• The etymological definition of

philosophy is love of wisdom.

•Philosophy employs the inquisitive
mind to discover the ultimate causes,
reasons, and principles of everything.
• The nature of the self is a topic of
interest among philosophers.
• The philosophical framework for
understanding the self was first introduced
by ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and
Plato.
• Socrates suggests to “know thyself.”
•What is self and the qualities that define it?
•Philosophers agree that self-knowledge is a
prerequisite to a happy and meaningful life.
Notable Philosophers:
• Socrates • Hume
• Plato • Kant
• Aristotle • Freud
• St. Augustine • Ryle
• Descartes • Churchland
• Locke • Merleau-Ponty
SOCRATES: AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH
LIVING
• For ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, the self is
synonymous with the soul.
• The soul is immortal. Socrates believed that every human
possessed an immortal soul.
• Human life does not end at one’s death.
• Socrates explained that death is the departure of the soul
for the eternal world.
• One continues to live in the world after death.
• In Socrates' concept of Reality, it consists
of two dichotomous realms: physical realm
and ideal realm.
• The physical realm is changeable,
transient, and imperfect. The body belongs
to the physical realm.
• The ideal realm is unchanging, eternal, and
immortal. The soul belongs to the ideal
realm.
•Socrates was the first thinker to focus on the full
power of reason on the human self: who we are,
who we should be, and who we will become.
• The soul strives for wisdom and perfection, and
reason is the soul’s tool to achieve an exalted
state of life.
• Our preoccupation with bodily needs such as
food, drink, sex, pleasure, material possessions,
and wealth keep us from attaining wisdom.
• Goodness or beauty is the most important of
all.
• A person can have a meaningful and happy life
only if he becomes virtuous and knows the
value of himself that can be achieved through
constant soul-searching.
•For him, this is best achieved when one tries to
separate the body from the soul as much as
possible.
•PLATO: THE SOUL IS IMMORTAL
• Plato believed that the self is synonymous with
the soul.
• Plato’s philosophy of the self can be explained
as a process of self-knowledge and purification
of the soul.
•The self consists of three-parts: reason, spirit or
passion, and physical appetite.
•Reason is the divine essence that enables us to
think deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a
true understanding of eternal truths.
• The spirit or passion includes basic emotions
such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness,
and empathy.
•The physical appetite includes our basic
biological needs such as hunger, thirst, and
sexual desire.
•These three elements of our selves are in a dynamic
relationship with one another, sometimes in conflict.
• When conflict occurs, Plato believes that it is the
responsibility of our Reason to sort things out and
exert control, restoring a harmonious relationship
among the three elements of our selves.
• Plato believes that genuine happiness can only be
achieved by people who consistently make sure that
their Reason is in control of their Spirits and Appetites.
ARISTOTLE: THE SOUL IS THE ESSENCE OF THE
SELF
•For Aristotle, the body and soul are not two separate
elements but are one thing.
• The soul is simply the Form of the body, and is not
capable of existing without the body.
• The soul is that which makes a person a person. The
soul is the essence of the self.
•Without the body the soul cannot exist. The soul dies
along with the body.
•Aristotle suggested that anything with life
has soul.
• His discussion about the self centers on the
kinds of soul possessed by man.
• He introduced the three kinds of soul:
vegetative, sentient, and rational.
• The vegetative includes the physical body that can
grow.
• Sentient includes the sensual desires, feelings, and
emotions.
•Rational is what makes man human. It includes the
intellect that makes man know and understand
things.
•Aristotle suggests that the rational nature of the self
is to lead a good, flourishing, and fulfilling life.
ST. AUGUSTINE: THE SELF IS KNOWN ONLY
THROUGH KNOWING GOD
St. Augustine integrated the ideas of Plato and
Christianity.
•He developed a more unified perspective on the
body and soul.
• The soul is what governs and defines the human
person or the self.
• The soul is an important element of man.
• The soul is united with the body so that man
may be entire and complete.
• The physical body is different from and inferior
to its inhabitant, the immortal soul.
•Augustine described that humankind is created
in the image and likeness of God.
• Augustine believed that God is transcendent
and everything created by God who is all good is
good.
•Therefore, the human person being a creation
of God is always geared towards the good.
• The self is known only through knowing God.
•Self-knowledge is a consequence of knowledge
of God.
•For Augustine, “knowledge can only come by
seeing the truth that dwells within us.”
•The truth of which Augustine spoke refers to
the truth of knowing God
RENE DESCARTES: I THINK THEREFORE I AM
•The phrase “I think therefore I am” is the
keystone of Descartes’ concept of self.
•For him, the act of thinking about the self – of
being self-conscious – is in itself proof that there
is self.
• For Descartes, the essence of the self – a
thinking entity that doubts, understands,
analyzes, questions, and reasons.
•There are two dimensions of the self: the self as
a thinking entity and the self as a physical body.
•The thinking self (or soul) is the nonmaterial,
immortal, conscious being, and independent of
the physical laws of the universe.
• The physical body is the material, mortal, non-
thinking entity, fully governed by the physical
laws of nature
•The soul and body are independent of
one another and each can exist and
function without the other.
•The self as a thinking entity is distinct
from the self as a physical body. In
other words, the thinking self can exist
independently of the physical body.
JOHN LOCKE: THE SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS
• For Locke, the human mind at birth is tabula
rasa or blank slate.
• He felt that the self, or personal identity, is
constructed primarily from sense experiences –
or more specifically, what we 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 as a person.
• Consciousness is what makes possible our belief
that we are the same identity in different
situations.
•Using the power of reason and introspection
enables people to understand and achieve
accurate conclusions about the self.
DAVID HUME: THERE IS NO SELF
• Hume suggests that if people carefully examine their
sense experience through the process of introspection,
they will discover that there is no self.
• According to Hume, what people experience can all be
categorized into two: impressions and idea
• Impressions are the basic objects of our experience or
sensation. They therefore form the core of our thoughts.
• Ideas on the other hand, are copies of impressions.
• The idea of personal identity is a result of imagination.
IMMANUEL KANT: WE CONSTRUCT THE SELF
• According to Kant, it is 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.
• In other words, the self constructs its own reality
creating a world that is familiar and predictable.
•Through our rationality, the self transcends sense
experience.
SIGMUND FREUD: THE SELF IS MULTILAYERED
• According to Freud, the self consists of three layers: conscious,
unconscious, and preconscious.
• The conscious self is governed by the reality principle and is
organized in ways that are rational, practical, and appropriate.
• The unconscious contains the basic instinctual drives that would
be considered socially taboo and is governed by the pleasure
principle. Much of the self is determined by the unconscious.
• The preconscious is located between the conscious and
unconscious part of the self that is not threatening and is easily
brought to mind.
GILBERT RYLE: THE SELF IS THE WAY PEOPLE
BEHAVE
• The self is best understood as a pattern of behavior,
the tendency or disposition for a person to behave in
a certain way in certain circumstances.
• Ryle’s concept of the human self thus provided the
philosophical principle, “I act therefore I am.”
• In short, the self is the same as bodily behavior.
PAUL CHURCHLAND: THE SELF IS THE BRAIN
• The self is inseparable from the brain and the physiology of the
body.
• All we have is the brain and so, if the brain is gone, there is no self.
• For Churchland, the physical brain and not the imaginary mind,
gives us our sense of self.
• The mind does not really exist.
• It is the brain and not the imaginary mind that gives us our sense
of self.
• The self is the brain.
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY: THE SELF IS
EMBODIED SUBJECTIVITY
• All knowledge of our selves and our world
is based on subjective experience.
•The self can never be truly objectified or
known in a completely objective sort of
way.