The Self According to Philosophy (Batangas State University)

The Self According to Chapter 2 Philosophy Week 3 Nesfer Calinao Lecturer I SUBTOPICS: 1. SOCRATES 6. DAVID HUME 2. PLATO 7. IMMANUEL KANT 3. St. AUGUSTINE 8. MERLEAU PONTY  OBJECTIVES Compare and contrast the different philosophical foundations and conceptual...

The Self According to Chapter 2 Philosophy Week 3 Nesfer Calinao Lecturer I SUBTOPICS: 1. SOCRATES 6. DAVID HUME 2. PLATO 7. IMMANUEL KANT 3. St. AUGUSTINE 8. MERLEAU PONTY  OBJECTIVES Compare and contrast the different philosophical foundations and conceptualization of self  Philosop hy the study of knowledge or wisdom  SOCRATE S A philosopher from Athens, Greece and said to have the greatest influence on European thought.  “Know Thyself” Here, Socrates would like to emphasize that knowing or understanding oneself should be more than the physical self, or the body.  “self is dichotomous”  The physical realm The physical world is consisting of anything we sense: see, smell, feel, hear, and taste  The ideal realm This includes the intellectual essences of the universe like the concept of beauty, truth, and goodness “an unexamined life is not worth living”  Self The self, according to Socrates is the immortal and unified entity that is consistent over time.  PLAT Introduced the idea of a three- O part soul/self that is composed of reason, physical appetite and spirit or passion  Three elements of the self The Reason enables human to think deeply, make wise choices and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths. Plato also called this as divine essence.  Three elements of the self The Physical Appetite is the basic biological needs of human being such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire. The spirit or passion is the basic emotions of human being such as love, anger, ambition,  CONFLICT OF THE When conflict occurs, it is the responsibility of our SELF Reason to sort things and exert control Plato believes that genuine happiness can only be achieved by people who consistently make sure that their reason is in control of their spirits and appetites.  St. Augustine ⚬Christianity’s first theologian. ⚬Integrated Plato’s idea and christianity ⚬The soul is what governs and defines the human person or the self  St. ⚬Described that humankind was Augustine created in the image and likeness of God ⚬Believed that God is transcendent and everything created by God, who are all good, are good. God as the source of all reality and Through mystical experience, man is capable of truth. knowing eternal truths. This is made possible through the existence of the one eternal truth which is God. He further added that without God as the source of all truth, man could never understand eternal truth. This relationship with God means that those who know most about God will come closest to understanding the true nature of the world. The sinfulness of The cause of sin or evil is an man. act of mans’ freewill. Moral goodness can only be achieved through the grace of God. "cogito, ergo sum” - I think, therefore I am" Rene  Rene Descartes He explained that in order to gain true knowledge, one must doubt everything even own existence. John Locke “Tabula Rasa” or Blank Slate  How an individual may experience the self in everyday living: A person is a thinking, intelligent being who has the abilities to reason and to reflect.  How an individual may experience the self in everyday A person is living: also someone who considers themselves to be the same thing in different times and different places.  John Locke personal identity and the soul or substance in which the personal identity is situated are two very different things. Three laws according to Locke: 1.Law of Opinion – where actions that are praiseworthy are called virtues and those that are not are called vice. 2.Civil Law – where right actions are enforced by people in authority. 3.Divine Law – set by God on the  David Hume He was a Scottish philosopher and also an empiricist.  David Hume “one can only know what comes from the senses & experiences”  Bundle IMPRESSION Theory Impressions are the basic sensations of our experience, the elemental data of our minds: pain, pleasure, heat, cold, happiness, grief, fear, exhilaration, and so on.  Bundle IDEA Theory copies of impressions not as “real” as impressions  Immanuel A German Philosopher who made Kant great contribution to the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Kant is widely regarded as the greatest philosopher of the modern period.  Immanuel maintained that an individual self Kant makes the experience of the world comprehensible because it is responsible for synthesizing the discreet data of sense experience into a meaningful whole.  Immanuel The self constructs its own reality Kant creating a world that is familiar or predictable.  Sigmund Freud A well-known Australian psychologist and considered as the Father and Founder of Psychoanalysis.  Sigmund Freud The dualistic view of self by Freud involves the conscious self and unconscious self.  Conscious governed by reality principle. self the self is rational, practical, and appropriate to the social environment. has the task of controlling the constant pressures of the unconscious self, as its primitive impulses continually seek for immediate discharge.  Unconscious governed by pleasure principle. self the self that is aggressive, destructive, unrealistic and instinctual  Sigmund Freud Three levels of the mind: Id, Ego and Superego Three levels of the 1.Id– primarily based on the pleasure mind: principle 2.Ego– based on the reality principle 3.Superego - primarily dependent on learning the difference between right and wrong, thus it is called moral principle. Maurice Merleau- A French philosopher and Ponty phenomenologist. Developed the concept of self-subject and contended that perceptions occur existentially. Maurice Merleau- The self can never be truly Ponty objectified or known in a completely objective sort of way.  What is your philosophy in life? THANK YOU!