UNIT 1: THE SELF FROM THE VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES

SOURCE: https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/philosopher & canva.com

Lesson 1: PHILOSOPHY

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:
1. Discuss the different representations and conceptualizations of the self from various
disciplinal perspectives.
2. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented across different disciplines and
perspectives.
3. Examine the different influences, factors and forces that shape the self.
4. Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analyzing the development of one’s self
and identity by developing a theory of the self.

The Philosophical Self

A.) SOCRATES
Brief Background and Significant Events
• He was accused of disrespect for the city of gods and corrupting the
youth of Athens. He caused the youths to question all things including
many traditional beliefs. He was a controversial figure in Athens
because of his argumentative skill
• Socrates’ way of searching for meaning and truth was abrasive in
nature (ex. endless process of asking questions). This give birth to
the “Socratic method of questioning”.

Philosophical Statement: “Know thyself”

▪ The unexamined life is considered as not worth living, humans must
strive to seek their purpose and value

A Self-regulated Learning Module 6

Definition of the SELF:
▪ The self is an immortal soul which exists over time
▪ The self is also the source of all knowledge. Individual experience is
important when you want to know yourself. Hence, to truly know
about something, you must understand its essence.
Example: It is not enough to identify something as beautiful, one must
know WHY IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

View of Reality:
▪ Reality is dualistic
1. Physical Realm - it is constantly changing, transient and imperfect
(ex. the physical body)
2. Ideal Realm - it considered as unchanging, eternal and immortal
(ex. the soul, truth, goodness and beauty)

B.) PLATO
Brief Background and Significant Events
▪ The death of Socrates was a turning point in the life of Plato because
he elaborated on Socrates’ ideas after the former’s death.
▪ He contributed original ideas on a wide range of issues such as
morality, politics, metaphysics and epistemology.

Definition of the SELF:

▪ The self is an immortal soul which exists over time
▪ THE THREE PART SOUL (The Three Part Self)
1. Reason- it enables the individuals to think deeply, make choices
and achieve true understanding.
2. Physical Appetite- this refers to basic biological needs such as
thirst, hunger and sexual desire.
3. Spirit or Passion- this refers to basic emotions like love, anger,
aggressiveness and empathy.
- The three-part self may act in consonance or may act in
conflict with each other. For example, you may have a
relationship with someone who is intelligent (reason); with
whom you are passionately in love (spirit) and whom you find
sexually attractive which ignites your desires (appetite).
Another example, you fell in love with a person (spirit) who is
sexually attractive (appetite) who does not satisfy your ideal

A Self-regulated Learning Module 7

type, he/she is the total opposite of the person you are looking
for (reason). In this case the selves are in CONFLICT.
- Genuine happiness can be achieved when REASON is in
control of SPIRITS and APPETTITES
ILLUSTRATION: “The Chariot Analogy”- the soul is likened to a
chariot drawn by two powerful winged horses.
Noble horse - spirit
Wild horse - embodying the appetite
Charioteer - reason; the task is to guide the
chariot to the eternal realm by
controlling the two independent-
minded horses

C.) ST. AUGUSTINE

Brief Background and Significant Events
▪ Plotinus (Roman Philosopher) influenced the thinking of St.
Augustine. Plotinus based his views on Plato’s core concepts. He
believes that “The soul possesses superiority over the body”. He is
committed to his Platonic ideas regarding the imperfection of his
physical body; in contrast to the perfection of his eternal soul. He
refused to celebrate his birthday because he was ashamed that his
immortal soul had to be contained in imperfect vessel as his body.
▪ Plotinus ideas had a profound influence on St. Augustine

Definition of the SELF:

▪ The self is an immortal soul which exists over time

Relationship of body and the soul

▪ He considers the body as a “slave” to the soul
▪ Then he alters his view that “the soul makes war with the body”
▪ He changed it again into “the body as the spouse of the soul” with
both attached to one another by a natural appetite.
▪ He finally concluded that “The body is united with the soul so that
man maybe entire and complete”.

