Module 1 - Philosophical Perspective of SELF

1. Introduction/Overview
This module will discuss the meaning of philosophy and introduce the NEU’s philosophy
of education. It also includes the views and perspective of different philosophers about
the concept of the self and the Biblical views of the self. Generally, it will give you a
deeper understanding of both the philosophical and biblical foundations of “Who you
are” as we travel towards discovering the Self coming from various perspectives.

1.1. NEU’s Philosophy of Education and VMGO

“Godliness is the Foundation of Knowledge”

New Era University education is founded on the philosophy that to be a true

educated person, one should have developed within the self the unique Christian values
of reverent fear with God, discipline, competence and service to humanity for the greater
glory of God, Almighty. An individual who have cultivated in him or her self these
Christian values will be called a truly educated person. It is in this direction that you as a
new member of the tertiary education department of the NEU learning institution will be
transformed further as you continue your life long learning journey.

New Era University Graduate's Attributes

God fearing, disciplined and competent

Mission: Provide quality education anchored on Christian values with prime purpose of
bringing honor and glory to God

Vision: A world-class institution of learning with a unique Christian culture of

excellence, discipline, and service to humanity

Goals and Objectives

●​ Impart value-laden education to the total development of man.

●​ Offer curricula responsive to the needs of the time.
●​ Optimize learning through the adoption and utilization of appropriate
instructional methods and resources.
●​ Propel institutional development through the conduct of useful and significant
researches.
●​ Extend outreach services which promote self-help in the community.
 ●​ Promote access to non-conventional higher education and basic education
programs.
●​ Develop servant leaders among staff, faculty members, and administrators.
●​ Produce God-fearing, competent, and disciplined graduates.

2. Learning Outcomes
At the end of the module, student should be able to:

1.​ Define the meaning of philosophy.

2.​ Explain the role of philosophy in understanding the concept of the self.
3.​ Appreciate the contribution of philosophers in understanding the self.
4.​ Reflect the biblical philosophy of the self.
5.​ Create own philosophy in life.

3. Lesson 1: Philosophical Perspective of the Self

Philosophy came from Greek word “philosophia”, literally means "love of wisdom". It is
the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence,
knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy employs the inquisitive
mind to discover the ultimate causes, reasons, and principles of everything. Pythagoras
(c. 570–495 BCE) probably coined the term philosophy. Historically, "philosophy"
encompassed any body of knowledge. Philosophical methods include questioning,
critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation.

3.1. SOCRATES - An Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living

Socrates was born, as far as we know, in Athens around

469 B.C. Our knowledge of his life is sketchy and derives
mainly from three contemporary sources, the dialogues of
Plato and Xenophon (c. 431 - 355 B.C.), and the plays of
Aristophanes (c. 456 - 386 B.C.). According to Plato,
Socrates' father was Sophroniscus (a sculptor and
stonemason) and his mother was Phaenarete (a midwife).
His family was respectable in descent but humble in
means. He appears to have had no more than an ordinary
Greek education (reading, writing, gymnastics and music,
and, later, geometry and astronomy) before devoting his
time almost completely to intellectual interests.
Views about Self

• The self is synonymous with the soul

• He believes that every human possesses an immortal soul that survives the
physical body
• First to focus on the full power of reason on the human self: who we are, who
we should be, and who will become.
• Suggest that reality consist of two dichotomous realms: physical realms
(changeable, transients, and imperfect) and ideal realms (unchanging, eternal,
and immortal)
• Explains that the essence of the self-the soul- is the immortal entity
• Suggest that man must live an examined life and a life of purpose and value
• The individual person can have a meaningful and happy life only if he becomes
virtuous and knows the value of himself that can be achieved through incessant
soul-searching.

3.2. PLATO - The Self Is An Immortal Soul

Plato was born in Athens some time between 429 and 423
B.C. He was possibly originally named Aristocles after his
grandfather, and only later dubbed "Plato" or "Platon"
(meaning "broad") on account of the breadth of his
eloquence, or of his wide forehead, or possibly on account of
his generally robust figure.

