Self Philosophy

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THE self from

VARIOUS
PERSPECTIVES
study of the fundamental
nature of knowledge, reality
and existence especially in an
academic discipline.
Father of Western philosophy
Socratic Method

HUMAN NATURE
He believes that man is composed of
body and soul.
Soul is the person's core identity,
his/her unique spirit that makes one
distinct.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
THE HUMAN MIND

Man is uniquely defined through his ability


to think and question his own existence.
He believed that the goal of life is to be
happy.
The virtuous man is a happy man and that
virtue alone is the one and only supreme
good that will secure his/her happiness.
Greek philosopher; he became a pupil and
friend of Socrates.
He founded the Academy
His philosophical method was “collection
and division”

HUMAN NATURE
He also believed that man is composed of
body and soul.
He believed that soul exists before birth
and after death.
TRI-PARTITE SOUL

Rational (Reasoning) : our divine essence


that enables us to think deeply, make wise
choices and achieve a true understanding of
eternal truths.
the element that forbids the person to
enjoy the sensual experiences
the part that loves truth hence, should rule
over the other parts of the soul through the
use of reason.
TRI-PARTITE SOUL

Appetitive (Sensual) : Our basic biological


needs.
Spirit/Passion (Feeling) : Our basic
emotions.
The element that is inclined toward reason
but understands the demands of passion;
the part that loves honor and victory

According to Plato, each of us is driven by


three different parts of our soul.
an Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist
who is still considered one of the greatest
thinkers in politics, psychology and ethics.
When Aristotle turned 17, he enrolled in
Plato’s Academy.
Aristotle’s background in biological
subjects made him more of an empiricist as
compared to the mathematician Plato’s
rationalism.
insisted that the human being is a
composite of body and soul and that the
soul cannot be separated from the body.

Aristotle’s philosophy of self was


constructed in terms of hylomorphism.
aka Augustine of Hippo
a bishop of Hippo Regius in Northern
Africa
an ancient Christian theologian who
played significant role in the
development of early Western
philosophy.
a Neoplatonist
HUMAN NATURE
He took from Plato the view that the
human self is an immaterial soul that
can think.
The most important part of mind is
not the intellect but the will.
The most important of a person is
the inner person.
Good persons are those whose will
and reason are subordinated to faith in
God and devotion to God's will.
Faith is a gift of grace that we cannot
command but only receive when it
comes.
God's grace may work on us when we
are studying Scripture but much study
of Scripture is no guarantee of receiving
it.
French philosopher and considered as the
founder of modern Western philosophy.
Mathematician and scientist; a leader in
the seventeenth-century scientific revolution.
His method was called
hyperbolical/metaphysical
doubt/methodological skepticism.

HUMAN NATURE
He claimed that there is an essential
distinction between the mind and body.
THE SOUL THE BODY
It is a conscious, It is a material
thinking substance that substance that changes
is unaffected by time. through time.
It is known only to itself It can be doubted; the
(only you know your public can correct
own mental event and claims about the body.
others cannot correct
your mental states).

It is not made up of It is made up of


parts. It is both physical, quantifiable,
conscious and aware of divisible parts.
itself at the same time.
British philosopher and physician who laid
the groundwork for an empiricist approach
to philosophical questions.
The mind is a tabula rasa.

NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE


NATURE OF SELF
He is an archetypal advocated of the
empiricist view of knowledge.
He believed that humans by nature are
good.
Behavior is learned, people are either
influenced to do good or bad.
He believed that everything we know
comes from the experience of the
senses.
For Locke, a person's memories
provide a continuity of experience that
allows him to identify himself as the
same person over time.
German philosopher whose
comprehensive and systematic work in
epistemology (the theory of knowledge),
ethics, and aesthetics greatly influenced
all subsequent philosophy, especially
the various schools of Kantianism and
idealism.

HUMAN NATURE
The “self” is transcendental.
TWO COMPONENTS OF THE SELF:

Inner self includes rational reasoning


and psychological state.

