Know thyself.

-Socrates
Philosophy employs the inquisitive mind to discover the ultimate causes, reasons and
principles of everything. It goes beyond the scientific investigation by exploring all areas
of knowledge such as religion, psychology, politics, physics, and even medicine. Hence,
the etymological definition of philosophy “love of wisdom” could pertain to the desire for
truth by formulating never ending questions to provide answers to every inquiry about
the nature human existence. The nature of the self is a topic of interest among
philosophers.
The philosophical framework for understanding the self was first introduced by the
ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. In particular, Socrates: “Know
thyself”. But what exactly does “know thyself” mean? What is self and the qualities that
define it? This chapter presents an overview of the philosophical perspective of the self
to assist students identify one’s self---to gain knowledge. It intends to give a wider
perspective in understanding the self. The different views of prominent philosophers
regarding the nature of the self are discussed and while there are disagreements in how
philosophers view of the self, most of them agree that self-knowledge is a prerequisite
to a happy and meaningful life.

SOCRATES:
AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING
For Socrates the self is synonymous with the soul. He believes that every human
possess an immortal soul that survives the physical body. Socrates was the first to
focus on the full power of reason on the human self: who we are, who should be, and
who we will become. Socrates suggests that reality consists of two dichotomous realms:
physical and ideal realms. The physical realm is unchangeable, transient and imperfect.
The ideal realm is unchanging, eternal, and immortal. The physical world in which man
lives belongs to the physical realm. On the other hand, the unchanging, eternal, perfect
realm includes the intellectual essences of the universe, concepts such as truth,
goodness, and beauty. The soul belongs to the ideal realm.

Socrates explains that the essence of the self-the soul-is the immortal entity. The
soul strives for wisdom and perfection, and reason is the soul’s tool to achieve this
exalted state. But then as long as the soul is tied to the body, the quest for wisdom is
inhibited by the imperfection of the physical realm, where it wanders and is confused.
Socrates thus suggests that man must live an examined life and a life of purpose and
value. For him, an unexamined life is not worth living. The
individual person can have a meaningful and happy life only if he
becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can be
achieved through incessant soul searching. He must begin at the
source of all knowledge and significance---the self. The Socratic
method, the so-called introspection, is a method of carefully examining one’s thoughts
and emotions—to gain self-knowledge.

PLATO: THE SELF IS AN IMMORTAL SOUL

Another ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, elaborates on
Socrates’ concept of the soul. Like Socrates, Plato believes that
the self is synonymous with the soul. His philosophy can be
explained as a process of self-knowledge and purification of the
soul. Specifically, he introduces the idea of a three-part soul/self:
reason, physical appetite and spirit or passion. Reason is the
divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise
choices, and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths. The physical appetite
includes our basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire. The spirit
or passion includes the basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness,
and empathy. These three elements of our selves are in a dynamic relationship with one
another, sometimes in conflict. When conflict occurs, Plato believes it is the
responsibility of Reason to sort things out and exert control, restoring a harmonious
relationship among the three elements of our selves. Further, 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. This harmonious integration
under the control of Reason is the essence of Plato’s concept of justice. As such, if man
lives in accordance to his nature, then he is giving justice to his existence.
Having described his vison of the soul/self, Plato goes on to elaborate his ideas about
the soul. In his Theory of Forms, he introduces the concepts of the two worlds: the world
of forms (non-physical ideas) and the world of sense (reality). While the world of forms
is real and permanent, the world of sense is temporary and only a replica of the ideal
world. Plato claims that the sensible world is dependent on the ideal world where the
concept of the soul belongs. Since the soul is regarded as something permanent, man
should give more importance to it than the physical body which resides in the world of
sense.

ARISTOTLE:
THE SOUL IS THE ESSENCE OF THE SELF
Another Greek philosopher, Aristotle, believes that the soul is merely a
set of defining features and does not consider the body and soul as separate
entities. He suggest that anything with life has a soul. Aristotle holds that the
soul is the essence of all living things. Thus, the soul is the essence of he
self. However, humans differ from other living things because of their
capacity for rational thinking. His discussion about the self centers on the
kinds of soul possessed by man. Thus, he introduces the three kinds of soul:
vegetative, sentient, and rational. The vegetative soul includes the physical
body that can grow. The Sentient soul includes sensual desires, feelings, and
emotions. Rational Soul is what makes man human. It includes the intellect that allows
man to know and understand things. Thus, Aristotle suggests that the rational nature of
the self is to lead a good, flourishing, and fulfilling life (self-actualization). The pursuit of
happiness is a search for a good life that includes doing virtuous actions. In saying this,
he posits that part of the rational soul is characterized by moral virtues such as justice
and courage.

