Philosophical Perspective of the Self

considers man from the

point of view of his
inner self.

Famous line: “Know

Yourself”: A bad man is
not virtuous through
ignorance: the man
who does not follow
the good fails to do so
because he does not
recognize it.
 His core ethics - virtue and
knowledge. Virtue – the
deepest and most basic
propensity of man. Knowing
one’s own virtue is necessary
and can be learned. Since
virtue is innate in the mind
and self-knowledge is the
source of all wisdom, an
individual may gain
possession of oneself and be
one’s own master through
knowledge.
 “An unexamined life is not worth living”
• The Self is synonymous with the soul.
• Human possesses an immortal soul that survives the physical body.
• He explains that the essence of the self –the soul- is the immortal entity. The
soul strives for wisdom and perfection and reason is the soul’s tool to achieve
this exalted state.
• Man must live an examined life and a life of purpose and value.
• The individual person can have a meaningful and happy life only if he becomes
virtuous and knows the value of himself that can be achieved through incessant
soul-searching.
• Introspection – method of carefully examining one’s thoughts and emotions to
gain self-knowledge.
Plato:
The Ideal Self, The Perfect
Self

Man was omniscient or

all-knowing before he
came to be born into
this world.
man in this life should imitate
his former self; more
specifically he should live a life
of virtue in which true human
perfection exists.
 The Self is an Immortal Soul
• Plato’s philosophy can be explained as a process of self-knowledge and
purification of the soul.
• Three part soul/self: Reason, Physical Appetite and Spirit or Passion.
• Reason – the divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make
wise choices, and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths.
• Physical Appetite – includes the basic biological needs such as hunger,
thirst and sexual desire.
• Spirit or Passion – includes basic emotions such as love, anger,
ambition, aggressiveness and empathy.
ARISTOTLE:
The Soul is the
Essence of the Self
•Suggests that anything with life has a soul. The soul is
the essence of all living things.
•Three Kinds of Soul: Vegetative, Sentient, and Rational
•Vegetative soul – the physical body that can grow
•Sentient soul – includes sensual desires, feelings and
emotions
•Rational soul – what makes man human. It includes the
intellect that allows man to know and understand
things.
•Suggests that the rational nature of the self is to
lead a good, flourishing and fulfilling life (self-
actualization).
•The pursuit of happiness is a search for a good
life that includes doing virtuous actions. He
posits that part of the rational soul is
characterized by moral virtues such as justice
and courage.
 St. Augustine:
The Self has an Immortal Soul
-African Philosopher regarded as a Saint
in the Catholic Church.
-believes that the physical body is
radically different from and inferior to its
inhabitant, the immortal soul.
-views the body – “spouse” of the soul,
both attached to one another by a
“natural appetite”.
-the soul is what governs and defines
man.
-describes that humankind is created in
the image and likeness of God.
-the human person (a creation of God) is
always geared towards the good.
-the self is known through knowing God.
Self-knowledge is a consequence of
knowledge of God.
-emphasized significance of reflection,
the importance of prayers and
confessions to arrive at justification for
the existence of God.
•“Knowledge can only come by seeing the
truth that dwells within us.”
•Truth → truth of knowing God.
•God is transcendent and the self seeks to be
united with God through faith and reason.
•Mission – to discover the truth on the
existence of God
•Principle: “I am doubting, therefore I am.”
States that the self is a
thinking entity distinct from
the body.

Although the mind and the

body are independent
from each other and serve
their own function, man
must use his own mind and
thinking abilities to
investigate, analyse,
experiment and develop
himself.
•The act of thinking about the self – of being
self-conscious- is in itself that there is a self.
•The essence of human self – a thinking
entity that doubts, understands, analyzes,
questions and reasons.
•Two Dimensions of the Human Self:
1. The self as a thinking entity
2. The self as a physical body
Thinking Self (soul) Physical Body
•Non-material, •Material, mortal, non-
immortal, conscious thinking entity, fully
being, and governed by the
independent of the physical laws of
physical laws of the nature.
universe.
The soul and the body are independent of one
another, and each can exist and function without
each other.
 John Locke

