Lesson 1 Understanding The Self Philosophies

UNDERSTANDING THE
SELF
(HUMN101)
COLLEGE OF GOVERNANCE
Prof: Paul John “Pijz” Madrigal, MPA, MBA
What do you expect in
this class?
Don’t expect… just be

yourself
Small task
Big task
Small task
Activity, output and

analyses
Big task
Create an investigative
video about the self
Lets have a fun
way of
understanding
ourselves
Chapter 1
THE SELF IN VARIOUS
PERSPECTIVES
Self Identity
define “NAME”
Who are you?
2 truth and a lie

“NAME”
Our parents think of what your

name will be…
Does your name represents who
you are?
Does your name defines who or
what you are?
Do you like your NAME?
“NAME”
It is not the person itself no

matter how intimately bound
it is with the bearer
“creative name”
What your nickname

stands for?
Ex. P – Popular, Patriotic
A – Artistic, Active
U – Upgraded, Unrelenting
L – Lively, Loving
Activity 1
Knowing ourselves
1. How would you characterize yourself?
2. What makes you stand out from the rest?
3. How has yourself transformed itself?
4. How is your self connected to your body
5. How is your self related to other selves?
6. What will happen to yourself after you die?
Analysis 1
Where you able to answer
the questions with ease?
Easy or Difficult to answer?

Why?
THE SELF IN VARIOUS
PERSPECTIVES
Philosophical
Learning Objectives
1. Discuss the diverse representation and
conceptualization of self using different
disciplines and perspectives.
2. Demonstrate a critical and reflective

thinking in evaluating the development of self
and identity.
UTANGAN MO
ANG CRUSH MO…
PARA DI KA
MAKALIMUTAN
Agree or Disagree?
We create an
illusion of the self.
…the question is…
Do you want to know

yourself?
video
SOCRATES
• Know Thyself
• Everyman is composed of body and soul (dualistic)
• Imperfect body and perfect soul
• Question Everything
• Only the Pursuit of Goodness Bring Happiness
• Socratic Method: Question and Answer;
Leads us to think for ourselveselves
An unexamined life is not worth living

PLATO
Tripartite Soul
• The Rational part desires to exert reason and attain
rational decisions (RULING CLASS) – reason and intellect
• The Spirited part desires supreme honor

(MILITARY CLASS) - emotions
• The Appetite part of the soul desires bodily pleasures such

as food, drink, sex, etc. (COMMONER) – base desires
ARISTOTLE
• Contributed the foundation of both symbolic logic and
scientific thinking
• The best way to gain knowledge was through “natural

philosophy,” which is what we would now call science.
• Happiness, which is dependent in an individual’s virtues, is

the central purpose of human life and a goal in itself.
“Happiness depends in ourselves”

ST. AUGUSTINE
• An important figure in the development of Western Christianity
• His philosophy of man brings together wisdom of the Greek

philosophy and the divine truths contained in the scripture.
• The absolute and immutable is the Living God, the Creator of the
entire universe.
• To love God means to love one’s fellowmen, and to love one’s

fellowmen means never to do any harm to another.
“Do unto others, what you want others do unto you”

ST. AUGUSTINE
CHRISTIAN
CHRIST IAN
I AM NOTHING
ST. AUGUSTINE
• Man is composed of two parts: matter and form
• Matter or Hyle in Greek refers to “common stuff that makes
everything”
• Form or Morphe refers to “essence of a substance or thing”
• What makes a human person a person and not a dog is his SOUL, his
essence
RENE DESCARTES
• The Self is defined as a subject that thinks.
• The self that has full competence in the powers of human

reason.
• Two distinct entities:
cogito – the thing that thinks
extenza – extension of mind “the body”
* The body is nothing else but a machine attached to the
mind
JOHN LOCKE
• Personal identity is a matter of psychological continuity.
• Personal identity (or the self) is founded on consciousness.
• Identity over time is fixed by awareness of the past.
• Locke posits an “empty” mind, a tabula rasa, which is shaped by

experience, and sensations and reflections being the two sources of all
our ideas.
“Our concept of personal identity must derive from inner experience”

DAVID HUME
• He rejects the notion of identity over time.
• There are no “persons” that continue to exist over time, there are merely
impressions.
Challenge: Try to think about your “self.”
• According to Hume, you cannot.

