristotle’s background in biological subjects made him more of
an empiricist as compared to the mathematician Plato’s
rationalism.
HUMAN NATURE
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.
SAINT AUGUSTINE
aka Augustine of Hippo
a bishop of Hippo Regius in Northern Africa
an ancient Christian theologian who played significant role
in the development of early Western philosophu.
a Neoplatonist
HUMAN NATURE
He took from Plato the view that the human self is an
immaterial soul that can think.
The most important part of mind is not the intellect but the
will.
The most important of a person is the inner person.
The orientation of the will determines whether we love
lower goods or higher goods
Good persons are those whose will and reason are
subordinated to faith in God and devotion to God's will.
Faith is a gift of grace that we cannot command but only
receive when it comes.
God's grace may work on us when we are studying Scripture
but much study of Scripture in no guarantee of receiving it.
RENE DESCARTES
French philosopher and considered as the founder of
modern Western philosphy.
Mathematician and scientist; a leader in the seventeenth-
century scientific revolution.
His method was called hyperbolical/metaphysical
doubt/methodological skepticism.
HUMAN NATURE
He claimed that there is an essential distinction between the
mind and body.
“I think, therefore I am” (cogito ergo sum)
Being human means being certain of one's self as an
individual.
He believed that being human starts with the self
The essence of your self-you are a “thinking thing”
THE SOUL THE BODY
It is a conscious, thinking substance that is It is a material substance that changes through
unaffected by time. time.
It is known only to itself (only you know It can be doubted; the public can correct
your own mental event and others cannot claims about the body.
correct your mental states).
It is not made up of parts. It is both It is made up of physical, quantifiable, divisible
conscious and aware of itself at the same parts.
time.
JOHN LOCKE
British philosopher and physician who laid the groundwork
for an empiricist approach to philosophical questions.
The mind is a tabula rasa
NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE NATURE OF SELF
He is an archetypal advocated of the empiricist view of
knowledge.
He believed that humans by nature are good.
Behavior is learned, people are either influenced to do good
or bad.
He believed that everything we know comes from the
experience of the senses.
For Locke, a person's memories provide a continuity of
experience that allows him to identify himself as the same
person over time.
IMMANUEL KANT
German philosopher whose comprehensive and systematic
work in epistemology (the theory of knowledge), ethics, and
aesthetics greatly influenced all subsequent philosophy,
especially the various schools of Kantianism and idealism.
HUMAN NATURE
The “self” is transcendental.
TWO COMPONENTS OF THE SELF:
1. Inner self includes rational reasoning and psychological state.
2. Outer self includes the body and physical mind where
representation occurs.
THE SELF ORGANIZES INFORMATION IN THREE WAYS:
1. Raw perception input
2. Recognizing the concept
3. Reproducing in the imagination
