***REFLECTION: SEATWORK

Think and reflect on a personal struggle you have had concerning Plato’s 3
elements of the Psyche. What were the roles of the appetitive, spirited, and mind?
How was this resolved? How did it contribute to better understanding of yourself?
Do this exercise on the template located at the ELABORATE section of this
unit.

ST. AUGUSTINE
“This is the very perfection of man; to find out his
own imperfections.”

St. Augustine considered himself a sinner. He

acknowledged that he had committed bad deeds,
and resolved to change and be a better person. For
St. Augustine, the self develops through self-
presentation and self-realization. One must present
him/herself, accepting who he/she is - strengths, weaknesses, and discerning what
changes to make to be a better individual.

St. Augustine’s perspective centers on religious conviction and belief as he

believed that to be a better person, one should turn to his/her religious beliefs as
this would serve as a guide towards better understanding of oneself. In doing so,
the end goal - happiness in and through God - would be achieved.

MODERN PHILOSOPHIES
Modern philosophical perspectives view the self as a dialectic synthesis
between Rationalism and Empiricism, that is, having different points of view but
coming to a resolution. Rationalism deals with thinking and innate ideas, and
regards reason as the main source of knowledge. Empiricism, on the other hand,
has to do with sense experience where knowledge is based on how one observes
and perceives his/her experiences.

To understand the self then implies the use of both reason and experience,
as such, there is a dialectic synthesis.

RENE DESCARTES
“I think, therefore I am.”

Rene Descartes is a pioneer or Rationalism. To

understand the self, the rational method should be carried
out, where the self exists as one makes use of rational
thought, or to put it simply, when one thinks. Descartes’

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 concept of Methodic Doubt states that everything must be subjected to
doubt or that everything
should be questioned. It is a way of searching for certainty by systematically and
tentatively doubting everything. When one applies Methodic Doubt, he/she uses
rational thinking, thus, the self exists. For instance, one may question why he is not
good in singing. Instead of simply accepting this as a fact, he reasons out why he
is not good at such, and in doing so, enables his “self” to exist.

Human rationality, according to Descartes, is the primary condition for the

existence of the self. Human beings need to reason in order to:
• evaluate thoughts
• evaluate actions
• establish firm foundations or bases
• protect oneself
• build knowledge

Descartes says, “It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to
use it well.”

JOHN LOCKE
“No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”

John Locke was an advocate of Empiricism. His concept of

“tabula rasa” explains how the self-starts out as an empty
space. This empty space is then filled with the experiences
one has each and every day, where such experiences are
necessary for sense data - what one sees, hears, smells,
tastes, touches. These sense data are then perceived or
given meaning, and so the empty space is filled with
knowledge of the self. Locke highlighted the capability of man to learn from
experience, and process different perceptions skillfully to form more complex
ideas. From this stems one’s knowledge and understanding of the self. In short,
experience comes before knowledge. For example, to know how one would
behave when a course has been failed, one should first experience failing a
course. From here, one can observe him/herself in terms of his/her behaviors so
there would then be knowledge and understanding of how the self-reacts towards
failure.

ELABORATE
***EXERCISE: Sense Experience

Sit down, keep quiet, and let your senses work. List down what you see,
hear, smell, taste, and touch. Not all of these may be applicable, but try to have
as much sense data as possible. Then reflect on what you learned through your
sense experience.

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 What I saw:
What I heard:
What I smelled:
What I tasted:
What I learned (your insight here must incorporate the ideas of Locke and Kant):

DAVID HUME
“There is no self.”

Perhaps the most different perspective in terms of the

existence of the self would be that of David Hume. He
proposed the idea that the self does not exist. This is because
the idea of the self is merely derived from impressions.
These impressions may be subjective, temporary, and prejudicial. They do not
persist.

For example, upon asking a person, “Who are you?”, the person can say, “I
am David, a Psychology student, 65 kilograms in weight, and a good singer. This
information, however, can change. One’s physical characteristics, educational
pursuits, and even basic information like one’s name and address can change.
The self, then, cannot exist if information about it is temporary. Even everyday
decisions can change.

IMMANUEL KANT
“If man makes himself a worm, he must not complain when he is
trodden on.”

Immanuel Kant synthesized the rationalist and

empiricist views. He proposed that the self is always
transcendental. The self is outside the body and outside the
qualities of the body. Ideas are perceived by the self, and
they connect the self and the world. Accordingly, rationality
unifies and makes sense of the perceptions we have in our
experiences.

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