Outer self includes the body and


physical mind where representation
occurs.
THE SELF ORGANIZES
INFORMATION IN THREE WAYS:

1. Raw perception input


2. Recognizing the concept
3. Reproducing in the imagination
Italian Dominican theologian and was
one of the most influential medieval
thinkers of Scholasticism.
Father of the Thomistic school of
theology.
As a theologian, he was responsible in
his two masterpieces, the Summa
theologiae and the Summa contra
gentiles.
According to Aquinas’s metaethics,
human goodness depends on
performing acts that are in accord with
our human nature.
He explains that reason is comprised
of two powers: one cognitive, the other
appetitive.
The cognitive power is the intellect.
The appetitive power of reason is
called the will.
For him, the goal of human existence
is union and eternal fellowship with
God.
For those who have experienced
salvation and redemption through
Christ while living on earth, a beatific
vision will be granted after death.
a Scotish philosopher, economist and
historian during the Age of
Enlightenment.
He was a fierce opponent of
Descartes' rationalism.
Hume is identified with the bundle
theory wherein he described the self as
a bundle or a collection of different
perceptions that are moving in a very
fast and successive manner.
All knowledge passes through the
senses.
Separate ideas can be joined in the
mind.
There is no self, only a bundle of
perceptions.
Hume divided the mind's perception into
two groups:
1. Impressions: these are the perceptions
that are most strong. They enter the
sense with the most force.

1. Ideas: These are less forcible and less


lively counterparts of impressions.These
are mechanisms that copy and reproduce
sense data formulated based upon the
previously perceived impressions.
Austrian neurologist who is credited with
developing the field of psychoanalysis.
He is considered one of the most influential
thinkers of twentieth century even though
many of his ideas have been challenged in
recent decades.
Though the conscious self also has
important role to play in our lives, it is the
unconscious self that holds the greatest
fascination for Freud.
LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS:
1. Conscious: deals with awareness of
present perceptions, feelings, thoughts,
memories and fantasies at any particular
moment.
2. Pre-conscious/subconscious: related to
data that can readily be brought to
consciousness.
3. Unconscious: refers to data retained but
not easily available to individual's
conscious awarenss or scrutiny.
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
- a personality theory based on the notion
that an individual gets motivated by unseen
forces, controlled by the unconscious and
the rational thought.
THREE PARTS OF THE MIND
1. ID: it operates on the pleasure principle.
2. EGO: it operates according to the reality
principle.
3. SUPEREGO: it incorporates the values
and morals of the society. Its function is
to control the id's impulses.
TWO SYSTEMS OF SUPEREGO:

1. CONSCIENCE- If the ego gives in to the


id's demands, the superego may make the
person feel bad through guilt.

2. IDEAL SELF: It is an imaginary picture of


how you ought to be.
Philosopher and professor
He wrote The Concept of Mind
(1949)
He produced a critique on
Descartes' idea that the mind is
distinct from the body.
Ryle's points against Descartes' theory
are:

The relation between mind and body are


not isolated process.
Mental processes are intelligent acts and
are not distinct from each other.
The operation of the mind is itself an
intelligent act.
Philosopher and professor
Known for his studies in
neurophilosophy and the philosophy
of mind.
His philosophy stands on a
materialistic view or the belief that
nothing but matter exists.
Churchland's idea is called eliminative
materialism or the claim that people's
common-sense understanding of the mind is
false and that certain classes of mental
states which most people believe do not
exists.

He asserted that the sense of “self”


originated from the brain itself and that this
“self” is a product of electrochemical signals
produced by the brain.
A philosopher and author
His idea of self is an embodied
subjectivity.
He rejected the Cartesian mind-body
dualism and insisted that the mind and body
are intrinsically connected.
He asserted that human beings are
embodied subjectivities and that the
understanding of the “self” should begin
from this fundamental fact.
He argued that the body is part of the mind
and the mind is part of the body;

Although there could be a stand-alone


mental faculty that perceives what the
senses experience, it needs the body to
receive these experiences, act on its
perceptions and communicate with the
external world.

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