ST. AUGUSTINE: THE SELF HAS AN IMMORTAL SOUL

The African philosopher, Augustine, is regarded as a saint (i.e.,St. Augustine of
Hippo) in the Catholic Church. He integrates the ideas of Plato and teachings of
Christianity. Augustine believes that the physical body is radically different from and
inferior to its inhabitant, the immortal soul. As his thinking
matures, he developed a more unified perspective o the body
and soul. He ultimately came to view the body as “spouse” of
the soul, both attached to one another by a “natural appetite.”
He believes that the body is united with the soul, so that man
may be entire and complete. Nevertheless, as a religious
philosopher, he contemplates on the nature of man with
emphasis on the soul as an important element of man. He
believes that the soul is what governs and defines man.
In his work, Confessions, Augustine describes that humankind is created in the
image and likeness of God. Everything created by God who is all good is good.
Therefore, the human person, being creation of God is always geared towards the
good. Augustine is convinced that the self is known only through knowing God.
Augustine espouses the significance of reflection, as well as the importance of prayers
and confessions to arrive at a justification for the existence of God. For him,” knowledge
can only come by seeing the truth that dwells within us.” The truth of which Augustine
speaks refers to the truth of knowing God. God is transcendent and the self seeks to be
united with God through faith and reason. In his mission to discover the truth on the
existence of God, Augustine develops the fundamental concept of the human person,
and thus provides the philosophical principle, “I am doubting, therefore I am.”

RENE DẺSCARTES: I THINK THEREFORE I AM

French philosopher Rene Descartes is the father of modern
philosophy. He has brought an entirely new perspective to philosophy
and the self. He wants to penetrate the nature of reasoning process
and understand its relationship to the human self. The Latin phrase
Cogito ergo sum – “I think therefore I am” is the keystone pf
Descartes’ concept of self. For him, the act of thinking about the self---
of being self---conscious—is in itself proof that there is a self. He is
confident that no rational person will doubt his or her own existence as
a conscious, thinking entity---while we are aware of thinking about our selves. For
Descartes, this is the essence of the human self---a thinking entity that doubts,
understands, analyzes, questions, and reasons.
He contends further that if man reflects thoughtfully, he will realize that there are two
dimensions of the human self: the self as a thinking entity and the self as a physical
body. In particular, he introduces the idea of the thinking self (or soul) as non-material,
immortal, conscious being, and independent of the physical laws of the universe. In
contrast, the physical body is a material, mortal, non-thinking entity, fully governed by
the physical laws of nature. In other words, the soul and the body are independent of
one another, and each can exist and function without the other. The essential self—the
self as a thinking entity---is distinct from the self as a physical body. Simply put, the
thinking self can exist independently of the physical body.

JOHN LOCKE: THE SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS

For English philosopher John Locke, the human mind at birth is
tabula rasa or a blank state. He feels that the self, or personal identity, is
constructed primarily from sense experiences---or more specifically,
what people see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. These experiences shape
and mold the self throughout a person’s life. For Locke, conscious
awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys to
understanding the self. Locke believes that the essence of the self is its
conscious awareness of itself as a thinking, reasoning, and reflecting
identity. He contends that consciousness accompanies thinking and
makes possible the concept people have of self. Self-consciousness is necessary to
have a coherent personal (self) identity or knowledge of the self as a person.
Consciousness is what makes identity of a person similar different situations.
At this point, Locke is proposing that people could use the power of reason to gain
knowledge and consequently use this knowledge to understand experiences.
Knowledge is based on careful observation of experiences. Reason plays an important
role in helping to figure out the significance of sense experience and to reach intelligent
conclusions. Thus, using the power of reason and introspection enables one to
understand and achieve accurate conclusions about the self (or personal identity).

