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What is Philosophy?
■ It came from 2 Greek words “Philos” & “Sophia”
■ Philos-Love + Sophia-Wisdom=Love for Wisdom
CHAPTER 1: ■ Philosophy is a thinking mode or a method which asks
questions about the nature and essence of various
THE PHILOSOPHY realities appearing on our earth (Laehy, 2008)
OF THE SELF ■ In other words, it is a manner of thinking about the
most basic questions and problems faced by human
beings.
■ Is there a God?, Why do we exist? Is there an
afterlife?, Who am I?, Why there’s suffering?

PHILOSOPHY
■ Philosophy is a human endeavor that has changed the
course of history.
■ We are all what we are, in part, because of the ideas of
philosophers.
■ Philosophers have contributed to our ideas about our
science, society and forms of government and to our ideas
about God.

The people who has answers….

WHO ARE
■ Philosophers
– Philosophers – “lovers of wisdom”
– a person who offers views or theories on
profound questions outside of science

YOU?
and theology.
– Philosophers had been present since the
ancient times to various part of the world
such as China, India, Japan and Persia
but it is well-known to be so prominent in
Ancient Greece.

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List of Philosophers that we will be
dealing with….
■ A. Socrates B. Plato C. Aristotle D. Augustine
E. Rene Descartes F. John Locke
■ G. David Hume H. Immanuel Kant I. Sigmund
Freud J. Gilbert Ryle
■ K. Patricia & Paul Churchland L. Maurice
Merleau-Ponty
“The unexamined life is not
worth living.” - Socrates -
Socratic Method:
I. Admit ignorance.
II. Never rely on tradition.
III. Continuously question.
IV. Formulate your own opinions.
V. Test your opinions with others.
He believed that ANYONE could be a
philosopher
Plato /Aristocles (427 - 347 B.C.)
■ He is perhaps the best known,
most widely studied and
most influential philosopher of all time
■ Preserved and perpetuated the work of
Socrates
■ Opposition to the Materialist view of
the world (Real World & World of
Forms)
■ Founded the Academy
■ Written the Republic (Reason/Wisdom not
Numbers; Hates Democracy)
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Socrates (469 - 399 B.C.)
■ Critic of the Sophists (Deceiving Philosophers)
■ Encouraged students to think
■ Left no writings – skeptical
■ Popular among the youth
■ a “gadfly” in Athens (annoying criticism)
■ Placed on trial for impiety and corrupting the youth
(Not worshipping the gods)
■ Was executed in 399 – drank poison hemlock ( a highly
poisonous biennial herbaceous flowering plant)
Socrates view of the Self
■ Socrates believed fervently in the immortality of the soul.
■ He was convinced that the gods had singled him out as a kind
of divine emissary to persuade the people of Athens that their moral
values were wrong-headed,
■ Instead of being so concerned with their families, careers, and
political responsibilities, they ought to be worried about the "welfare
of their souls“
■ Ideal life should be spent in search of the Good
■ Bad things done is due to Ignorance
■ Man are endowed with virtues
Plato’s view of the Self
■ Plato as an Essentialists.
– It means that he believed that all things have essences or attributes
that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is.
■ Plato's Allegory of the Cave
– He represented man's condition as being chained in the darkness of
a cave, with only the false light of a fire behind him. He can perceive
“Those things the outside world solely by watching the shadows on the wall in front
which are of him, not realizing that this view of existence is limited.
beautiful are
also difficult.”
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Plato’s view of the Self
■ Tripartite structure of the individual
■ "appetite-stomach", "spirit-chest" and "reason-head“
■ Tripartite class structure of societies
■ Productive (Workers), labourers, farmers, merchants, etc, which
corresponds to the "appetite-stomach";
■ Protective (Warriors), the adventurous, strong and brave of the armed
forces, which corresponds to the "spirit-chest";
■ Governing (Rulers or Philosopher Kings), the intelligent, rational, self-
controlled and wise, who are well suited to make decisions for the
community, which corresponds to the "reason-head"
Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.)
■ Most famous student of Plato
■ Most famous teacher of Alexander the Great
■ Aristotle was a student of Plato who, after leaving the Academy
at Plato’s death, founded his own school, the Lyceum.
■ Views on Government
■ 3 Good Governments:
– Monarchy
– Aristocracy
– Democracy
■ 3 Bad Governments:
– Tyranny
– Oligarchy
– Mobocracy
Aristotle’s View of the Self
■ He recognized four factors that affected human
ability to achieve the good life: individual
differences, habit, social supports, and freedom
of choice.
■ Aristotle-Identified the five basic senses (vison,
hearing, smell, taste, and touch), which makes an
individual rational in thinking.
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Plato vs Aristotle.
School of Athens
by Raphael
Sanzio
Aristotle’s View of the Self
■ In De Anima, Aristotle’s classic work on the soul, Aristotle attributes
to the soul a nutritive function (Plants), sensitive and movement
functions (Animals), and, in humans, reason.
■ Thinking, for Aristotle, is rooted in perception and in objects of the
world, but thinking may be flawed. Imagination does not have the
corrective influence of the external world and allows greater
freedom of thought.
■ While he recognized the importance of pleasure and pain in human
motivation, Aristotle advocated a “golden mean” between the
extremes of human activity.
Augustine (354-430 AD)
■ Born in the city of Tagaste near the city of
Carthage (in modern day Algeria) in N. Africa
– Christian mother (Monica) & Pagan father
(Patricius, who ultimately adopts
Christianity)
■ Meets and studies w. Ambrose in Milan
■ Read Romans 13:13-14, adopts Christianity
in 387 (Coversion of St. Augustine)
■ Writes extensively in philosophy and theology
■ Recognized as a “Father of the Church”
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Augustine’s View of the Self
■ His philosophy is a profound meditation on the relation
between God and the human being
■ Very focused on the ideas of free will and evil
■ Evil in man is not a lack of goodness, but the result of
excessive self-love on the part of the sinner and the lack of
sufficient love for God.
■ Because of original sin, no one is ‘pure’ all need forgiveness
■ Predetermination over free-will
■ God’s Illumination (Doctrine of Grace)
Rene Descartes
■ Mind-Body Dualism-the belief that
the mind is a spiritual entity not
subject to physical laws that govern
the body
■ Rene Descartes (1596-1650), There
is a structure in the brain that causes
the interaction of the non material
mind and the physical body. He called
it Pineal Gland
John Locke (1632-1704)
■ a British philosopher
■ Oxford academic and medical researcher
■ His association with Anthony Ashley Cooper (later the First Earl of
Shaftesbury) led him to become
– a government official charged with collecting information about
trade and colonies,
– An economic writer, opposition political activist, and
– A revolutionary whose cause ultimately triumphed in the Glorious
Revolution of 1688. (James II to Mary II)
■ Much of his work is characterized by opposition to authoritarianism.
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René Descartes (1596-1650)
■ Mathematician / scientist / philosopher
■ Inventor of Cartesian (x,y) coordinates
■ Method in philosophy should be as objective as that in
science
■ accept only ideas that are clear and distinct after
examination (rationalistic)
■ divide problems into as many parts as possible
(analytic / atomistic)
■ proceed from simplest to complex questions
■ enumerate steps carefully so as not to neglect any
aspect of the thing being studied
– Doubt everything that is doubtable
Against Descartes: Hobbes
■ Monism-Holds that mind and body are one
and that the mind is not a separate entity.
■ Mental events are simply products of
physical events in the brain
■ Advocated by an English Philosopher
named Thomas Hobbes
■ It is implied by this concept that mind can
be understand by quantifying the physical
processes inside the brain.
■ Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white
paper void of all characters, without any ideas. How
comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that
vast store which the busy and boundless fancy of
man has painted on it with an almost endless
variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason
and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from
EXPERIENCE.
Essay Concerning Human Understanding : Hernnstein & Murray, 1994, p.311
Tabula Rasa (John Locke)
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Locke’s view of the Self

