PAGE 01

Understanding the Self

MARY DIOZEHT PADING - TAYCO, LPT.
 HOW DO YOU
DEFINE "SELF"?
WHY DO WE NEED
TO KNOW ABOUT
THE SELF?
HOW KIND WERE YOU
TO YOURSELF
TODAY?
 Concept and Nature of Self:
Who Am I? PAGE 05

Our names represents who we are. Our names signify

us. However, the name is NOT the person itself no
matter how intimately bound it is with the bearer. It is
ONLY a signifier. SELF is thought to be more than
the name. SELF is something that a person perennially
molds, shapes, and develops. The self is NOT static.
 Lessons to be covered PAGE 6

01 02 03
The Self in Various Managing and
Unpacking the Self
Perspectives Caring for the Self
What is Philosophy? PAGE 07

The word "philosophy" originates from

the Greek words "PHILOS" means
LOVE and "SOPHIA" means WISDOM,
meaning "Love of Wisdom".
 The Philosophical view of
Self: Various Philosophers PAGE 08

Socrates
Immanuel Kant
Plato
Gilbert Ryle
Rene Descartes
Paul Churchland
John Locke
Merleau - Ponty
David Hume
Socrates: Know Yourself PAGE 09

"The Unexamined Life

is NOT worth Living". -
Socrates
"An Buhay na dai pinaghurop-
huropan mayo nin pakinabang."
 Socrates PAGE10

He was believed to be the first thinker to focus on the full power

01 of REASON on the human self - our existencein the universe,
who we are, who we should be, and whom we will become

02 For Socrates, the self exists in two parts: the BODY and
the SOUL.
 Socrates PAGE11

BODY SOUL

It is tangible aspect of us. It is immortal, eternal,

It is mortal (it dies), unchanging, perfect
constantly changing, a, or ideal.
imperfect, transforming
and disappearing
 Socrates PAGE12

"The Unexamined life is NOT worth LIVING"

The most important task one can undertake is to examine
one's self, for it alone will give one the knowledge necessary
to answer the question 'how should I live my life?'.
Socrates explained: ... 'once we know ourselves, we may
learn how to care for ourselves, but otherwise, we never
shall.'
Plato: The Soul is immortal PAGE13

"The First and the

BEST victory is to
conquer self."
 Plato PAGE14

There is both an immaterial mind (soul) and a material body, and

it is the soul that represents the self. Plato believed the soul exists
01 before birth and after death. For him, one should care about his
soul rather than his body.

Plato believed that true and geniune happiness could only

02 be achieved if we consistently make sure that our reason is

in control of our Spirits and Appetites.
 Plato PAGE 15

01 Reason 02 Physical Appetite 03 Spirit

Reason is our divine Physical Appetite is our Will or Spirit is our
essence that enables us basic biological needs basic emotion or
to think deeply, make such as hunger, thirst, passion, such as
choices, and achieve a and sexual desire. empathy,
true understanding of aggressiveness, love,
eternal truths. anger and ambition.
Rene Descartes: A Modern
Perspectiveon the Self PAGE16

"Cogito Ergo Sum (i

Think; Therefore I
Am."
 René Descartes PAGE17

For Descartes, this is the essence of self - you are a "thinking thing" (I exist
because I think, therefore I exist). The mind is what matters. But what about

01 body?
Descartes believes that our physical body is secondary to our personal identity.

Descartes declares that the essential self, or the self as a

02 thinking entity is radically different from the self as a

physical body.
 René Descartes PAGE18

03 The thinking self or soul is NON-material, immortal, conscious

being, independent of the physical laws of the universe.

ThePhysical body is MORTAL, non-thinking material

04 that is fully governed by the physical laws of nature.
 John Locke: A Modern
perspective of the self PAGE 19

"The MIND is
TABULA RASA"
 John Locke PAGE20

He beleived that we are born without thoughts, or mind was empty

and that knowledge is instead determined only by EXPERIENCE.
01 According to him, our memory plays a key role in our definition of
the self.

