The Self: Philosophical

Points of View
PROF. ISIDRO APOLLO G. VALENSOY, JR.
• HOW DID ANCIENT THINKERS VIEW HUMAN BEING?
• WHO WERE THOSE CURIOUS ENOUGH TO STUDY
HOW HUMAN BEINGS PERCEIVE THEMSELVES?
• WHAT ASPECT OF US MAKE US DIFFERENT FROM ALL
OTHER CREATURES ON EARTH?
• IT IS OUR CAPACITY TO BUILD ON KNOWLEDGE –
THAT IS, WE LEARN, WE APPLY IT IN OUR LIVES,
AND WE USE ACQUIRED IDEAS TO CREATE.
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

• GREEK WORDS PHILO (LOVING) AND SOPHIA

(WISDOM; KNOWLEDGE)
• AS ORIGINALLY USED BY THE GREEKS, THE TERM
MEANT “THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ITS
OWN SAKE.”
WHO IS HE?

•HE BELIEVES THAT THE

HUMAN MIND AT BIRTH
IS A TABULA RASA.”
WHO IS HE?

•“I ACT, THEREFORE I

AM.”
WHO IS HE?

•“I THINK, THEREFORE I

AM.”
WHO IS HE?

•REASON IS THE FINAL

AUTHORITY OF
MORALITY
WHO IS HE?

•“I SENSE, THEREFORE I

AM.”
 THE PRE-SOCRATICS

• THALES, PYTHAGORAS, PARMENIDES, HERACLITUS, and

EMPEDOCLES
• CONCERNED THEMSELVES WITH EXPLAINING WHAT THE
WORLD IS REALLY MADE UP OF, WHY THE WORLD IS SO, and
WHAT EXPLAINS THE CHANGES THAT THEY OBSERVED
AROUND THEM
• Sought to explain THE NATURE OF CHANGE, THE SEEMING
PERMANENCE DESPITE CHANGE, AND THE UNITY OF THE
WORLD AMIDST ITS DIVERSITY
 SOCRATES

• MORE CONCERNED WITH ANOTHER SUBJECT – THE PROBLEM

OF THE SELF
• FIRST PHILOSOPHER WHO EVER ENGAGED IN THE
SYSTEMATIC QUESTIONING ABOUT THE SELF
• THE TRUE TASK OF A PHILOSOPHER IS TO KNOW ONESELF.
• MOST MEN WERE NOT FULLY AWARE OF WHO THEY WERE
AND THE VIRTUES THAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO ATTAIN IN
ORDER TO PRESERVE THEIR SOULS FOR THE AFTERLIFE
 SOCRATES

• KNOWN FOR HIS METHOD OF INQUIRY IN TESTING AN IDEA

(SOCRATIC METHOD)
• OFFENDED THE LEADERS OF HIS TIME BECAUSE OF
QUESTIONING POPULAR ATHENIAN BELIEFS
• ACCUSED OF IMPIETY OR LACK OF REVERENCE FOR THE
GODS AND FOR CORRUPTING THE MINDS OF THE YOUTH
• AT 70 YEARS OLD, HE WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH BY
DRINKING A CUP OF POISON HEMLOCK
 SOCRATES

• THE WORST THAT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE:

• “TO LIVE BUT DIE INSIDE”
• EVERY MAN IS COMPOSED OF BODY and SOUL – THE
DUALISTIC NATURE OF MAN’S PERSONHOOD
• WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
• ALL INDIVIDUALS HAVE AN IMPERFECT, IMPERMANENT
ASPECT TO HIM - THE BODY, WHILE MAINTAINING THAT
THERE IS ALSO A SOUL THAT IS PERFECT AND PERMANENT.
 SOCRATES

• OTHER FAMOUS IDEAS:

• THE SOUL IS IMMORTAL
• THE CARE OF THE SOUL IS THE TASK OF PHILOSOPHY
• VIRTUE IS NECESSARY TO ATTAIN HAPPINESS
 SOCRATES

• WHY SHOULD YOU KNOW YOURSELF?

• BECAUSE ONLY BY KNOWING YOURSELF CAN YOU HOPE TO
IMPROVE YOUR LIFE
• A PERSON SHOULD ALWAYS CONSCIOUSLY CONTEMPLATE,
TURN YOUR GAZE INWARD, AND ANALYZE THE TRUE NATURE
AND VALUES THAT ARE GUIDING YOUR LIFE.
• SELF-KNOWLEDGE WOULD OPEN YOUR EYES TO YOUR TRUE
NATURE.
 SOCRATES

• IS YOUR BODY YOUR REAL SELF?

