Diana T.

Batle
BSIT 1B

ASSESSMENT

In your own words, state what “self” is for each of the following philosophers.
After doing so, explain how your concept of “self” is compatible with how
they conceived of the “self.”

1. Socrates is more concerned with the problem of the self and his
mission as a philosopher is to know one self. During Socrates trial for
allegedly corrupting the minds of the youth and for impiety, he
succeeds to made people think about who they are. For Socrates,
every man is composed of body and soul, which means every human is
dualistic. This means all individuals have an imperfect and
impermanent aspect of him in the body, while maintaining that there is
also a soul that is perfect and permanent.

- My concept about self is compatible with Socrates concept of the self

by thinking that our body will not last, not permanent. I believe that if
we die, our body will decompose but our soul is permanent it will stay
with our transcendent God after death.

2. Plato supported the idea that man is dual in nature of body and soul.
Plato emphasizes justice that human person can only be attained if the
three parts of the soul are working harmoniously with one another.
Plato thinks there are three components of the soul, the rational soul
forged by reason and intellect has to govern the affairs of the human
person, the spirited part which is in-charge of emotions should be
kept at bay, and the appetitive soul is in-charge of base desires like
eating, drinking, sleeping, and having sex are controlled as well. When
this ideal state is attained, then the human person’s soul becomes just
and virtuous.

- My concept about self is compatible with Plato concept of the self by

thinking that we are dual in nature of body and soul. Our body needs to
survive in this world by eating and drinking. While our soul has to
survive by doing good deeds and do whatever our heavenly father
wants for us.

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 3. Augustine’s view of the human person reflects the entire spirit of
the medieval world when it comes to man. Augustine followed the
ancient view of Plato but he added the newfound doctrine of
Christianity, Augustine agreed that man is divided in to two parts of
nature. First is the 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
and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in spiritual bliss with God.
The goal of every human person is to attain this communion and bliss
with the Divine by living his life on earth in virtue.

-My concept about self is compatible with Augustine concept of the self

by the thought of our body can only thrive in the imperfect, physical
reality of the world because I believe that our body has to survive in
this world, while our soul can stay after death in an eternal realm with
the all-transcendent God.

4. Aquinas – believe that the man is composed of two parts which is the
matter and form. Matter (hyle in Greek) refers to the common stuff that

makes up everything in the universe. Man’s body is part of this matter.

While form (morphe in Greek), refers to the essence of a substance or
thing. In the case of the body of human person it is similar to animals
but what makes a human person is his essence. The soul is what makes

us humans.

- My concept about self is compatible with Aquinas concept of the self by

thinking that our body is similar with animals because like us humans
animals can also feel or have emotions. But of course we are not dog
or something, we are humans.

5. Descartes - Thinks that human person have a body and a mind. He

claims that there is so much that we should doubt. If something is so
clear and lucid as not to be even doubted, then that is the only time
when
one should actually buy a proposition. In the end, Descartes thought
that
the only thing that cannot be doubted is the existence of the self. The
fact
that one thinks should lead one to conclude without a trace of doubt

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 that
he exists. The self then for Descartes is also a combination of two
distinc
t
entities, the cogito or the thing that thinks, which is the mind, and the
extenza or extension of the mind, which is the body. In Descartes’
perspective, the body is nothing else but a machine that is attached to
the
mind. The human person has it but it is not what makes man a man but
it is the mind.

- I surely agree with Descartes that our body is like machine that
controlled
by our minds. Because I also believe that when our minds are thinking
our
body automatically reacts on what our minds thinking.

6. Hume – Hume is an empiricist who believes that one can know only
what
comes from the senses and experiences, he disagrees with all the other
philosophers because he believes that the self is not an entity over and
beyond the physical body. To Hume, the self is nothing else but a bundle
of
impressions, if one tries to examine his experiences, he finds that they
can
all be categorized into two: impressions and ideas. Impressions are the
basic objects of our experience or sensation. So, they form the core of
our
thoughts. While Ideas, are copies of impressions. Because of this, they
are
not as lively and vivid as our impressions. According to Hume, self is
simply a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed
each
other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and
movement. We simply want to believe that there is a unified, coherent
self, a
soul or mind just like what the previous philosophers thought but actually
it is all just a combination of experiences.

- I believe that whatever actions of our body it is because of our mind

who organizes our impressions and ideas.

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 7. Kant - Kant agrees with Hume that everything starts with perception and
sensation of impressions. However, Kant thinks that there is a mind that
organizes the impressions that human get from the external world. Time
and
space, for example, are ideas that one cannot find in the world, but is built
in
our minds. Kant calls these the apparatuses of the mind. The self organizes

the different impressions that one gets in relation to his own existence. So,
Kant suggested that we need to actively engaged intelligence to
synthesize all
knowledge and experience. Thus, the self is not the only personality but
also
the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons.

- Like Kant, I also think that the things that we perceive around us are not
just randomly infused into our body but it is the mind which is organizing
principle that regulates the relationship of all these impressions.

8. Ryle - Gilbert Ryle denies the concept of an internal, non-physical self. For
Ryle, what truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his day-
to-day life. For him, looking for and trying to understand a self is like
visiting
your friend’s university and looking for the university. This is because the
campus, the people, the systems, and the territory are all form the
university.
Ryle suggests that the self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but
simply the convenient name that we use to refer to the behaviors that we
make.

- I agree with Ryle that our behavior in our day-to-day life is what really
matters because I believe our actions defined our selves.

9. Merleu-Ponty - Merleau-Ponty is a phenomenologist who asserts that the

mind-body bifurcation that has been going on for a long time is a futile
endeavor and an invalid problem. Merleau-Ponty says that the mind and
body are so intertwined that they cannot be separated from one another.
One’s body is his opening toward his existence to the world. Because of
these bodies, men are in the world. For Merleau-Ponty, the Cartesian
problem is nothing else but plain misunderstanding. The living body, his
thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one.

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 - Yes I believe that our body is our opening toward our existence here in
the
world because of these bodies, we are here in the world. But I also
believe
that death can separate our body from our soul.

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