UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Philosophy
Philosophy is a training guide for your mind, showing how you think in clear, analytic, and powerful ways.

Philosophy of the self

What is Philosophy?
Study of acquiring knowledge trough rational thinking and inquiries that involves in answering questions regarding
the nature and existence of man and the world we live in.

What is self?
It is defined as “a unified being, essentially connected to consciousness, awareness and agency (or, at least, with
the faculty of rational choice).

Philosophers
A. Socrates - first martyr of education, knowledge, and philosophy. His philosophy underlies in the importance of the
notion “Knowing oneself”. A person’s acceptance of ignorance is the beginning of acquisition of knowledge. But,
possession of knowledge is a virtue; ignorance is a depravity (evil, corruption, wickedness). Knowing ourselves, lies in
our own abilities, and wisdom. Understanding ourselves is through internal questioning or introspection
(understanding our strengths and weaknesses, like vs. Dislike).

His way of teaching called socratic method or socratic conversation (role of both the teacher and the student is known
to the world; asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying
presumptions). However, he was charged with corruption of minors and died as a martyr that fought against ignorance
and narrow-mindedness.

But for him, men’s goal in life is to obtain happiness. It motivates us to act towards or avoid things that could have
negative effects in our lives. As such, by fully knowing oneself a person will be able to achieve happiness.

B. Plato - he is a student of socrates that is the reason he followed the idea of socrates in knowing thyself. He was
called the father of academy (a place where learning and sharing of knowledge happens; later become one of the
pillars and basis of what schools and education is now in the present). He also wrote several literatures that tackles
politics, human nature and established the idea of virtue and intelligence.

According to plato, 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. He believed that the soul is divided
into 3 different parts that has different views, leading to different behaviors.

Appetitive soul - the part of the person that is driven by desire and need to satisfy oneself. This satisfaction involves
physical needs, pleasures and desires, objects, and situations.

Spirited soul - courageous part of a person. One who wants to do something or to right the wrongs that they observe.
This is very competitive and is very active. Competitiveness drives one expect positive results and winning.

Rational soul - the drive of our lives. The part that thinks and plan for the future (the conscious mind). It decides what
to do, when to do it and the possible results one could have depending on their actions.

Rational - mind
Spirit - heart
Appetite - diapragm

C. St. Augustine - a saint and a philosopher of the church. He follows the idea that god encompasses us all, that
everything will be better if we are with god. He believed that god and his teachings affects various aspects in life (that
everything is better if we devote ourselves in 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 questions ourselves.
He also relates our existence to god being modelled in his likeness though being alive means that we are still far from
god and has yet to be truly with him. But he rejected the doubtfulness of the academy in which one cannot or should
not accept ideas from others.
St. Augustine 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. His believes that teaching the church and establishing
our sense of self with god identifies the essence of our existence and role in the world (the reason for this is because
our bodies are limited).

- Doctor of the church..

D. Rene Descartes - a french philosophers known to be the father of modern philosophy because of his radical use of
systematic and early scientific method to aid his ideas and assumptions. He believed in modern dualism or the
existence of body and mind and its importance to on e’s existence were presented with the evidences from
experiments as well as philosophical reasoning.

Descartes is known to be the proponent of the “methodical doubt” (continuous process of questioning) doubting,
asking questions are part of one’s existence. He defined the roles of the main and body to the notion of one’s
existence and sense of self.

He is known for the statement “cogito ergo sum” (I think therefore I am) and according to him, a person is comprised
of mind (thinks and questions what the body has experienced) and body (perceives from the different senses). The
body and its perceptions cannot fully be trusted or can easily be deceived.

Descartes believes that we should focus on the mind in order to perceive as who we are or the essence of our
existence because we cannot always trust our senses. He explained that the more we think and doubt what we
perceived from our senses and the answer that came from such thin king or doubting leads to better understanding of
ourselves. He also emphasizes that being in constant doubt regarding one’s existence is proof that a person exists.

- Father of doubt.
- I think, therefore I exist.

E. John Locke - an English philosopher and physician. He is the father of classical liberation. 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 economics system that we now know. He works 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
stated that a person is born with knowing nothing and that is susceptible to stimulation and accumulation of learning
from the experiences, failures, reference, and observation of the person.

- “no mans knowledge here can go beyond his experience”.

F. David Hume - a Scottish philosophers. He focused his work in the field of empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism.
He explained that the self is the accumulation of different impressions and does not exceed the physical realm. For
him, there is no permanent self because impressions of things are based from our experiences where we can create
our ideas and knowledge.

- father of empiricism.

G. Immanuel Kant - a German philosopher that is known for his works on empiricism and rationalism. He established
that the collection of impression and different contents is what it only takes to define a person. He believes that the
awareness of different emotions that we have, impressions and behavior is only a part of ourselves.