Understanding the Self

Cristina Dapulag
Josephine Tuazon
The Self from Various
Perspective
Cristina Dapulag
Josephine Tuazon
At the end of this module; you are expected
to:

• 1. Know the meaning of philosophy

• 2. Identify different philosophers and their contributions
• 3. Discuss and explain the answer to the famous question “Who am
I?”
 PHILOSOPHY
Comes from two Greek words philos which means “love” and sophia which means “wisdom” In essence it can be
translated to love of knowledge or passion for learning. It is the investigation of normal and fundamental issues. The
term was likely instituted by Pythagoras (c. 570– 495 BCE). Philosophical strategies incorporate addressing basic dialog,
judicious contention, and deliberate introduction.

Man has posed various questions ranging from the mundane to thought provoking ones that challenged our capacity
to search for knowledge. Scholars likewise posture more handy and solid inquiries.
PHILOSOPHERS
• Augustine (354—430 C.E.)
St. Augustine is a fourth century philosopher whose groundbreaking philosophy
infused Christian doctrine with Neoplatonism.

He is a famous Catholic theologian known for his agnostic contributions to Western

philosophy. He argues that skeptics have no basis for claiming to know that there is
no knowledge.

In a proof for existence similar to one later made famous by René Descartes,
Augustine says, “[Even] If I am mistaken, I am.”
PHILOSOPHERS
• Augustine (354—430 C.E.)
He is the first Western philosopher to promote what has come to be called "the
argument by analogy" :

“ there are bodies external to mine that behave as I behave, and that appear to be
nourished as mine is nourished; so, by analogy, I am justified in believing that these
bodies have a similar mental life to mine”

Additionally, Augustine adopts a subjective view of time and says that time is nothing
in reality but exists as a reality only in the human mind.
Sigmund Freud (1856—1939)

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, was a physiologist, medical

doctor, psychologist and influential thinker of the early twentieth century. He
articulated and refined the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality
and repression, and he proposed a tripartite account of the mind’s
structure—all as part of a radically new conceptual and therapeutic frame of
reference for the understanding of human psychological development and the
treatment of abnormal mental conditions.
David Hume (1711—1776)

A Scottish philosopher who is famous because off his bold skeptical approach to a range of
philosophical subjects .

 He questioned basic beliefs of personal identity, and argued that there is no permanent “self”
that continues over time.

 He dismissed standard accounts of causality and argued that our idea of cause-effect relations
are grounded in habits of thinking, rather than in the perception of causal forces in the
external world itself.

 He defended the skeptical position that human reason is inherently contradictory, and it is
only through naturally-instilled beliefs that we can navigate our way through common life.
David Hume (1711—1776)
Philosophy of Religion

 He argued that it is unreasonable to believe testimonies of alleged miraculous events, and he

hints that we should reject religions that are founded on miracle testimonies. He is against the
common belief of the time that God’s existence could be proven through a design or causal
argument.

 He also advanced theories on the origin of popular religious beliefs, grounding such notions in
the psychology of human psychology rather than in rational argument or divine revelation.
The larger aim of his critique was to separate philosophy from religion and thus allow
philosophy to pursue its own ends without rational over-extension or psychological
corruption.
Plato (427—347 B.C.E.)

Plato is one of the world's best known and most widely read and studied philosophers.
He was the student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle, and he wrote in the middle
of the fourth century B.C.E. in ancient Greece. Though influenced primarily by Socrates,
to the extent that Socrates is usually the main character in many of Plato's writings, he
was also influenced by Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans There are varying
degrees of controversy over which of Plato's works are authentic, and in what order
they were written, due to their antiquity and the manner of their preservation through
time. Nonetheless, his earliest works are generally regarded as the most reliable of the
ancient sources on Socrates, and the character Socrates that we know through these
writings is considered to be one of the greatest of the ancient philosophers.
John Locke (1632—1704)

John Locke was among the most famous philosophers and political theorists of the 17 th
century. He was also influential in the areas of theology, religious toleration, and educational
theory.

Founder of a school of thought known as British Empiricism

Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Locke set out to offer an analysis of the human mind and its acquisition of knowledge. He
offered an empiricist theory according to which we acquire ideas through our experience of
the world. The mind is then able to examine, compare, and combine these ideas in numerous
different ways.
In addition to this broader project, the Essay contains a series on important, and widely
divergent, philosophical themes.
In politics, Locke is best known as a proponent of limited government. He uses a theory of
natural rights to argue that governments have obligations to their citizens, have only limited
powers over their citizens, and can ultimately be overthrown by citizens under certain
circumstances.
René Descartes (1596—1650)

René Descartes is often credited with being the “Father of Modern

Philosophy.”
His fundamental break with Scholastic philosophy was twofold.
1. Descartes thought that the Scholastics’ method was prone to doubt
given their reliance on sensation as the source for all knowledge.
2. He wanted to replace their final causal model of scientific explanation
with the more modern, mechanistic model.
René Descartes (1596—1650)
The Method of Doubt

His basic strategy was to consider false any belief that falls prey to even
the slightest doubt. This “hyperbolic doubt” then serves to clear the way
for what Descartes considers to be an unprejudiced search for the truth.
This clearing of his previously held beliefs then puts him at an
epistemological ground-zero.

He eventually discovers that “I exist” is impossible to doubt and is,

therefore, absolutely certain-thus the line, “I think, therefore I am”

It is from this point that Descartes proceeds to demonstrate God’s

existence and that God cannot be a deceiver. This, in turn, serves to fix the
certainty of everything that is clearly and distinctly understood and
provides the epistemological foundation that Descartes set out to find.
TWO PHILOSOPHERS WHO ANSWER “WHO AM I?”

The philosopher Rene Descartes suggested that our mind and

thoughts are our true identity. An identity, he called a “soul”.

He is famous for answering the question “who am I?” He said

“I think therefore, I am”

 TWO PHILOSOPHERS WHO ANSWER “WHO AM I?”

The philosopher John Locke argued that momentary thoughts are not
consistent and change over time. They cannot be our identity since identity
is something that must be consistent over time. He suggested that what
makes a person himself is a minimal amount of memory that must remain
constant throughout his life.

The distinction between “myself” and “other” develops over time.

Furthermore, most of us have no memories prior to a certain age (usually
before the age of two years) yet it is an absurd to claim that the baby I
was and the adult I am today are not the same person. So mind or
memory cannot be our true identity, and this is the spot where western
philosophy got stuck.
References

Online Supplementary Reading Materials

1. <Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy >; < http://www.iep.utm.edu>;
<May 10,2018>
2. <Learning Mind>;<https://www.learning-mind.com >; <May
10,2018>