• WHAT DETERMINES THE QUALITY OF YOUR LIFE?
• TWO KINDS OF EXISTENCE: VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE
• THE VISIBLE (BODY) CHANGES WHILE THE INVISIBLE (SOUL)
EXISTENCE REMAINS CONSTANT
• WHEN THE BODY AND SOUL ARE TOGETHER, NATURE
ASSIGNS OUR BODY TO BE A SLAVE AND TO BE RULED BY THE
SOUL.
 SOCRATES

• WHAT IS THE GOAL OF LIFE?

• HOW DOES ONE BECOME HAPPY?
• VIRTUE (MORAL EXCELLENCE) ALONE IS THE ONE AND ONLY SUPREME
GOOD THAT WILL SECURE MAN’S HAPPINESS.
• COURAGE, TEMPERANCE, PRUDENCE, AND JUSTICE.
• “EVEN DEATH IS A TRIVIAL MATTER FOR THE TRULY VIRTUOUS
BECAUSE HE HAS REALIZED THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN
LIFE IS THE STATE OF HIS SOUL AND THE ACTS TAKEN FROM TAKING
CARE OF THE SOUL THROUGH SELF-KNOWLEDGE.”
 PLATO

• METHOD of INQUIRY: “COLLECTION AND DIVISION”

• COLLECT ALL THE GENERIC IDEAS THAT SEEMED TO
HAVE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS AND THEN DIVIDE
THEM INTO DIFFERENT KINDS UNTIL THE SUBDIVISION
OF IDEAS BECOME SPECIFIC.
• THE PHYSICAL WORLD IS NOT REALLY THE “REAL”
WORLD BECAUSE THE ULTIMATE REALITY EXISTS
BEYOND THE PHYSICAL WORLD (THEORY OF FORMS)
 PLATO

• STUDENT OF SOCRATES
• MAN IS A DUAL NATURE OF BODY AND SOUL
• THE “SOUL” IS INDEED THE MOST DIVINE ASPECT OF THE
HUMAN BEING.
• THREE COMPONENTS OF THE SOUL: THE RATIONAL SOUL,
THE SPIRITED SOUL, and the APPETITIVE SOUL
• “JUSTICE IN THE HUMAN PERSON CAN ONLY BE ATTAINED IF
THE THREE PARTS OF THE SOUL ARE WORKING
HARMONIOUSLY WITH ONE ANOTHER.”
 PLATO

• RATIONAL Soul (reasoning) – FORGED BY REASON and

INTELLECT HAS TO GOVERN THE AFFAIRS OF THE HUMAN
PERSON
• The element that forbids the person to enjoy the sensual
experiences; the part that loves truth.
• SPIRITED Soul (feelings) – IN CHARGE OF EMOTIONS (SHOULD
BE KEPT AT BAY)
• The element that is inclined toward reason but understands
the demands of passion; the part that loves honor and victory.
 PLATO

• APPETITIVE Soul (sensual) – IN CHARGE OF BASE

DESIRES LIKE EATING, DRINKING, SLEEPING, and
having SEX.
• The element that enjoys sensual experiences.

• WHEN THIS IDEAL STATE IS ATTAINED, THEN THE HUMAN

PERSON’S SOUL BECOMES JUST and VIRTUOUS.
 PLATO

• “AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS A

LIFE NOT WORTH LIVING.”
(Dialogues)
 ST. AUGUSTINE

• MAN IS OF A BIFURCATED NATURE

• AN ASPECT OF MAN DWELLS IN THE WORLD AND IS
IMPERFECT AND CONTINUOUSLY YEARNS TO BE WITH
THE DIVINE and the other is CAPABLE OF REACHING
IMMORTALITY
• THE BODY IS BOUND TO DIE ON EARTH
• THE SOUL IS TO ANTICIPATE LIVING ETERNALLY IN A
REALM OF SPIRITUAL BLISS IN COMMUNION WITH GOD.
 ST. AUGUSTINE

• His written works are among the foundations of

medieval and modern Christian thought.
• Adopted Plato’s view that the “self” is an immaterial
(but rational) soul.
• Held that the soul held the Truth and was capable of
scientific thinking.
• The “self” was an inner, immaterial “I” that had self-
knowledge and self-awareness.
 ST. AUGUSTINE

• Believed that the human being was both a soul and

body, and the body possessed senses (imagination,
memory, reason, and mind through which the soul
experienced the world).
• Human beings through the senses could sense the
material, temporal objects as they interacted with the
material world.
• God will only be clear or obvious to the mind if one
TUNE into his immaterial self/soul.
 ST. AUGUSTINE

• Aspects of the Self:

• It is able to be aware of itself.
• It recognizes itself as a holistic one.
• It is aware of its unity.
• Human being (both soul and body) is meant to tend to
higher, divine, and heavenly matters because of his or
her capacity to ascend and comprehend truths through
the mind.
 ST. AUGUSTINE