His father was Ariston (who may have traced his descent
from Codrus, the last of the legendary kings of Athens); his
mother was Perictione (who was descended from the
famous Athenian lawmaker and poet Solon, and whose
family also boasted prominent figures of the oligarchic
regime of Athens known as the Thirty Tyrants).

Views about Self

• The self is synonymous with the soul

• His philosophy explains as a process of self knowledge and purification of the soul
• He introduce the idea of a three-part soul/self :
• Reason – the divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise choice, and
achieve a true understanding of eternal truth
• Physical Appetite – includes basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, and sexual
desire
• Spirit or passion – includes basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition,
aggressiveness and empathy
• Theory of Forms : the world of forms (non-physical ideas) – real and permanent and
the world of sense (reality) – temporary and only a replica of the ideal world

3.3. ARISTOTLE - The Soul Is The Essence Of The Self

Aristotle was born to an aristocratic family in Stageira on the
Chalcidice Peninsula of Macedonia (a region of northern Greece)
in 384 B.C. His father, Nicomachus, was the personal physician
to King Amyntas of Macedon, and Aristotle was trained and
educated as a member of the aristocracy. Aristotle's mother,
Phaestis, came from Chalcis on the island of Euboea, and her
family-owned property there.

When he was just a boy of the age of 10, Aristotle's father died
(which meant that Aristotle could not now follow in his father's
profession of doctor) and his mother seems also to have died
young, so he was taken under the care of a man named Proxens.

Views about Self

• The soul is merely a set of defining features and does not consider the body and soul
as separate entities.

• He suggest that anything with life has a soul and soul is the essence of all living
things/self

• He introduce the three kinds of the soul :

Vegetative soul – includes the physical body that can grow

Sentient soul – includes sensual desire, feelings, and emotions

Rational soul – includes the intellectual that allows man to know and understand things.
It is what makes the man human.

• The rational nature of the self is to lead a good, flourishing, and fulfilling life
• He posits that part of the rational world is characterized by moral virtues such as
justice and courage

3.4. Aurelius Augustinus - The Self Has An Immortal Soul

Aurelius Augustinus, as claimed by the Catholic Church as St. Agustine ( born
November 13, 354, Tagaste, Numidia (now Souk Ahras, Algeria) and died August 28,
430, Hippo Regius. Bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430, one of the Latin fathers of the
Church and perhaps the most significant Christian thinker after St. Paul.
Augustine’s adaptation of classical thought to Christian teaching created a theological
system of great power and lasting influence. His numerous written work, the most
important of which are Confession and The City of God, shaped the practice of biblical
exegesis, and helped lay the foundation for much of the medieval and modern Christian
thought.

Views about Self

• He believes that the physical body is radically different from the inferior to its
inhabitant, the immortal soul.
• He viewed that body as the spouse of the soul, both attached to one another by a
natural appetite. The soul is what governs and defines man
• Believe that the body is united with the soul, so that man may be entire or complete
• In his work, Confessions, humankind is created in the image and likeness of God
• He convinced that self is known only through knowing God
• For him, “knowledge can only come by seeing the truth that dwells within us”
• Self-knowledge is a consequence of knowledge of God

3.5. RENE DESCARTES - I Think Therefore I Am

Rene Descartes was born in the town of La Haye en Touraine
(since renamed Descartes) in the Loire Valley in central France
on 31 March 1596. His father, Joachim Descartes, was a busy
lawyer and magistrate in the High Court of Justice, and his
mother, Jeanne (née Brochard), died of tuberculosis when René
was just one year old. René and his brother and sister, Pierre
and Jeanne, were therefore mainly raised by their grandmother.
From 1604 until 1612, he attended the Jesuit Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand at La
Flèche, Anjou, studying classics, logic and traditional Aristotelianism philosophy. His
health was poor and he was granted permission to remain in bed until 11 o'clock in the
morning, a custom he maintained for the rest of his life.