A Self-regulated Learning Module 8

What is a virtuous life for St. Augustine?
▪ To live a virtuous life is to live in LOVE, all sins are the result of
turning away from love and God. Plato’s vision of immortal souls
striving to achieve union with the eternal realm through
INTELLECTUAL ENLIGHTENMENT became transformed by
Augustine into IMMORTAL SOULS STRIVING TO ACHIEVE UNION
WITH GOD through faith and reason. Hence, this is the start of the
medieval Christian Doctrine and Western Philosophy.

D.) DESCARTES
Brief Background and Significant Events
• Founder of Modern Philosophy
• He was a mathematician and a scientist
• He is a rationalist who emphasized that thinking must follow a logical
and rational process

Philosophical Statement: Cogito Ergo Sum “I think therefore I am”- this is the
essence of your SELF, humans are thinking thing!
• Descartes believed that man is a thinking being, genuine
knowledge must be based on independent rational inquiry
and real-world experimentation. Performing mental operations
was essential to being a human self.
• To arrive at knowledge, human must use their thinking abilities
(investigate, analyze, experiment and develop well-reasoned
conclusions)

Definition of the SELF: The self is a thinking thing, distinct from the body
Dualistic View of the Self
• The thinking self (or soul): non material, immortal, conscious
being and independent of the physical laws of the universe.
The conscious self is part of the spiritual realm governed by the
laws of reason and God’s will.
• The physical body is a material, mortal, non-thinking entity
governed by the physical laws of nature.
Rationalist View: Reasoning ability provides the origin of knowledge
Rationalism - the view that reason is the primary source of all
knowledge and that only our reasoning abilities can enable us to
understand sense experience and reach accurate conclusions.

A Self-regulated Learning Module 9

E.) JOHN LOCKE
Brief Background and Significant Events
• His background as a physician influenced his beliefs about the nature
of the self.

Definition of the SELF: Personal identity is made possible by self-

consciousness
• Knowledge is based on the careful observation of sense experience/
or memories of previous experiences.
• Reason is a vital element in making meaning out of the sense
experience of a person.
Empiricist view: all knowledge originates in our direct SENSE EXPERIENCE
Empiricism- the view that sense experience is the primary source of all
knowledge and that only a careful attention to sense experience can
enable us to understand the world and achieve accurate conclusions.

LOCKE’S CONCLUSION ON EXAMINING ONE’S EXPERIENCES:

1. To discover personal identity, one must establish how it is to be a person
2. A person is a thinking, reflecting and analyzing being
3. A person is the same thing in different times and places
4. Consciousness is accompanied by thinking
5. Consciousness makes it possible to exhibit the same identity in different
times and places

NOTE: Conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the

keys to understanding the self

F.) HUME
Brief Background and Significant Events
• He was an empiricist like John Locke
• He was a controversial figure because of his skeptical examinations
of religion, ethics and history during the 18th century
Philosophical Statement: There is no self!
Definition of the SELF: There is no self, only a bundle of constantly changing
perceptions passing through the theatre of our minds.

A Self-regulated Learning Module 10

TWO DISTINCT ENTITIES:
1. Impressions- the basic sensations of our experience, the elemental data of
our minds: pain, pleasure, heat, cold, happiness, grief, fear etc. These
impressions are “lively” and “vivid”.
2. Ideas- ideas are copies of impressions, they are less “lively” and “vivid”.
Ideas include thoughts and images that are built up from our primary
impressions through a variety of relationships.

“The mind is a kind of theatre where several perceptions successively make

their appearance…”

G.) KANT
Brief Background and Significant Events
• A German philosopher who wrote his books while dressed in a
bathrobe and slippers.