• THE BODY CAN ONLY THRIVE IN THE IMPERFECT,

PHYSICAL REALITY THAT IS THE WORLD
• THE SOUL CAN ALSO STAY AFTER DEATH IN AN
ETERNAL REALM WITH THE ALL-TRANSCENDENT GOD
• WHAT IS THE GOAL OF EVERY HUMAN PERSON?
• TO ATTAIN COMMUNION AND BLISS WITH THE DIVINE
BY LIVING HIS LIFE ON EARTH IN VIRTUE.
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

• MOST EMINENT 13TH CENTURY SCHOLAR

• “INDEED, MAN IS COMPOSED OF TWO PARTS: MATTER
and FORM.”
• MATTER (Gk. Hyle) REFERS TO THE “COMMON STUFF
THAT MAKES UP EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE”
• FORM (Gk. Morphe) REFERS TO THE “ESSENCE OF A
SUBSTANCE OR THING.”
• IT IS WHAT MAKES IT WHAT IT IS.
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

• THE CELLS IN MAN’S BODY ARE MORE OR LESS AKIN TO

THE CELLS OF ANY OTHER LIVING, ORGANIC BEING IN
THE WORLD.
• WHAT MAKES A HUMAN PERSON A HUMAN PERSON and
NOT A DOG, or a TIGER?
• TO AQUINAS, JUST AS IN ARISTOTLE, THE SOUL IS
WHAT ANIMATES THE BODY, IT IS WHAT MAKES US
HUMANS.
 RENE DESCARTES

• FATHER OF MODERN WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

• OFTEN REGARDED AS THE FIRST THINKER TO
EMPHASIZE THE USE OF REASON TO DESCRIBE,
PREDICT, AND UNDERTAND NATURAL PHENOMENA
BASED ON OBSERVATIONAL AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE.
• METHOD: HYPERBOLICAL/METAPHYSICAL DOUBT
(METHODOLOGICAL SKEPTICISM)
 RENE DESCARTES

• HUMAN PERSON AS HAVING A BODY and MIND

• “THERE IS SO MUCH THAT WE SHOULD DOUBT.” (The
Meditations of First Philosophy)
• “SINCE MUCH OF WHAT WE THINK AND BELIEVE ARE
NOT INFALLIBLE, THEY MAY TURN OUT TO BE FALSE.”
• “ONLY BELIEVE THAT WHICH CAN PASS THE TEST OF
DOUBT.”
 What’s the only thing that one cannot doubt?

• “THE ONLY THING THAT ONE CANNOT DOUBT IS THE

EXISTENCE OF THE SELF, FOR EVEN IF ONE DOUBTS
ONESELF, THAT ONLY PROVES THAT THERE IS A
DOUBTING SELF, A THING THAT THINKS AND
THEREFORE, THAT CANNOT BE DOUBTED.”
• COGITO ERGO SUM “I THINK THEREFORE, I AM.”
• THE FACT THAT ONE THINKS SHOULD LEAD ONE TO
CONCLUDE WITHOUT A TRACE OF DOUBT THAT HE
EXISTS.
 RENE DESCARTES

• THE SELF IS ALSO A COMBINATION OF TWO DISTINCT

ENTITIES, the COGITO…THE THING THAT THINKS
(which is the MIND), and the EXTENZA…or the
extension of the mind (the BODY)
• THE BODY IS NOTHING ELSE BUT A MACHINE THAT IS
ATTACHED TO THE MIND.
• DOES MAN’S BODY MAKES MAN A MAN?
 RENE DESCARTES

•“BUT WHAT THEN, AM I? A THINKING

THING. IT HAS BEEN SAID. BUT WHAT IS
A THINKING THING? IT IS A THING THAT
DOUBTS, UNDERSTANDS (CONCEIVES),
AFFIRMS, DENIES, WILLS, REFUSES; THAT
IMAGINES ALSO, AND PERCEIVES.”
 RENE DESCARTES

• CLAIMS ABOUT THE “SELF”:

• IT IS CONSTANT; NOT PRONE TO CHANGE; AND
NOT AFFECTED BY TIME
• ONLY THE IMMATERIAL SOUL REMAINS THE SAME
THROUGHOUT TIME
• THE IMMATERIAL SOUL IS THE SOURCE OF OUR
IDENTITY
 RENE DESCARTES

• THIS THINKING ENTITY COULD EXIST WITHOUT

THE BODY AS IT IS AN IMMATERIAL SUBSTANCE.
• HOWEVER, IT POSSESSES A BODY AND IS
INTIMATELY BOUND BY IT.
• DESPITE THIS SOUL-BODY UNION, THE SOUL IS
STILL DISTINCT FROM THE BODY.
 DAVID HUME