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690

- Asserted that everything that is in the mind comes to it through the

senses - no ideas are innate

- The mind is an active combiner of sensed simple ideas into complex

ideas, but perhaps not as much of a manipulator of concepts as the
rationalists suppose it to be

- Association, though, mainly accounts for IRRATIONALITY

-Mind is without the innate ideas and the complex inferential abilities

Locke’s view of the Self David Hume (1711 – 1776)

-Born in Edinburgh, Scotland
■ Locke wants each of us to use reason to -philosopher, historian, economist,
search after truth rather than simply accept
the opinion of authorities or be subject to
and essayist known especially for his
superstition. philosophical empiricism and skeptic
ism.
■ He wants us to proportion assent to
-Follower of Isaac Newton’s Scientific
propositions to the evidence for them.
method and John Locke’s Tabula
Rasa

Hume’s view of the Self Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

■ By “self” we mean a single thing which is the subject of all our experiences
and which continues the same over time
■ “I may venture to affirm of…mankind, that they are nothing but a bundle
or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with
inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement.”
■ We confuse “identity” with “diversity” when successive perceptions are
perfectly resembling
■ Resemblance: our present thoughts resemble our past experiences, and
we suppose that because they are resembling, they proceed from or
belong to the same thing
■ He lived his entire life in and around Königsberg in East
Prussia (Now Kaliningrad, Russia) – never traveled more than
50 miles from his birthplace.
■ Kant’s Father was an immigrant from Scotland and his mother
was a local girl. He grew up working class (his father was a
leather worker) and was religiously trained in Pietism (Deep
Commitment in relationship with God).
■ Kant worked his way through the university by tutoring and he
also received some financial aid from Pietists. He was a Non-
traditional student; got his degree at age 31.
■ He was quite regular in is habitual walk.

