Philosophy of Self and Key Concepts

Philosophical Perspectives

• Course title: Psyc 031 Understanding the Self
• Instructor: Rennyvonne Fae V. Ledesma, MP, RPsy, LPT, EXA-F

Activity Instructions

• Use one whole sheet of pre-printed bond paper
• Use any art material or writing material
• Illustrate your own idea of yourself

Thoughts to Ponder

• What does the word "self" mean?
• Am I in control of my actions and thoughts?
• Will we exist after death?
• Do we get reincarnated?
• Am I a fragment of someone else's imagination?
• How would you characterize yourself?
• What makes you stand out from others?
• What makes your self special?
• What will happen to your self after you die?

What is Philosophy?

• Greek words: Philos (love) and Sophia (wisdom)
• Definition: The love and pursuit of wisdom

Further Aspects of Philosophy

• Finding answers to serious questions about ourselves and the world
• What is a good life?
• Does God exist?
• What is the mind?
• Do we get reincarnated after death?
• What makes something moral or immoral?
• Questioning existing knowledge and intuitions to get closer to the truth

Philosophy Defined

• A way to look at the world and give it meaning
• A high quality method to examine our beliefs

Origin of Philosophy and Logic

• The never-ending search for truth (important, significant, valuable)
• Searching for meanings (important, significant, value, relevance)
• Asking a lot of questions

Philosophy and Self

What is the Self?

• A unified being, essentially connected to consciousness, awareness, and agency (at least with the faculty of rational choice).

Classical Antiquity

• A unified being, essentially connected to consciousness, awareness, and agency (at least with the faculty of rational choice).

Socrates: Know Thyself

• Self-knowledge is required for a happy and meaningful life
• An unexamined life is not worth living
• "One thing only I know, and that is I know nothing." (The more we know, the more questions we ask)
• Socratic Method: How knowledge is brought (teaching by asking questions)

Socrates' Dualistic Approach

• Understanding the self through the body and the soul
• Body: Imperfect and impermanent
• Soul: Perfect and permanent
• Dichotomous Realms (Physical and Ideal)

Plato: Student of Socrates

• Founded the Academy (considered prototype for universities today)
• Dichotomy between the ideal (world of forms/realm of ideas) and material world.
• The material world is a replica of the real world
• Belief in the existence of the soul

Plato's Soul: Three Components

• Rational soul: reason, intellect (thinking deeply, making wise choices)

• Spirited soul: emotion, passion

• Appetitive soul: basic needs

• The three elements are in dynamic relationships, sometimes conflicting

• Reason's role in resolving conflicts.

René Descartes: Cogito Ergo Sum

• "I think, therefore I am"
• Father of modern philosophy
• Hyperbolic doubt: doubting the existence of his own physical body
• Existence of the body is not proof of existence.

René Descartes and Mind-Body Dualism

• Matter: Physical stuff (walks, talks, plays accordion)
• Mind: Non-physical substance (thinks, doubts, remembers)
• The nature of mind and body are completely different.
• Mind and body are united to form a human being.

John Locke: Tabula Rasa

• The person is like a blank slate (clueless about the world)
• Experience writes on the blank slate (memory)
• Identity is not strictly tied to mind, soul, or body
• Continuous identity requires memory

David Hume: There Is No Self

• Personal identity is a result of imagination
• The mind is simply a container for fleeting sensations

Immanuel Kant: Constructing the Self

• The self constructs its own reality
• Actively creating a world that is familiar, predictable, and personal
• The self is a product of reason
• Understanding abstract ideas that do not have physical objects in sensory experience is possible through rationality.

Importance of Philosophy of Self

• Pinnacle of one's life; without it, life is aimless and meaningless
• Adds structure and balance for implementing goals; roadmap for actions and thoughts
• Improves critical thinking, argument skills, analysis skills, and communications
• Enables justifying opinions, spotting bad arguments, explaining why opinions are right or wrong.

Additional Philosophical Thought

• A philosopher is a lover of wisdom, not of knowledge—
• Wisdom is eternal and immutable.
• Knowledge is transient and subject to change—