PSYCHOLOGY 101

THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVE

PROGRAM 1 | PRELIMS | SEM 1 2024

- significance
- value
What is Philosophy?
- relevance
●​ Finding answers to serious ●​ PHILOSOPY ask a lot of
questions about ourselves and about questions……………
the world we live in:
●​ Sample Questions:
-​ What is morally right or PHILOSOPHY AND THE SELF
wrong? And why?
-​ What is good life?
-​ Does God exist?
-​ What is the mind?

●​ And a lot more………

What will you get out of Philosophy?

●​ Skills
●​ Critical thinking, Argumentative
skills, communications, reasoning,
analysis, problem solving
●​ It allows you to:
- Justify your opinion
- spot bad argumentation no matter
what the topic
- Explain to people why they are
wrong and you are right
●​ - PHILOSOPHY basically
teaches you to think.

PYTHAGORAS
- The first person to use the term philosophy
Philosophers agree that self – knowledge is
a prerequisite to a happy and meaningful
LOVE OF WISDOM
life.
-​ PHILO
- Greek word for love
- SOPHIA SOCRATES
- Greek word for wisdom
ORIGIN OF PHILOSOPHY + LOGIC -​ AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT
WORTH LIVING
●​ Search for truth
-​ Every man is dualistic
●​ Search is to look for something
-​ Composed of body and soul
●​ Search for meaning
- importance
PSYCHOLOGY 101
THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVE
PROGRAM 1 | PRELIMS | SEM 1 2024

-​ Two important aspects of his -​ PLATO: SOUL HAS THREE PARTS

manhood
-​ Body – imperfect and impermanent 1.​ RATIONAL SOUL
-​ Soul – perfect and permanent -​ Reason and intellect
-​ Divine essence that enables
us to think deeply, make wise
Socrates’ two (2) dichotomous Realms
choices, and achieve a true
understanding of eternal
1.​ PHYSICAL REALM truths.
-​ Changeable 2.​ SPIRITED SOUL
-​ Transient and imperfect -​ Emotion and passion
-​ The body belongs to this realm -​ Basic emotions such as love, anger,
ambition, empathy and
2.​ IDEAL REALM aggressiveness.
-​ Unchanging, eternal and immoral 3.​ APPETITIVE SOUL
-​ The soul belongs to this realm -​ Basic needs
-​ Includes our basic biological needs
Socrates was the first thinker to focus on such as hunger, thirst and sexual
the full power of reason on the human desire.
self: who we are, who we should be, and
who we will become. There three elements of our selves are in a
dynamic relationship with one another,
The soul strives for wisdom and sometimes in conflict.
perfection, and reason is the soul’s tool When conflict occurs, Plato believes that it
to achieve an exalted state of life. is the responsibility of our REASON to sort
things out and exert control, restoring a
Our preoccupation with bodily needs harmonious relationship among the three
such as food, drink, sex, pleasure, elements of our selves.
materials possessions and wealth keep
us from attaining wisdom.

PLATO

-​ THE SOUL IS IMMORTAL

-​ A student of Socrates
-​ Philosophy of the self can be
explained as a process of
self-knowledge and purification of
the soul. Plato believes that genuine happiness can
-​ He believe that in the existence of only be achieved by people who
the mind and soul. consistently make sure that their REASON
-​ Mind and soul is given in perfection is in control of their spirit and appetites.
with God.
PSYCHOLOGY 101
THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVE
PROGRAM 1 | PRELIMS | SEM 1 2024

-​ Aristotle suggested that anything

with life has soul.
-​ His discussion about the self centers
on the kinds of soul possessed by a
man.
-​ He introduced the three kinds of
soul.

ARISTOTLE: KINDS OF SOUL

1.​ Vegetative - includes the physical

body that can grow.
2.​ Sentient – includes the sensual
desires, feelings and emotions.
3.​ Rational – is what makes man
human. It includes the intellect that
makes man know and understand
ARISTOTLE
things.

-​ The soul is the essence of the self

-​ A student of Plato
-​ The body and soul are not two
separate elements but are one thing.
-​ The soul is simply the form of the
body and is not capable of existing
without the body.
-​ The soul is that which makes a
person a person. The soul is the
essence of the self.
-​ Aristotle suggests that the rational
nature of the self is to lead a good,
SAINT AUGUSTINE
flourishing and fulfilling life.
-​ Without the body, the soul cannot -​ “I AM DOUBTING, THEREFORE I
exist. The soul dies along with the AM”
body.
-​ Integrated the ideas of Plato and
Christianity
-​ Augustine’s view of the human
person reflects the entire spirit of the
medieval world.
-​ The soul is united with the body so
that man may be entire and
complete.
PSYCHOLOGY 101
THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVE
PROGRAM 1 | PRELIMS | SEM 1 2024

-​ Believed Humankind is created in

JOHN LOCKE
the image and likeness of God.
-​ Therefore, the human person being
a creation of God is always geared THE SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS
towards the good. -​ The human mind at birth is tabula
-​ The self is known only through rasa or blank slate
knowing God. -​ He felt that the self is constructed
-​ Self – knowledge is a consequence primarily from sense experiences.
of knowledge of God.
THE SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS
“Knowledge can only come by seeing
CONSCIOUSNESS
the truth that dwells within us”
-​ Necessary to have a coherent
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​
personal identity or knowledge of the
- St. Augustine
self as a person.
-​ What makes possible our belief that
The truth of which St. Augustine spoke
we are the same identity in different
refers to the truth of knowing God.
situations.

RENE DESCARTES
I AM DOUBTING, THEREFORE I AM DAVID HUME

-​ The act of thinking about self – of

being self – conscious – is in itself
proof that there is self.

Descartes’ two (2) distinct entities

1.​ cogito
-​ The thing that thinks
-​ mind
2.​ Extenza
-​ The extension
-​ body

-​ Self is simply a bundle or collection

of different perceptions, which
succeed each other with an
PSYCHOLOGY 101
THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVE
PROGRAM 1 | PRELIMS | SEM 1 2024

inconceivable rapidly and are in a

perpetual flux and movement.
-​ The idea of personal identity is a
result of imagination
-​ There is no self.
-​ Self is not just what gives one his
personality but also the seat of
knowledge acquisition for all human
persons.
-​ The self constructs its own reality
creating a world that is familiar and
predictable
-​ Through our rationality, the self
transcends sense experience.

Define the self in your

own words and
explanation