• Or, when you do, the only things you are thinking about are individual
impressions or perceptions of your self.
The self is a bundle of impression”

IMMANUEL KANT
• Consciousness is the central feature of the self.
• The consciousness is divided into:
1. Internal Self - composed of psychological states and informed

decisions; remembering our own state, how can we combine the new and old
ideas with our mind
2. External Self - made up of ourselves and the physical world where the
representation of objects
The child is the father
of a man.
--Sigmund Freud
SIGMUND FREUD
• The self continues from childhood to adulthood
• Personality is determined by childhood experiences
• Personality is largely unconscious
• Structure of the Self

• Id: animalistic self; pleasure principle
• Ego: executive self; reality principle
• Superego: conscience; morality principle
I made it, and so I am.
GILBERT RYLE
• Rejects the theory that mental states are separable from physical states.
• He concluded that adequate descriptions of human behaviour need never refer to anything
but the operations of human bodies
• His form of Philosophical Behaviourism (the belief that all mental phenomena can be
explained by reference to publicly observable behaviour) became a standard view for several
decades.
• He argued that philosophers do not need a "hidden" principle to explain the supra-mechanical
capacities of humans, because the workings of the mind are not distinct from the actions of
the body, but are one and the same.
• Self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient name that people
use to refer to all behaviors that people make.
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
• His work is commonly associated with the philosophical movement

called existentialism and its intention to begin with an analysis of the
concrete experiences, perceptions, and difficulties, of human
existence.
• Consciousness, the world, and the human body as a perceiving thing

are intricately intertwined and mutually "engaged”.
• Our perception of the self is a collection of our perceptions of our

outside world.
Activity 2
Application and Assessment
In your own words, state what
“self” is for each previous
philosophers and then explain
how your concept of “SELF” is
compatible with how they
conceived of the self.
Activity 2
Socrates – Question Everything

Plato – Rational, Spirited, Appetite
Aristotle- 7 cause
St. Augustine – God centered
Rene Descartes – Subject that thinks and doubt
John locke – Tabula rasa “empty mind”
David Hume – Self is a Perception
Immanuel kant – inner and external self
Sigmund Freud – Conscious mind: id, ego, superego
Gilbert Ryle – Behaviorism, Learned behavior
Maurice Marleau ponty - Existentialism
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UNDERSTANDING THE

Don’t expect… just be

Activity, output and

2 truth and a lie

Our parents think of what your

It is not the person itself no

What your nickname

Easy or Difficult to answer?

2. Demonstrate a critical and reflective

Do you want to know

An unexamined life is not worth living

• The Spirited part desires supreme honor

• The Appetite part of the soul desires bodily pleasures such

• The best way to gain knowledge was through “natural

• Happiness, which is dependent in an individual’s virtues, is

“Happiness depends in ourselves”

• His philosophy of man brings together wisdom of the Greek

• To love God means to love one’s fellowmen, and to love one’s

“Do unto others, what you want others do unto you”

• The self that has full competence in the powers of human

• Personal identity (or the self) is founded on consciousness.

• Identity over time is fixed by awareness of the past.

• Locke posits an “empty” mind, a tabula rasa, which is shaped by

“Our concept of personal identity must derive from inner experience”

Challenge: Try to think about your “self.”

• According to Hume, you cannot.

The self is a bundle of impression”

• The consciousness is divided into:

1. Internal Self - composed of psychological states and informed

• Personality is determined by childhood experiences

• Personality is largely unconscious

• Structure of the Self

• His work is commonly associated with the philosophical movement

• Consciousness, the world, and the human body as a perceiving thing

• Our perception of the self is a collection of our perceptions of our

Socrates – Question Everything

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