Views about Self

• “I think therefore I am” is the keystone of Descartes's concept of the self.

• The act of thinking about the self- of being self-conscious- is in itself proof that there is
a self
• The essence of the human self – a thinking entity that doubts understands, analyzes,
questions, and reasons.
• Two-dimension of the human self: the self as thinking entity and the self as physical
body
• Thinking self (soul) as a non-material, immortal, conscious being, and independent of
physical laws of universe
• The physical body is a material, the mortal, non-thinking entity, fully governed by
physical laws of nature
• The essential self – the self as thinking entity – is distinct from the self as a physical
body

3.6. JOHN LOCKE - The Self Is Consciousness

John Locke was born on 29 August 1632 in the small rural village
of Wrington, Somerset, England. His father, also named John
Locke, was a country lawyer and clerk to the Justices of the Peace
in the nearby town of Chew Magna and had served as a captain of
the cavalry for the Parliamentarian forces during the early part of
the English Civil War. His mother, Agnes Keene, was a tanner's
daughter and reputed to be very beautiful. Both parents were
Puritans, and the family moved soon after Locke's birth to the
small market town of Pensford, near Bristol.
In 1647, Locke was sent to the prestigious Westminster School in
London (sponsored by the local MP Alexander Popham) as a
King's Scholar.

Views about Self

•The human mind at birth is a tabula rasa or a blank slate

• The self of personal identity is constructed primarily from sense experiences – what
people see, hear, smell, taste, and feel
• Conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys to
understanding the self.
• The essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself as thinking, reasoning, and
reflecting the identity
• He contends that consciousness accompanies thinking and makes possible the
concept people have the self.
• The power of reason and introspections enables one to understand and achieve
accurate conclusion about the self (or personal identity)

3.7. DAVID HUME - There Is No Self

David Hume was born on 26 April 1711 in a tenement on the
Lawnmarket in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was Joseph
Home (an advocate or barrister of Chirnside, Berwickshire,
Scotland), and the aristocrat Katherine Lady Falconer. He
changed his name to Hume in 1734 because the English had
difficulty pronouncing "Home" in the Scottish manner.

He was well-read, even as a child, and had a good grounding in

Greek and Latin. He attended the University of Edinburgh at
the unusually early age of twelve (possibly as young as ten),
although he had little respect for the professors there and
soon threw over a prospective career in law in favor of philosophy and general learning.

Views about Self

• He suggests that if people carefully examine their sense experience through the
process of introspection, they will discover that there is no self
• What people experience is just a bundle or collection of different perception
• If carefully examine the content of experience, they will find distinct entities:
• Impression – basic sensations of people such as hate, love, joy, grief, pain, cold
and heat. These are vivid perceptions and are strong and lively
• Ideas – are thoughts and images from impression so they are less lively and vivid
• Humes argues that it cannot be from any of these impressions that the idea of the
self is derived and consequently, there is no self
• The idea of personal identity is a result of imagination
3.8. IMMANUEL KANT - We Construct The Self
Immanuel Kant was born on 22 April 1724 in the city of
Königsberg (then the capital of Prussia, now modern-day
Kaliningrad, Russia). He spent his entire life in and around his
hometown, never traveling more than a hundred miles from
Königsberg. His father, Johann Georg Kant, was a German
craftsman and harness maker from Memel, Prussia; his mother,
Anna Regina Porter, was born in Nuremberg but was the daughter
of a Scottish saddle and harness maker.

He was the fourth of eleven children (five of whom reached

adulthood). He was baptized as "Emanuel" but later changed his
name to "Immanuel" after he learned Hebrew.

Views about Self

• It is the self that makes experiencing an intelligible world possible because it is the
self that is actively organizing and synthesizing all of our thoughts and perceptions
• He believes that the self is an organizing principle that makes as unified and
intelligible experience possible
• The self constructs its own reality, actively creating a world that is familiar,
predictable, and most significantly, mine
• The self is a product of reason, a regulative principle, because the self regulates
experience by making unified experiences possible
• Through rationality, people are able to understand certain abstract ideas that have
no corresponding physical object or sensory experience

3.9. SIGMUND FREUD - The Self Is Multi-layered

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of
psychoanalysis, a clinical method treating psychopathology
through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.