He theorized that we are the same person as we were in

02 the past for so long as we can remember memories from

that past.
 John Locke PAGE21

03 It is our memory or our consciousness of our past that makes us

that same person as we were in the past

It is our consciousness that makes possible our belief that

04 we are the same identity at different times and different

places.
David Hume: There is
NO"SELF" PAGE 22

"There is no such
thing as FREEDOM
of CHOICE unless
there is FREEDOM
of REFUSE"
 David Hume PAGE23

Direct Sense of Experience

David Hume believed that the source of
all genuine knowledge is our direct sense
of experience of the mind, and what's
inside the mind is divided into 2:
1. IMPRESSIONS AND 2. IDEAS
 David Hume PAGE24

Impression Ideas
Ideas are those things that we create in our
Impressions are those things minds even though we are no longer
we perceieve through our experiencing them. For example, even when
senses as we experience I'm already inside my room and can no longer
see the sky, I can still think of the idea of the
them. Like when I see the sky, like it's nice day, it's not likely to rain,
sky, and my sense of sight maybe I can do the laundry or maybe I can go
out to the park. Whenever we think of simple
tells me I am looking at a ideas, It must have as a basis a simple
blue sky. impression
 David Hume PAGE 25

There is no self because we change

Fo Hume, the self keeps on changing, like how one looks, one
feels, one thinks they constantly change. There is no permanent
and unchanging self. A person is a bundle of perceptions. "I" will
constantly be changing because the different experiences one has
for every constant change will affect and re-shape that person.
Thus, we cannot observe any permanent self because we
continously undergo change . In conclusion, there is no Self.
Immanuel Kant: We
Construct the Self PAGE 26

"A man is FREE

agent"
 Immanuel Kant PAGE 27

We construct the self

Immanuel Kant refutes Hume's theory that there is no "self"
and argues that it is possible to find the essence of the self. For
Kant, man is a free agent, capable of making a decision with
himelf. Man is a free agent, for he is gifted with reason and
free will to enable hime to organize the dategathered by the
senses. From these data and the way we organize them, we
can build an ideas of who are. Hence the self is very present.
Gilbert Ryle: The Self
is How you Behave PAGE 28

"In searching of the

Self, one cannot
simultaneously be
the hunter and the
hunted."
 Gilbert Ryle PAGE 29

Gilbert Ryle simply focused on observable behavior in defining

the self. No more inner selves, immortal soul, states of
consciousness, or unconsciousness self: instead, the self is defined
in terms of the behavior that is presented to the world. From
Ryle's point of view, the self is best understood as pattern of
behavior, a person's tendency or disposition to behave in a
certain way in certain circumstances. In short, the self is defined
by the observable behaviors we project to the world around us.
Paul Churchland: the
Self in the Brain PAGE 30

"The SELF is the

BRAIN."
 Paul Churchland PAGE 31

There is no dualism The Self is the Brain

He focused on the brain states rather than the
Churchland asserts that since the mental states.
mind cannot be experienced by Churcland believes that the term "mind,"
the senses, it does not exist. It is our moods, emotions, actions,
the physical brain, not the consciousness are deeply affected by the
state of the brain. That by manipulating
imaginary mind, that gives us
certain parts of our brain, our feelings,
our sense of self. To him, Mind actions, and physical state is successfully
and body are separate. altered.
 Maurice Merleau-Ponty: The
Self is Embodied Subjectivity PAGE 32

"The SELF is
embodied
Subjectivity"
 Maurice Merleau-Ponty PAGE 33

Maurice Merleau-Ponty takes a very different approach to the self. His ideas suggest that there
us unity in our mental, physical, and emotional disposition, and they all affect how we
experience our selves. For instance, when you wake uo in the morning and experience you
gradually becoming aware of where you are or how you feel, what are first thought of the day?
Perhaps something like "oh no, it's time to get up, but I'm sleepy but I have a class that I can't
be late for."
Note that at no point do you doubt that the "I: you refer to is a single integrated entity, but
a blending of mental, physical and emotional structure around a core identity: your self.
Our self is a product of our conscious human experience. the definition of self is all about
one's perception of one's experience and the interpretation of those experiences.
To Merleau-Ponty, the self is embodied subjectivity. He entirely rejected the ideas of mind
and body dichotomy because for him man is all about how he sees himself.
THANK YOU
SO MUCH