DAVID HUME: THERE IS NO SELF

Scottish philosopher David Hume suggests that if people carefully
examines their sense experience through the process of introspection,
they will discover that there is no self. According to Hume, what
people experience is just a bundle or collection of different
perceptions. Hume maintains that if people carefully examine the
contents of their experience, they will find that there are only distinct
entities: impressions and ideas. Impressions are the basic sensations
of people’s experience such as hate, love, joy, grief, pain, cold, and
heat. Impressions are vivid perceptions and are strong and lively. Ideas, however, are
thoughts and images from impressions so they are less lively and vivid. Hume further
posits that different sensations are in a constant continuum that is invariable and not
constant. Hume argues that it cannot be from any of these impressions that the idea of
self is derived and consequently, there is no self. Hume’s skeptical claim on this issue is
that people have no experience of a simple and individual impression that they can call
the self where the self is the totality of a person’s conscious life. Subsequently, the idea
of personal identity is a result of imagination.

IMMANUEL KANT: WE CONSTRUCT THE SELF

For German philosopher Immanuel Kant, it is the self that makes experiencing an
intelligible world possible because it is the self that is actively organizing and
synthesizing all of our thoughts and perceptions. The self, in the form of consciousness,
utilizes conceptual categories which he calls transcendental deduction of categories, to
can be investigated scientifically. Kant believes that the
self is an organizing principle that makes a unified and
intelligible experience possible. It is metaphorically above
or behind sense experience, and it uses the categories of
our mind to filter, order, relate, organize and synthesize
sensations into a unified whole. In other words, the self
construct its own reality, actively creating a world that is
familiar, predictable, and most significantly, mine. The self
is the product of reason, a regulative principle, because
the self regulates experience by making unifies experiences possible. The self
transcends experience because the mind can grasp aspects of reality which are not
limited to the senses. Through rationality, people are able to understand certain abstract
ideas that have no corresponding physical object or sensory experience.

SIGMUND FREUD: THE SELF IS MULTILAYERED

Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud is not a philosopher, but his views on the
nature of the self have a far-reaching impact on
philosophical thinking, as well as other disciplines
such as psychology and sociology. Freud holds that
the self consists of three layers: conscious,
unconscious, and preconscious. The conscious self is
governed by the “reality principle.” The conscious part
of the self is organized in ways that are rational,
practical, and appropriate to the environment. The
conscious self usually takes into account the realistic demands of the situation, the
consequences of various actions, and the overriding need to preserve the equilibrium
(balance) of the entire psychodynamic system of the self. In contrast, the unconscious
part of the self contains the basic instinctual drives including sexuality, aggressiveness,
and self-destruction; traumatic memories; unfulfilled wishes and childhood fantasies;
and thoughts and feelings that would be considered socially taboo. The unconscious
level is characterized by the most primitive level of human motivation and human
functioning which is governed by the “pleasure principle”. Freud argues that much of the
self is determined by the unconscious. On the other hand, the preconscious self
contains material that is not threatening and is easily brought to mind. According to
Freud, the preconscious part is located between the conscious and the unconscious
part of the self.
.

Three Layers of the Self

GILBERT RYLE:
THE SELF IS THE WAY PEOPLE BEHAVE
British philosopher Gilbert Ryle believes that the self is best
understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency or disposition of a
person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances. Ryle’s
concept of the human self thus provides the philosophical principle, “I
act therefore I am.” Ryle considers the mind and the body to be
intrinsically linked in complex and intimate ways. In short, the self is
the same as bodily behavior. He concludes that the mind is the
totality of human dispositions that is known through the way people
behave. Nevertheless, Ryle is convinced that the mind expresses the
entire system of thoughts, emotions and actions that make up the human self.

PAUL CHURCHLAND: THE SELF IS THE BRAIN

 Canadian philosopher Paul Churchland advocates the idea
of eliminative materialism or the idea that the self is
inseparable from the brain and physiology of the body. All a
person has is the brain, and so of the brain is gone, there is
no self. For Churchland, the physical brain and not the
imaginary mind, gives people the sense of self. The mind
does not really exist because it cannot be experienced by the
senses.

MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY:
THE SELF IS EMBODIED SUBJECTIVITY
French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty argues that all knowledge about the self
(e.g.,understanding the nature of the self) is based on the “phenomena” of experience.
The “I” is a single integrated core identity, a combination of the mental, physical, and
emotional structures around a core identity of the self. He further articulates that when
people examine the self at the fundamental level of direct human experience, people
will discover that the mind and body are unified, not separate. He notes in his book,
Phenomenology of Perception, that everything that people are aware of is contained
within the consciousness. Consciousness is a dynamic form responsible for actively
structuring conscious ideas and physical behavior. He is convinced that consciousness,
the world, and the human body are intricately intertwined in perceiving the world