Philosophical Statement: “We construct the self”

Definition of the SELF: The self is a unifying subject, an organizing

consciousness that makes intelligible experience possible.
✓ Kant argued that when we perceive objects, we encounter mental
states that appear to be composed of bits and pieces and are
organized meaningfully. (For example, taking the raw data of
experience and actively synthesizing it into familiar, orderly,
meaningful world in which we live.)
✓ Knowledge of the world begins with sensations: sounds, colours,
tastes, feels, smells are the basic data for experience
✓ The mind actively sorts, organizes, relates and synthesizes the raw
data. It is yourself that is actively organizing all of your sensations and
thoughts into a picture that makes sense to you. YOUR WORLD
ACCORDING TO YOUR TERMS! Ergo, WE CONSTRUCT THE SELF!

H.) FREUD
Brief Background and Significant Events
• Freud’s parental experiences influenced his development of the
concept of Oedipus Complex
• Freud was described as exhibiting the following characteristics:
intelligence, self-confidence, desire for achievement and fame

A Self-regulated Learning Module 11

Definition of the SELF: “The self is multi-layered”
THREE LAYERS:
1.) ID - it is present at birth, entirely unconscious, includes all innate instincts.
It is motivated entirely by the pleasure principle. It has no sense of logic,
time, or self-preservation. Its only resource is to form wish-fulfilling mental
images of desired objects.
2.) EGO - It begins to develop out of the ID at about 6to8 months. It operates
in accordance with the logical and self-preservative secondary process.
The EGO is motivated by the REALITY PRINCIPLE. (Example, delaying
pleasure until a suitable and safe object has been found.
- The ego is the locus of all emotions, including anxiety and tries
to keep the ID under control by using various DEFENSE
MECHANISM (repression, denial, rationalization, displacement
etc.)
3.) SUPEREGO - it begins to develop out of the ego at about age 3to5 years.
It is partly conscious and unconscious. It includes standards or RIGHT and
WRONG. The SUPEREGO results from parental standards. It operates
under the MORALITY PRINCIPLE.
THE ICEBERG THEORY:

source: www.katdish.net

A Self-regulated Learning Module 12

I.) RYLE
Brief Background and Significant Events
• Analytic philosopher who analyzed language to solve philosophical
puzzles.

Definition of the SELF: “The self is the way people behave”

✓ In defining the self, it is necessary to focus on OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOR
because these are concrete evidences of how the minds works and
functions.
✓ The self is defined in terms of what is presented to the world.
✓ What the minds wills, it is the body that executes it.
✓ The self is better understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency
for a person to behave in a certain way.

J.) CHURCHLAND
Brief Background and Significant Events
• A contemporary American Philosopher and professor at the University
of California.

Definition of the SELF: “The self is the brain”

✓ Mental states will be superseded by the brain states
✓ The physical states (health of our bodies, the food we ingest, the
experiences we endure) have an impact on our mental and
emotional functioning.
✓ The emotional and mental states likewise impact on our physical
conditions (ex. stress, depression, psychosomatic disorder)
✓ To understand the nature of the mind, we have to fully understand
the nature of the brain.
GOAL OF BRAIN/SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: Link the self to the physical
wiring and physiological functioning of the brain.
✓ He proposed ELIMINATIVE MATERIALISM-developing a new
vocabulary and conceptual framework that is grounded in
neuroscience.

A Self-regulated Learning Module 13

K.) MERLEAU-PONTY
Brief Background and Significant Events
• French philosopher who was influenced by Husserl
• He worked in the Army as an officer and was eventually appointed as
a Philosophy professor at University of Lyon

Definition of the SELF: “The self is embodied subjectivity”

✓ “I live in my body”- entity that can never be objectified or known in
a completely objective sort of way. (Ponty is a phenomenologist in
this aspect).
✓ The living body is a natural synthesis of mind and biology and
separating them would be nonsensical and artificial.
✓ Everything that we are aware of is contained within our own
consciousness. Consciousness is a dynamic form responsible for
actively structuring our conscious ideas and physical behavior.
✓ For him, perception was the source of knowledge and has to be
studied before the conventional sciences.

Sources:
Henley, T.B. (2017). Hergenhahn’s an introduction to the history of psychology. Retrieved from
https://books.google.com
Shultz & Shultz (2017). A history of modern psychology 10th edition. Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

A Self-regulated Learning Module 14