PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES OF THE SELF •The etymological definition of philosophy is " love of wisdom" from the Greek words Philo and Sophia. •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 selfknowledge is a prerequisite to a happy and meaningful life. Notable Philosophers: • Socrates • Locke • Ryle • Plato • Hume • Churchland • Aristotle • Kant • Merleau-Ponty • St. Augustine • Descartes • Freud SOCRATES: "AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING" • For ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, the self is synonymous with the soul. • The soul is the essence of the human person therefore the soul is the person's true self. • The soul is immortal, Socrates explained that death is the departure of the soul for the eternal world. •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 urges us to take care of our soul because it is through this that we can achieve a good life. •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. •A person can have a good life only if he becomes virtuous and wise which can be attained through the acquisition of knowledge, wisdom, and virtue. PLATO: THE IMMORTAL SELF IS • Plato believed that the self is synonymous with 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 kind 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. AUGUST INE: THE SELF IS KNOWN ONLY THROUGH KNOWING GOD • St. Augustine integrated the ideas of Plato and Christianity. • He argued that man is bifurcated wherein there is a part of man, called soul, which dwells in the world(imperfect) and yearns to be with the Divine and another part, called body, which is incapable of reaching immortality. •Along with his idea is his notion that self is in search of happiness because after all, we, humans, are eudaemonic characters: our satisfaction in life is derived from happiness. •And with happiness comes the two fundamental rules of man that are always intertwined: love and justice. RENE DESCARTES: "I THINK THEREFORE I AM" (Cogito,ergo sum) • His concept of the self revolves around his idea of mind-body dualism. •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. •There are two dimensions of the self: the self as a thinking entity (res cogitans) and the self as a physical body (res extensa). •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. JOHN LOCKE: THE SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS • For Locke, the human mind at birth is tabula rasa or blank slate. • The self or personal identity is constructed primarily from sense experiences that shape and mold the self throughout a person’s life. Hence, the self is considered to be the same thing at different times and in different places. •Personal identity is made possible by selfconsciousness. A person is a thinking, intelligent being who has abilities to reason and to reflect. The essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself as thinking, reasoning, reflecting identity. 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. • The mind is a theatre, a container for fleeting sensations, hence, personal identity is just a result of imagination. IMMANUEL KANT: WE CONSTRUCT THE SELF • According to Kant, the self is composed of the inner and outer self. The inner self is comprised of our psychological state and our rational intellect. The outer self includes our sense and the physical world. •The self is a product of reason because the self regulates experience by making unified experience possible. •We construct the self. The self exists independently of experience and the self goes beyond experience. •Through our rationality, the self transcends sense experience SIGMUND FREUD: MULT ILAYERED THE SELF IS • According to Freud, the self consists of three layers: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. • The conscious mind includes thoughts, feelings, and actions that you are currently aware of; the preconscious mind includes mental activities that are stored in your memory, not presently active but can be accessed or recalled; while the unconscious mind includes activities that you are not aware of. GILBERT RYLE: "I ACT THEREFORE I AM" • 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 • To him, body and mind are so intertwined that they cannot be separated from one another. Both give humans a sense of self. • All knowledge of our selves and our world is based on subjective experience. • Your body is your general medium for having a world. • The self can never be truly objectified or known in a completely objective sort of way.
