PHILOSOPHER’S

VIEW ABOUT
THE SELF
 SOCRATES
the first philosopher who ever
engaged in a systematic
questioning about the self.
• True task of the philosopher
is to know oneself.
• Affirms that the unexamined
life is not worth living.
SOCRATES
• Thought that this is the worst that can happen
to anyone – to live but die inside.
• Every man is composed of body and soul
(dualistic) – this means that all individuals
have an imperfect, impermanent aspect, the
body while maintaining that there is also a soul
that is perfect and permanent.
 PLATO
Supported Socrates’
idea that man is a
dual nature of body
and soul.
Added that there are 3 parts or components to the soul.
• 1. RATIONAL soul – forged by reason and intellect,
has to govern the affairs of the human person.
• 2. SPIRITED soul – which is in charge of emotions,
should be kept at bay.
• 3. APPETITIVE soul – in charge of basic desires,
like eating, drinking, sleeping and having sexual
intercourse, is controlled as well.
• Emphasizes that justice in the human person can only
be attained if the 3 parts of the soul are working
harmoniously with one another ( soul becomes just and
virtuous).
ST. AUGUSTINE
infused belief with the
newfound doctrine of
Christianity.
• Agreed that man is of a bifurcated nature –
there is an aspect of man, which dwells in the
world, that is imperfect and continuously
yearns to be with the divine while the other is
capable of reaching immortality.
• The body is bound to die on earth and the soul
is to anticipate living eternally in a realm of
spiritual bliss in communion with God.
THOMAS AQUINAS
• Man is substantially
body and soul
• The soul is united with
the human body because
it is the substantial form
of the human body.
man is composed of two parts: matter and form
1. MATTER or HYLE (Gr.) refers to the common stuff
that makes up everything in the universe
( man’s body is part of this matter)
2. FORM or MORPHE (Gr.) refers to the essence of a
substance or thing.
- the soul is what animates the body, it is what makes
us human.
 RENE DESCARTES
• father of modern philosophy
• He says “ But what then, am I? A
thinking thing. It has been said. But
what is a thinking thing? It is a thing
that doubts, understand
( conceives) affirms, denies, wills,
refuses; that imagines also, and
perceives
• “ COGITO or the thing that thinks, which is the mind.
• “EXTENZA or extension of the mind, which is the body.
DAVID HUME
• Scottish Philosopher/
Empiricist
EMPIRICISM – is the school of
thought that espouses the idea
that knowledge can be possible
if it is sensed and experienced
• SELF – is simply “ a bundle or collection of different
perceptions, which succeed each other with an
inconceivable rapidly, and are in a perpetual flux and
movement.
• Self is nothing else but a bundle of impressions, if one
tries to examine his experiences, he finds that they
can be categorized into: impressions and idea
• IMPRESSIONS are the basic object of our
experience or sensation, they therefore form the core
of our thoughts ( ex. When one touches an ice cube,
the cold sensation is an impression. It is therefore
vivid because it is a product of our direct experience
with the world.)
• IDEAS are copies of impressions, they are not as
lively and vivid as our impressions. ( ex. When one
imagines the feeling of being in love for the first
time , that still an idea.)
IMMANUEL KANT
• In Kant’s view, appropriate human
conduct( morality) does not extend
beyond the human species
• He agues that moral agents must be
self-conscious, rational, and capable
of making moral judgement.
SELF – is an actively engaged intelligence in man that
synthesized all knowledge and experiences, thus, the self
is not just what gives one personality, it is also the seat of
knowledge acquisition for all human persons.
- Without the self, one cannot organize the different
impressions that on gets in relation to his own existence.
 GILBERT RYLE
Denied blatantly the
concept of an internal, non-
physical self. What truly
matter is the behavior that
a person manifests in his
day-to-day life.
• Suggests that the self is not an entity one can locate
and analyze but simply the convenient name that
people use to refer to all the behaviors that people
makes.
MARLEAU-PONTY
• One cannot find any
experience that is not an
embodied experience – “ All
experience is embodied”
• The living body, his
thoughts, emotions,
experiences are all one.