“ If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or
weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here
and now and when you get there, you will
discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full
bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and
strong.”
A Greek Philosopher
“I Know That I Don’t Know”
Socrates was known for his method of inquiry in
testing an idea called “Socratic Method ”.
Some of Socrates’ ideas were:
❖ The soul is immortal.
❖ The care of the soul is the task of philosophy.
❖ Virtue is necessary to attain happiness.
Socrates
One of his most quoted phrases is, “The unexamined life is not worth living”.
Two kinds of existence:
1. Visible existence (body) – changes
2. Invisible existence(soul) – remains constant
He believed that the goal of life is to be happy.
The virtuous man is a happy man.
Virtue is defined as the moral excellence, and an individual is considered
virtuous if his/ her character is made up of the moral qualities that are
accepted as virtues, i.e., courage, temperance, prudence and justice.
“ Good actions give strength to ourselves and
inspire good actions in others.”
- PLATO
Theory of Forms – asserted the physical world is not
really the “real” world because the ultimate reality
exists beyond the physical world.
The self/soul/mind according to Plato is the aspect
of the human beings by which the Forms (ideas)are
Known.
Plato
Balance between mind and
body
Three parts of the soul:
• The appetitive (sensual) – the element that enjoys sensual experiences,
such as food, drink and sex
• The rational (reasoning) – the element that forbids the person to enjoy the
sensual experiences; the part that loves truth,
hence, should rule over the other parts of the soul
through the use of reason
• The spirited (feeling) – the element that is inclined toward reason but
understands the demands of passion; the part
that loves honor and victory
All knowledge leads to God.
He believed that the “self” was an inner,
immaterial “I” that had self knowledge and self
awareness. He believed that the human being
was both body and soul, and the body
possessed senses , such as imagination,
memory, reason, and mind through which the
soul experienced the world.
Aspects of the self/soul:
St. Augustine ❖ It is able to be aware of itself.
❖ It recognizes itself as a holistic one.
❖ It is aware of its unity.
I think, therefore I am ( Cogito ergo sum ) -
became a fundamental element of Western
philosophy as it secured the foundation for
knowledge in the face of radical doubt.
The “Self ” are:
❖ It is constant; it is not prone to change, and it
is not affected by time.
❖ Only the immaterial soul remains the same
throughout time.
Rene Descartes ❖ The immaterial soul is the source of our
identity.
Distinction between the soul and the body:
THE SOUL THE BODY
• It is a conscious, thinking substance • It is a material substance that changes
that is not affected by time. through time.
• Is known only to itself ( only you know • It can be doubted; The public can correct
your own mental event and others claims about the body.
cannot correct your mental states).
• It is not made up of parts. It views the • It is made up of physical, quantifiable,
entirety of itself with no hidden or divisible parts.
separate compartments. Is both
conscious and aware of itself at the
same time.
Human mind at birth is a tabula rasa , which means
that knowledge is derived from experience .
- John Locke
A person’s memories provide a continuity of
experience that allows him/ her to identify
himself/herself as the same person over time.
This theory of personal identity allows Locke to
justify a defense of accountability.
John Locke
All knowledge is derived from human senses.
Rationalism – is the theory that reason, rather
experience, is the foundation of all
knowledge.
Empiricism – is the idea that the origin of all
knowledge is sense experience.
Two divisions of mind’s perceptions:
[Link] – These are the perceptions that
are directly experienced; they result from
inward and outward sentiments.
David Hume 2. Ideas – these are mechanisms that copy and
reproduce sense data formulated based
upon the previously perceived impressions.
Reason – is the final authority of morality. Morality is
achieved only when there is absence of war
because of the result of enlightenment.
Two kinds of consciousness of self ( rationality ):
1. Consciousness of oneself and one’s psychological states
in inner sense, and
2. Consciousness of oneself and one’s states by performing
acts of apperception.
Immanuel
Kant
Apperception – is the mental process by which a person makes sense of an
idea by assimilating it to the body of ideas he or she already possesses.
Two components of the “ self ” :
1. Inner self – The “ self ” by which you are aware of alterations in your own state.
2. Outer self – It includes your senses and the physical world.
The “ self ” organizes information in three ways:
1. Raw perceptual input ,
2. Recognizing the concept, and
3. Reproducing in the imagination.
“ Wish fulfillment is the road to the unconsciousness.”
Structural Division of the Psyche: Three levels of
consciousness
[Link]- deals with awareness of present
perceptions, feelings, thoughts, memories, and
fantasies at any particular moment;
2. Per-conscious/subconscious – is related to data
that can readily be brought to consciousness; and
Sigmund 3. Unconscious – refers to data but not easily
Freud available to the individual’s conscious awareness or
scrutiny.
Unconscious:
1. A repository for traumatic repressed memories; and
2. The source of anxiety –provoking drives that socially or ethically
unacceptable to the individual.
Psychoanalytic Theory- is a personality theory based on the notion
that an individual gets motivated by unseen forces,
controlled by the conscious and the rational thought.
Three parts of the psyche/mind:
1. Id – It operates on the pleasure principle.
2. Ego – It operates according to the reality principle.
3. Superego – It incorporates the values and morals of society.
The superego consists of two systems:
1. Conscience – If the ego gives in to the id’s demands, the superego
may make the person feel bad through guilt.
2. Ideal self – It is an imaginary picture of how you ought to be. It represents
career aspirations; how to treat other people; and how to behave
as a member of the society.
“ I Act, therefore I am ”
Ryle’s points against Descartes’ theory are:
❖ The relation between mind and body are not isolated
processes.
❖ Mental processes are intelligent acts , and are not distinct
from each other.
❖ The operation of the mind is itself an intelligent act.
Ryle asserted that the “ self ” is from our behaviors and
actions.
Gilbert Ryle
“ The physical brain and NOT the imaginary
mind gives us our sense of self. ”
Eliminative materialism –
or the claim that people’s common-sense
understanding of the mind is false, and that
certain classes of mental states which most
people believe in do not exist.
Paul
Churchland
“ Physicalbody is an important part
of the self ”
His perspectives:
❖ Human beings are embodied subjectivities, and that the
understanding of the “self ” should begin from this
fundamental fact.
❖ The body is part of the mind, and the mind is part of the
body; that although there could be a stand – alone mental
faculty that perceives what the senses experience, it
needs the body to receive these experiences, act on its
perceptions, and communicate with external world.
According to him, the body acts what the mind perceives
Maurice ,
as a unified one.
Merleau-Ponty
