The Philosophers and the Nature of the Self

The question about the nature of the Self can be traced back in the ancient times,
in the history of Philosophy. It began and flourished in Ancient Greece, beginning in
a seaport of Miletus, around sixth century BCE. The earliest known philosophers
were the Ionians. During that time, their inquiry focused more about the nature of
things that we encounter around us. Though, we are not certain what were the
experiences and thoughts of the earliest people, we can still suppose that they too
wondered and had the desire to explain the world that we live in or even what lies
beyond.

Perhaps they wondered about how the world came to be? How they were unique
among the animals? Or whether there is a world beyond the earthly one surrounding
them? These were some of the puzzles that they tried to explain which were then
dubbed as “PHILOSOPHY” – the love of wisdom.

The first known Ionian philosophers were pre-occupied in trying to give an answer
to an inquiry on the composition and the beginning of things in the universe (What is
the universe made of? Or what kind of stuff goes into the composition of things?)

After many questions and explanations about the nature and the beginning of
things, two Philosophers began another specific area of inquiry – the nature of the
Self. They are the two among the three renowned classical philosophers from the
ancient period, namely SOCRATES and PLATO. They began the questions about
personal identity and whether they remain the same overtime, whether the soul and
the self are the same and are they separate from the body, and whether the self dies
together with the body?

DOCTRINE OF DUALISM
This is the two-fold view that the material substance (physical body) and immaterial
substance (mind or soul) are two different aspects. (Chaffee, 2016)

1. SOCRATES

Socrates is known for saying, “The true task of the

philosopher is to know oneself” and “the unexamined life is
not worth living.” He was referred as the Gadfly that disturbed
Athenian men from their slumber and shook them off in order
to reach the truth and wisdom. To him, most men were not
fully aware of who they are and the virtues that they were
supposed to attain in order to preserve their souls for the
afterlife. For him, this is the worst that could happen to us, to
live but die inside.
 Socrates taught that every man is composed of a BODY and SOUL which means
that man is dualistic in nature. The Body is the imperfect and impermanent aspect of
man while the Soul is the perfect and permanent one. Our soul strives for perfection
and wisdom, and reason is its tool to achieve it. As long as the soul is tied to the
body, its quest is limited by it.

2. PLATO

Plato is a student and a friend of Socrates. He

supported the idea that man is dualistic in nature.
Plato added that there are 3 component of the soul:
(1) the rational soul, (2) the spirited soul, and (3) the
appetitive soul. For him, justice for the human person
can only be attained if the 3 parts of the soul are working harmoniously with one
another. There should be unity and balance.
The rational soul, which is responsible for our thinking and reasoning, should govern
the affairs of the human person.

The spirited soul, which is in charge of our emotions and

feelings, should be kept at bay and the appetitive soul which is
responsible for our desires like eating, drinking, sleeping, and
having sex should be controlled as well. The harmony between
these three can be likened to the relationship between a
charioteer and his horses. It is the charioteer (Reason) who
controls the horses (Passion and Appetite)

For Plato, when this ideal state is attained, then the human person’s soul becomes
just and virtuous. He believed that genuine happiness can only be achieved by
people who consistently make sure that their Reason is in control of their Spirits and
Appetites.

3. ST. AUGUSTINE

Following the ancient view of Plato and infusing it with the

doctrines of Christianity, he agreed that man is composed
of two different aspects:

(1) An aspect of man that dwells in the world and is

imperfect and continuously yearns to be with the Divine
and (2) the other is capable of reaching immortality.

The body is bound to die on earth while the soul is to

anticipate living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss in communion with God.
 The body thrives and only remains in the imperfect physical reality which is the
world while the soul stays after death and live with the all-transcendent God. For
him, the goal of every human person is to attain this communion and bliss with God
by living his life on earth in virtue.

4. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

One of the most prominent philosophers in the medieval times. He adopted some
metaphysical ideas from Aristotle regarding matter and form. Aquinas said that
man is composed of two parts: Matter and Form. Matter, on one hand, refers to the
common stuff that makes up everything in the universe (Man’s body is part of this
matter) and Form, on the other hand, refers to the essence of a substance or thing
- that which makes a thing what it is or the “whatness” of a thing.
The human body is something that he shares even with the animals. It is
composed of cells that is almost the same with the animals or any other living
organic being in the world. However, what makes a human person a human person
and not a dog is his soul – his essence. Just as, for Aristotle, the soul is what
animates the body, it is what makes us humans.