consciousness
awareness and
memory of
experiences are keys
to understanding the
self.
Believes that essence
of the self is its
conscious awareness
of itself as a thinking,
reasoning, and
reflecting identity.
•Human mind at birth is
tabularasa or a blank
slate.
•The self is constructed
primarily from sense
experiences specifically
what people see, hear,
smell, taste and feel.
These experiences shape
and mold the self
throughout a person’s life.
•Self-consciousness is
necessary to have a
coherent personal (self)
identity or knowledge of
the self.
•People could use power of
reason to gain knowledge
and use this knowledge to
understand experiences.
•Knowledge is based on
careful observation of
experiences.
•Reason plays an
essential role helping
figure out the
significance of sense
experience and to reach
intelligent conclusions.
Using the power of reason and
introspection enables one to
understand and achieve accurate
conclusions about the self (or
personal identity)
John Locke
David Hume: There Is No Self

Suggests that if people

carefully examine their
sense experience through
the process of
introspection, they will
discover that there is no
self.
• What people experience is
just a bundle or collection
of different perceptions.
• If people carefully examine
the contents of their
experience, they will find
that there are only distinct
entities: impressions and
ideas.
• Impressions – the basic
sensations of people’s
experience such as hate, love,
joy, grief, pain, cold and heat.

• Impressions are vivid perceptions

and are strong and lively. Ideas,
however, are thoughts and
images from impressions so they
are less lively and vivid.
The self that makes
experiencing an
intelligible world possible
because it is the self that
is actively organizing and
synthesizing all of our
thoughts and
perceptions. Immanuel Kant:
We Construct The Self
•Believes that self is an organizing principle that makes a
unified and intelligible experience possible.
•The self constructs its own reality, actively creating a
world that is familiar and predictable.
•The product of reason, a regulative principle, because
the self regulates experience by making unified
experiences possible.
•The self transcends experience because the mind can
grasp aspects of reality which are not limited to the
senses.
Sigmund Freud:
The Self is Multilayered
Three layers of the self
 Self consists of: conscious, unconscious and preconscious
conscious unconscious
• Basic instinctual drives: sexuality,
• “Reality principle” aggressiveness, self-destruction;
• Conscious part of the self: traumatic memories; unfulfilled
organized in ways that are wishes & childhood fantasies;
rational, practical, & appropriate thoughts & feelings.
in environment. • Primitive level of human
motivation and human
• Takes into account the realistic functioning governed by
demands of situation, “pleasure principle”
consequences of actions,
• Much of the self is determined
overriding need to preserve the by the unconscious
balance of the self
Self consists of: conscious, unconscious and preconscious

preconscious
• Contains material that is not threatening and is easily brought to
mind.
• Located between the conscious and unconscious parts of the
self.
Gilbert Ryle:
The Self is the Way
People Behave
•Best understood as a pattern of behavior, the
tendency or disposition of a person to behave in a
certain circumstances.
•Philosophical Principle: “I act therefore I am”
•The mind is the totality of human dispositions that
is known through the way people behave.
•The minds expresses the entire system of thoughts,
emotions, and actions that make up the human
self.
 Paul ChurchLand: The Self is the Brain
• The self is inseparable from the brain
and the physiology of the body.
• All a person has is the brain and so if
the brain is gone, there is no self.
• The physical brain and not the
imaginary mind, gives people the
sense of self.
• The mind does not really exist
because it cannot be experienced by
the senses.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty:
The Self is Embodied
Subjectivity
• The self is based on the “phenomena” of experience.
• “I” – single integrated core identity, a combination of the
mental, physical, and emotional structures.
• The mind and body are unified, not separate.
• In his book, Phenomenology of Perception, that everything that
people are aware of is contained within the consciousness.
• Consciousness – a dynamic form responsible for actively
structuring conscious ideas and physical behavior.
• The world and the human body are intricately intertwined in
perceiving the world.
• The self is embodied subjectivity.