4. Understanding the Self
Objectives:
At the end the lesson, the students must be able to;
Explain the role of philosophy in understanding the Self;
Discuss the different concept of the self from the
philosophical perspective; and
Differentiate the various concepts of the self and
identity their similarities.
6. Understanding the Self
- St. Augustine Saint Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430)
Christian Theologian and Philosopher
Contributed to the progress of Western
Christianity through his writings;
1. The City of God, on Christian Doctrine
and Confessions.
Sin is the source of Human
unhappiness as sin impairs human free
will.
7. Understanding the Self
- St. Augustine
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 may be entire and
complete.
Believed Humankind is created in
the image and likeness of God.
8. Understanding the Self
- St. Augustine
Therefore, the human person
being creation of God is always
geared towards the good.
The self is known only through
knowing God.
Self-knowledge is a consequence
of knowledge of God.
9. Understanding the Self
- St. Augustine
“Knowledge can only come
by seeing the truth that
dwells within us”
The truth of which Augustine spoke
refers to the truth of knowing God,
16. Understanding the Self
-John Locke (1632-1704)
He was an English Philosopher
and Physician
“Father of Liberalism” as he
posited the theory of the mind
The human mind at birth is
tabula rasa or blank slate
He felt that the self is
constructed primarily from
sense experiences
17. Understanding the Self
Locke theorized that when
they are born, all babies know
absolutely nothing
In essence, he argued that the
inside of a baby’s brain was
empty-ready to learn everything
through experience.
18. Understanding the Self
-John Locke
Consciousness
Necessary to have a coherent
personal identity or knowledge
of the self as a person.
What makes possible our belief
that we are the same identity in
different situations.
The Self is Consciousness
20. Understanding the Self
-David Hume (1711-1776)
Self is simply a bundle or
collection of different
perceptions, which succeed each
other with an inconceivable
rapidly and are in a perpetual
flux and movement
The idea of personal identity is a
result of imagination
There is no self
22. Understanding the Self
-Immanuel Kant
(1724-1804)
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
24. Understanding the Self
-Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
Sigismund Schlomo Freud known as
Sigmund Freud
Neorologist from Austria
He established the Psychoanalysis
26. Understanding the Self
-Gilbert Ryle
Self is not an entity one can locate and
analyze but simply the convenient name
that people use to refer to all the
behaviors that people make
“I act therefore I am”, in short, the self is
the same as bodily behavior
The self is the way people behave
28. Understanding the Self
-Paul Churchland
The self is inseparable from the brain and
the physiology of the body
All we have is the brain and so, if the
brain is gone, there is no self
The physical brain and not the imaginary
mind, gives us our sense of self
29. Understanding the Self
-Paul Churchland
The mind does not really exist
It is the brain and not the imaginary mind
that gives us our sense of self
The self is the brain
31. Understanding the Self
The mind-body bifurcation that has been
going on for a long time is a futile
endeavor and an invalid problem
All knowledge of our selves and our
world is based on subjective experience
The self can never be truly objectified or
known in a completely objective sort of
way
The self is embodied subjectivity
-Maurice Merleau-Ponty