Freud was born in Frieberg, Moravia in 1856, but he was four

years old his family moved to Vienna where he was to live and
work until the last years of his life. In 1938 the Nazis annexed
Austria, and Freud, who was Jewish, was allowed to leave
England.After his marriage in 1886, which was extremely
happy and gave Freud six children – the youngest of whom,
Anna, was to herself become a distinguished psychoanalyst.
Views about Self

• He holds that the self consists of three layers:

• Conscious self – govern by “reality principle”. Rational, practical, and appropriate to

environment. It is usually taken into account the realistic demands of the situation, the
consequences of various activities, and the overriding need to preserve the equilibrium
(balance)

• Unconscious self – govern by “pleasure principle”. Basic instinctual drives including

sexuality, aggressiveness, and self-destruction; traumatic memories, unfulfilled wishes
and childhood fantasies; thought and feelings that would be considered socially taboo.

• Preconscious self – contains material that is not threatening and easily brought to
mind.

3.10. GILBERT RYLE - The Self Is The Way People Behave

Gilbert Ryle was born on August 19, 1900, in Brighton, England and
he died on October 6, 1976. He is a British philosopher leading
figure on the “Oxford Philosophy” or ordinary language, movement.
Ryle gained first-class honors at Queen’s College, Oxford and
became a lecturer at Christ Church College in 1924. Throughout his
career, which remained centered at Oxford, he attempted – as
Waynflete Professor of metaphysical Philosophy, and his writing
and as editor of the journal Mind – to dissipate confusion arising
from the misapplication of language.

Views about Self

• He believes that the self is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency
or disposition of a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances.
• “I act therefore I am”
• The self is the same as bodily behavior
• The mind is the totality of human disposition that is known through the people
behave
• He is convinced that the mind expresses the entire system of thoughts, emotions,
and actions that make up the human self.
3.11. PAUL CHURCHLAND - The Self Is The Brain

Paul Montgomery Churchland was born on October 21, 1942. He is

Canadian philosopher is known for his studies in neurophilosophy and
the philosophy of mind. After earning a Ph.D. from the University of
Pittsburgh under Wilfrid Sellar (1969), Churchland rose to the rank of full
professor at the University of Manitoba before accepting the Valtz
Family Endowed Chair in Philosophy.
Paul is currently professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of
California in San Diego, CA. His research centers on epistemology,
perception, philosophy of mind, philosophy of neuroscience, and
philosophy of science.

Views about Self

• Advocates the idea of eliminative materialism or the idea that the self is inseparable
from the brain and physiology of the body
• The physical brain and not the imaginary mind, gives people the sense of self
• The mind does not really exist because it cannot be experienced by the senses

3.12. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY - The Self Is Embodied Subjectivity

Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty was born on March 14

1908 and died on May 3, 1961. He was a French
phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund
Husserl and Martin Heidegger.
The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main
interest and he wrote on perception, art, and politics. He was on
the editorial board of Les Temps Modernes, the leftist
magazine established by Jean-Paul Sartre in 1945.

Views about Self

• Argues that all knowledge about the self is based on the phenomena of experience
• The ‘I’ is a single integrated core identity, a combination of mental, physical, and
emotional structures around a core identity of the self
• Mind and body are unified
• Consciousness is a dynamic form responsible for actively structuring conscious
ideas and physical behavior
• Perception is not merely a consequence of the sensory experience, rather it is a
conscious experience. Thus, the self has embodied subjectivity.

4. Lesson 2: Biblical Perspective of the Self

According to the Holy Bible, the man is composed of three (3) distinct components:
body, soul and spirit. It is written in 1 Thessalonians 5:23
"And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body
be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (ASV)