UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF living things. Thus, the soul is the essence of the self.

However, humans differ from other living things

Philosophy is a field that uses the inquisitive mind to explore because of their capacity for rational thinking. His
various fields, including religion, psychology, politics, physics, discussion about the self centers on the kinds of
and medicine, to discover the ultimate causes, reasons, and souls possessed by man. Thus, he introduces the
principles of everything. The etymological definition of three kinds of souls: vegetative, sentient, and
philosophy, "love of wisdom, " refers to the desire for truth rational. The vegetative soul includes the physical
by formulating neverending questions about human existence body that can grow. The sentient soul includes
The nature of the self is a topic of interest among sensual desires, feelings, and emotions. The rational
philosophers, with the philosophical framework introduced soul is what makes man human. It includes the
by ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. intellect that allows man to know and understand
This chapter provides an overview of the philosophical things.
perspective of the self to help students identify their own self
and gain self-knowledge. While there are disagreements 4. ST. AUGUSTINE: THE SOUL IS SUPERIOR TO THE
among philosophers on the nature of the self, most agree BODY
that self-knowledge is essential for a happy and meaningful The African philosopher, Augustine, is regarded as a
life saint (i.e., St. Augustine of Hippo) in the Catholic
Church. He integrates the ideas of Plato and the
1. SOCRATES: AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH teachings of Christianity. Augustine believes that the
LIVING physical body is radically different from and inferior
For Socrates, the self is synonymous with the soul. to its inhabitant, the immortal soul. As his thinking
He believes that every human possesses an immortal matured, he developed a more unified perspective
soul that survives the physical body. Socrates was on the body and soul. He ultimately came to view
the first to focus on the full power of reason on the the body as the "spouse" of the soul, both attached
human self: who we are, who we should be, and who to one another by a "natural appetite." He believes
we will become. Socrates suggests that reality that the body is united with the soul so that man
consists of two dichotomous realms: physical and may be entire and complete. Nevertheless, as a
ideal. The physical realm is changeable, transient, religious philosopher, he contemplates on the nature
and Imperfect. The ideal realm is unchanging, of man, with emphasis on the soul as an important
eternal, and immortal. For Socrates, the body element of man. He believes that the soul is what
belongs to the physical realm. governs and defines man.

2. PLATO: THE SELF IS AN IMMORTAL SOUL 5. RENÉ DESCARTES: I THINK, THEREFORE I AM

Another ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, French philosopher René Descartes, the father of
elaborates on Socrates' concept of the soul. Like modern philosophy, introduced a new perspective
Socrates, Plato believes that the self is synonymous on the self and the reasoning process. He believed
with the soul. His philosophy can be explained as a that the act of thinking about the self, or being self-
process of self-knowledge and purification of the conscious, is proof of existence. Descartes believed
soul. Specifically, he introduces the idea of a three- that rational people will doubt their existence as
part soul/self: reason, physical appetite, and spirit or conscious, thinking entities. He identified two
passion. Reason is the divine essence that enables us dimensions of the human self: the self as a thinking
to think deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a entity and the self as a physical body. The thinking
true understanding of eternal truths. Physical self, or soul, is a non-material, immortal, and
appetite includes our basic biological needs, such as conscious being independent of the universe's laws,
hunger, thirst, and sexual desire. Spirit or passion while the physical body is a material, inanimate, non-
includes basic emotions, such as love, anger, thinking entity governed by nature's laws. The
ambition, aggressiveness, and empathy. essential self, the self as a thinking entity, can exist
independently of the physical body.
3. ARISTOTLE: THE SOUL IS THE ESSENCE OF THE SELF 6. JOHN LOCKE: THE SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS
Another Greek philosopher, Aristotle, believes that For English philosopher John Locke, the human mind
the soul is merely a set of defining features and does at birth is tabula rasa or a blank slate. He thinks that
not consider the body and soul as separate entities. the self, or personal identity, is constructed primarily
He suggests that anything with life has a soul. from sense experiences or more specifically, what
Aristotle holds that the soul is the essence of all people see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. These
 experiences shape and mold the self throughout a
person's life. For Locke, conscious awareness and a
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 a
self. Self-consciousness is necessary to have a
coherent personal (self) identity or knowledge of the
self as a person. Consciousness is what makes the
identity of a person similar in different situations.

7. DAVID HUME: THERE IS NO SELF

Scottish philosopher David Hume posits that people's 10. GILBERT RYLE: THE SELF IS THE WAY PEOPLE BEHAVE
sense experiences are a collection of different British philosopher Gilbert Ryle believes that the self
perceptions, with impressions being the most vivid is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the
and vivid. He argues that ideas are thoughts and tendency or disposition of a person to behave in a
images from impressions, which are less lively and certain way in certain circumstances. Ryle's concept
vivid. Hume argues that different sensations are in a of the human self thus provides the philosophical
constant continuum, and the idea of the self cannot principle, "I act, therefore, I am." Ryle considers the
be derived from any of these impressions. He argues min d and body to be intrinsically linked in complex
that people have no experience of a simple, and intimate ways. In short, the self is the same
individual impression, and the self is the totality of a world, and the human body are intricately
person's conscious life. Therefore, the idea of intertwined in perceiving the world. For him,
personal identity is a result of imagination. perception is not merely a consequence of sensory
experience; rather, it is a conscious experience.
8. IMMANUEL KANT: THE SELF TRANSCENDS Thus, the self is embodied subjectivity
EXPERIENCE
for German philosopher Immanuel Kant, it is the self 11. PAUL CHURCHLAND: THE SELF IS THE BRAIN
that makes experiencing an intelligible world Canadian philosopher Paul Churchland advocates the
possible. Kant believes that the self is an organizing idea of eliminative materialism or the idea that the
principle that makes a unified and intelligible self is inseparable from the brain and the physiology
experience possible. through rationality, people are of the body. All a person has is the brain, so if the
able to understand certain ideas that have no brain is gone, there is no self. For Churchland, the
corresponding physical object or sensory experience. physical brain, and not the imaginary mind, gives
people the sense of self. The mind does not really
9. SIGMUND FREUD: THE SELF IS MULTILAYERED exist because it cannot be experienced by the senses
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 12. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY: THE SELF IS EMBODIED
as well as other disiciplines. Freud holds that the self SUBJECTIVITY
consists of three layers: Conscious, Unconscious and French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty posits
preconscious that self-knowledge is based on experience, with the
"I" being a single integrated core identity. This
includes mental, physical, and emotional structures.
Merleau-Ponty argues that when examining the self
at the fundamental level of direct human
experience, the mind and body are unified, not
separate. He notes that consciousness contains all
awareness, as everything is contained within it.