• SCOTTISH PHILOSOPHER
• AN EMPIRICIST
• BELIEVES THAT ONE CAN KNOW ONLY WHAT COMES
FROM THE SENSES AND EXPERIENCES
• ARGUES THAT THE SELF IS NOTHING LIKE WHAT HIS
PREDECESSORS THOUGHT OF IT.
• THE SELF IS NOT AN ENTITY OVER AND BEYOND THE
PHYSICAL BODY
 DAVID HUME

• KNOWLEDGE CAN ONLY BE POSSIBLE IF IT IS SENSED

AND EXPERIENCED
• HOW DO MEN ATTAIN KNOWLEDGE?
• HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT YOUR SEATMATE IS A HUMAN
PERSON?
• THE SELF IS NOTHING ELSE BUT A BUNDLE OF
IMPRESSIONS.
 DAVID HUME

• EXPERIENCES can either be IMPRESSIONS or IDEAS

• Impressions ARE THE BASIC OBJECTS OF OUR
EXPERIENCE or SENSATION. (FORM THE CORE OF OUR
THOUGHTS)
• WHAT DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU TOUCH AN ICE CUBE?
• IMPRESSIONS ARE VIVID BECAUSE THEY ARE PRODUCTS
OF OUR DIRECT EXPERIENCE WITH THE WORLD.
 DAVID HUME

• IDEAS ARE COPIES OF IMPRESSIONS (HENCE, NOT

LIVELY OR VIVID AS OUR IMPRESSIONS)
• WHEN YOU IMAGINE THE FEELING OF BEING IN LOVE
FOR THE FIRST TIME…
• THE SELF… “A BUNDLE OF COLLECTION OF DIFFERENT
PERCEPTIONS, WHICH SUCCEED EACH OTHER WITH AN
INCONCEIVABLE RAPIDITY, AND ARE IN PERPETUAL
FLUX AND MOVEMENT.”
 DAVID HUME

•IN REALITY, WHAT ONE THINKS IS A

UNIFIED SELF IS SIMPLY A
COMBINATION OF ALL EXPERIENCES
WITH A PARTICULAR PERSON.
 IMMANUEL KANT

• THE THINGS THAT MEN PERCEIVES AROUND THEM ARE

NOT JUST RANDOMLY INFUSED INTO THE HUMAN
PERSON WITHOUT AN ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE THAT
REGULATES THE RELATIONSHIP OF ALL THESE
IMPRESSIONS.
• WHAT ORGANIZES THESE IMPRESSIONS THAT MEN GET
FROM THE EXTERNAL WORLD?
• TIME AND SPACE…ARE THESE IDEAS ONE CAN FIND IN
THE WORLD OR THEY ARE BUILT IN OUR MINDS?
 IMMANUEL KANT

• WITHOUT THE SELF, ONE CANNOT ORGANIZE THE

DIFFERENT IMPRESSIONS THAT ONE GETS IN RELATION
TO HIS OWN EXISTENCE.
• THE SELF, AN ACTIVELY ENGAGED INTELLIGENCE IN
MAN THAT SYNTHESIZES ALL KNOWLEDGE AND
EXPERIENCE.
• THUS, THE SELF IS NOT JUST WHAT GIVES ONE HIS
PERSONALITY…IT ALSO IS THE SEAT OF KNOWLEDGE
ACQUISITION FOR ALL HUMAN PERSONS.
 GILBERT RYLE

• DENIED THE CONCEPT OF AN INTERNAL, NON-

PHYSICAL SELF.
• WHAT MATTTERS IS THE BEHAVIOR THAT A PERSON
MANIFESTS IN HIS DAY-TO-DAY LIFE
• LOOKING FOR AND TRYING TO UNDERSTAND A SELF AS
IT REALLY EXISTS IS LIKE VISITING YOUR FRIEND’S
UNIVERSITY AND LOOKING FOR THE “UNIVERSITY”.
 GILBERT RYLE

•THE SELF IS NOT AN ENTITY ONE

CAN LOCATE AND ANALYZE BUT
SIMPLY THE CONVENIENT NAME
THAT PEOPLE USE TO REFER TO ALL
BEHAVIORS THAT PEOPLE MAKE.
 MERLEAU-PONTY

• A PHENOMENOLOGIST
• ASSERTS THAT THE MIND-BODY BIFURCATION
ARGUMENT IS A FUTILE ENDEAVOR AND AN INVALID
PROBLEM
• THE MIND AND BODY ARE SO INTERTWINED THAT THEY
CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM ONE ANOTHER.
• AN EMBODIED EXPERIENCE