The 8 Philosophers in Understanding the Self

Socrates
➢ Concerned with the problem of self
➢ “the true task of the philosopher is to know oneself”
➢ “the unexamined life is not worth living”
➢ Underwent a trial for ‘corrupting the minds of the youth’
➢ Succeeded made people think about who they are
➢ ‘the worst thing that can happen to anyone is to live but die inside’
➢ “Every person is dualistic”
➢ “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”
➢ As such, by fully knowing oneself a person will be able to achieve happiness.
➢ Happiness motivates us to act towards or avoid things that could have negative
effects in our lives.
➢ For him, men’s goal in life is to obtain happiness.
➢ A person’s acceptance of ignorance is the beginning of acquisition of knowledge.
➢ Understanding ourselves is through internal questioning or introspection
(understanding our strengths and weaknesses, like vs dislike)
➢ Man = body + soul
➢ Individual = imperfect/permanent (body) + perfect & permanent (soul)

Plato
➢ 3 components to the soul
Rational soul – reason & intellect to govern affairs
Spirited soul – emotions should be kept at bay
Appetitive soul – base desires (food, drink, sleep, sexual needs, etc.)
➢ When these are attained, the human person’s soul becomes just & virtuous.
➢ Followed the idea of Socrates in knowing thyself.
➢ According to him, a person who is a follower of truth and wisdom will not be
tempted by vices and will always be correct/moral/ethical.
➢ He believed in the division of a person’s body and soul which forms the person as
a whole aside from the material things and that could be observed and associated
with a person.

St. Augustine

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 ➢ Follows the idea that God encompasses us all that everything will be better if we
are with God.
➢ Believe that God and his teaching affects various aspects in life (that everything is
better if we devote ourselves mending our relationship with God).
➢ His idea of a man and how to understand who we are as a person is related to our
understanding of who we are and how we question ourselves.
➢ Relates our existence to God being modelled in His likeness through being alive
means that we are still far from God and has yet to be truly with Him.
➢ Reject the doubtfulness of the academy in which one cannot or should not accept
ideas from others.
➢ Emphasized that we may not be able to give our agreement to everything other
people tell us but we can still agree to those who we are from our own perception.
➢ Our notion to ourselves and our idea of existence comes from a higher form of
sense in which bodily senses may not perceive or understand and the more one
doubts and question his life means that the person is actually living.

Rene Descartes
➢ Believe in modern dualism or the existence of body and mind and its importance
to one’s existence were presented with the evidences from experiments as well as
philosophical reasoning.
➢ Frech philosopher known to be the father of Modern Philosophy because of his
radical use of systematic and early scientific method to aid his idea and
assumptions.
➢ Known to be the proponent of the “methodical doubt” (continuous process of
questioning – what we perceive and accepting the fact that doubting, asking
questions are part of one’s existence).
➢ Defined the roles of the mind and body to the notion of one’s existence and sense
of self.
➢ Known for his statement “cogito ergo sum” (I think therefore I am)
➢ According to him, a person is comprised of mind (thinks and question or doubt
what the body has experienced) and body (perceives from the different senses).
➢ Explained that the more we think and doubt what we perceived from our senses
and the answer that came from such thinking or doubting leads to better
understanding of ourselves.
➢ Being in constant doubt regarding one’s existence is proof that a person actually
exists.

John Locke
➢ Considered to be the Father of Classical Liberation

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 ➢ His works paved the way to several revolutions to fight the absolute powers of
monarchs and rulers of his time that led to the development of governance, politics
and economic system that we now know.
➢ Work on the self is most represented by the concept “tabula rasa” (blank slate).
➢ The experiences and perceptions of a person is important in the establishment of
who that person can become.
➢ He does not disregard the experiences of person in the identification and
establishment of who we are as a person.
➢ Stated that person is born with knowing nothing and that is susceptible to
stimulation and accumulation of learning from the experiences, failures,
references, and observations of the person.

David Hume
➢ Scottish philosopher that focused his work in the field of empiricism, skepticism,
and naturalism.
➢ “A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence”
➢ Self is accumulation of different impressions, and does not exceed the physical
realm.
➢ Rejects the notion of identify over time.
➢ There is no permanent self because impressions of things are based from our
experiences where we can create our ideas and knowledge. Thus, it may improve
or totally be replaced.

Immanuel Kant
➢ German philosopher that is known for his works on empiricism and rationalism.
➢ Establish that the collection of impressions and different contents is what it only
takes to define a person.
➢ Awareness of different emotions that we have, impressions and behaviors only a
part of ourself.
➢ To fully understand the self, a certain level of consciousness or sense that uses
our intuition which synthesizes all the experiences, impressions and perceptions
of ourselves will pave the way to define and know who we really are.
➢ Argued that the sense called “Transcendental Apperception” is an essence of our
consciousness that provides basis for understanding and establishing the notion
of self by synthesizing one’s accumulation of experiences, intuition and
imagination.
➢ The idea of self is not only an object that perceives and reacts to whatever it is that
we are experiencing; we also have the capabilities to understand beyond those
experiences and be able to think and have a clear identification who we are and
establish a sense of self that is unique and distinct from others.

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 Gilbert Ryle
➢ Used behavioral approach to self
➢ Self is the behavior presented by the person
➢ Behavior that we show, emotions, and actions are the reflection of our mind and
as such is the manifestation of who we are.
➢ Does not believe that the mind and body two separate entities which is said to be
evident in the unexplainable phenomenon or abilities of the mind where the soul is
considered; however, to some they can co-exist.
➢ To him, once we encounter others, their perceptions of what we do, how we act,
and the way we behave will then result to the understanding of other people and
establishing of who we are.
➢ Self is exemplified in his “Ghost in the Machine” view (man is a complex machine
with different functioning parts, and the intelligence, and other characteristics or
behavior of man is represented by the ghost in the said machine).
➢ His idea is saying that the things that we do, how we behave and react and all
other components like the way we talk, walk and look is generally who we are as
a person.

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