5. RENE DESCARTES

Rene Descartes is known as the father of Modern

Philosophy. He was very much concern with the
problem of intellectual certainty. He thought that
although he was well educated at one of the most
prominent schools in Europe, For Descartes, a
human person is composed of a Body and a Mind.
He said that there are so much that we should doubt. In
fact, since many of what we think and believe are not
infallible, they may turn out to be false. One should
only believe that since which can pass the test of 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 one cannot doubt is the
existence of the self, a thing that thinks and therefore, that cannot be doubted.
(Cogito Ergo Sum)
The self, for Descartes, is a combination of two entities, the cogito, the thing that
thinks, which is the Mind, and the extension of the mind, which is the Body. In his view,
the body is nothing else but a machine that is attached to the mind. A human person
has it but it is not what makes man a man. If at all, that is the mind.

6. DAVID HUME
 David Hume was a Scottish Philosopher who had a very unique way of looking at
the self. He was an Empiricist (those who believe that one can know only what
comes from the senses and experiences). Unlike his predecessors, he believed that
the self is not an entity over and beyond the physical body (Empirical view) because
for him, the self is nothing else but a bundle of Impressions (An illusion).

What are impressions?

If one tries to examine his experiences, he can categorize it into two: Impressions
and Ideas.
• Impressions are the basic objects of our experience and
sensation. They form the core of our thoughts, (e.g. when one
touches an ice cube, the cold sensation is an impression.)
Impressions, therefore, are vivid because they are products of our
direct experience with the world.
• Ideas, on the other hand, are copies of impressions.
Because of this they are not as lively and vivid as our impressions.
(e.g.
Memory, and Imagination)
The self then, according to Hume, is simply a bundle or collection of different
perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in
perpetual flux and movement.” We may think of our self as a stable entity that exists
over time, but Hume argues that no matter how closely we examine our own
experiences, we never observe anything beyond the series of temporary feelings
and sensations. We cannot observe ourselves in a unified way, only what we are
experiencing in a specific moment in time. The self, therefore, is an illusionary force
or there is no such thing as the self. The identity we have for ourselves is not stable
at all, but fleeting. Because it changes over time. In other words, we cannot have
direct sense experience with the self. We may have memories of our experiences
but memory can change over time or can be distorted. We are different persons 5
years ago in both body and mind and will be different in 5 years to come.

7. IMMANUEL KANT
Thinking of the self as a mere combination of impressions was problematic for
Kant. He recognizes the veracity of the idea that everything starts with perception
and sensation of impressions. However, Kant thinks that the things that men
perceive around them are not just randomly infused into the human person without
an organizing principle that regulates the relationship of all these impressions.
This organizing principle that regulates the impressions is the mind. (Time and
Space are ideas that you cannot find in the world, but is built in our minds.)
Kant calls these the apparatuses of the mind. Along with the different
apparatuses of the mind goes the self. Without the self, one cannot organize the
different impressions that one gets in relation to his existence. It is the actively
engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes all knowledge and experience. Thus,

8. GILBERT RYLE
the self is not just what gives one his personality. It is also the seat of knowledge
acquisition for all human persons.

Gilbert Ryle solves the mind-body dichotomy that has been running for a long
time in the history of thought by blatantly denying the concept of an internal, non-
physical self. For him, what truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in
his day to day life.
For Ryle, looking for and trying to understand a self as it exists is like visiting
your friend’s university and looking for the “university”. One can roam around the
campus, visit the library of the football field, and meet the administrators and faculty
and still end up not finding the “university”.
This is because the campus, the people, the systems, and the territory all form
the university.
He 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
make.

9. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY

He 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. Unlike
Ryle who simply denies the “self”, Merleau-Ponty instead says that the mind and
body are so intertwined that they cannot be separated from one another.
He believed that one cannot find any experience that is not an embodied
experience for all experience is embodied. One’s body is his opening toward his
existence to the world. Because of these bodies, men are in the world.
He dismissed the Cartesian Dualism that has spelled so much devastation
in the history of man. For him, this problem is nothing but a plain
misunderstanding. For Merleau-Ponty, the living body, his thoughts,
emotions, and experiences are all one.

Assessment:
 Essay
1. In your own perspective substantiate the Doctrine of Dualism by Socrates. In 200
words only.

2. How does Rene Descartes explain his idea about self?

3. How does David Hume explain his idea about self? Does impression and idea the
same? Why or why not?