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Kant’s view of the Self

■ He believed that the mind is active and brings something to the
process of knowing. These Intuitions and concepts interpret
experience.
■ “What gives us most reason to believe in the existence of a spirit
world, Kant says, is moral consciousness: obligation and the
feeling of benevolence involve a feeling as of an alien will
constraining us in a direction opposed to that of self-interest.”
■ “The human will must therefore be free” “Sigi”
■ If we are not free, then we cannot be held responsible for what we do Segismundo Schlomo Freud
(Sigmund Freud)

Freud’s Career ■ Basic elements of the personality

■ Life instincts: Serve purpose of survival
Medicine Neurology Psychoanalysis
– Libido: Pleasurable behaviors
-In 1885 -In 10/1885 (Psychology)
Freud wrote a to 1886 he -Worked with ■ Death instincts: Uncs drive to death and
paper about studied Josef Breuer
the under the and this is the destruction
therapeutic famous take-off for
his career in
– Aggressive drive: Compulsion to destroy,
effect of neurologist
cocaine named Jean psychology conquer, kill
through Charcot
experimentin -Became
Familiar with
g to oneself
Hysteria Instincts

■ Conscious: Ordinary everyday meaning

■ Preconscious: Between 2 layers
– Memories of which we are not
consciously aware, but can be easily
called into consciousness
■ Unconscious: Instincts, wishes and
desires that direct all behaviors

EROS THANATOS
Levels of Consciousness
– Promotes life – Promotes Death

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The Human Iceberg According to Freud

■ Id
– Pleasure principle
– Instinctual
■ Ego
– Reality principle
– Mediator between id and superego
■ Superego
– Morality principle
– Conscience
– Ego ideal: Moral ideal for a behavior to which a person
should strive

3 Part Model of
Personality

■ 5 Stages Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976)

– Oral (0-18 Months) ■ Born in Brighton, Sussex, England
– Anal (18Mos-3y/o) ■ Gilbert Ryle was a British analytic philosopher.
– Phallic (4y/o-7y/o) ■ Ryle gained first-class honours at Queen’s
– Latency (8y/o-12y/o) College, Oxford,
– Genital (13y/o Above)
■ Became a lecturer at Christ Church College in
■ Fixation: Portion of libido is stuck in 1 stage 1924.
because of excessive frustration or gratification
■ Ryle’s first book, The Concept of Mind (1949),
challenges the traditional distinction between
Psychosexual Stages of Development body and mind as delineated by René
Descartes.

Ryle view of the Self Paul and Patricia Churchland

• Gilbert Ryle claimed in his book The Concept of Mind that
mental activities and states can be explained in terms of the
external, observable behaviors with which they are associated.
• Mind-dispositions to behave
• For Ryle, to say that a person loves someone is only to say
that she is likely to behave in certain ways to the other
person.
• You need to have behavioral feel on various life experiences.
• Paul Churchland (born on 21 October 1942 in
Vancouver, Canada) and Patricia Smith
Churchland (born on 16 July 1943 in Oliver, British
Columbia, Canada)
• Canadian-American philosophers whose work has
focused on integrating the disciplines of
philosophy of mind and neuroscience in a new
approach that has been called neurophilosophy.
• Global thought leader
• Professors at University of California San Diego

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Churchland’s view of the Self

■ Mind-Brain identity-Brain and Mind are one
■ The point is simply that when the brain undergoes some kind of damage, it is
always the case that the mental substance and/or properties of the person are
significantly compromised.
■ If the mind were a completely separate substance from the brain, how could it
be possible that every single time the brain is injured, the mind is also injured?
■ Churchland argues that folk psychology is defective and should be
abandoned.
■ Folk Psychology- the explanatory strategies that we use everyday to describe
and explain ourselves and others.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961)

■ French philosopher and man of letters, the leading exponent
of Phenomenology in France.
■ Merleau-Ponty studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and
took his agrégation in philosophy in 1931.
■ He taught in a number of lycées before World War II, during which he
served as an army officer.
■ In 1945 he was appointed professor of philosophy at the University of
Lyon and in 1949 was called to the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1952 he
received a chair of philosophy at the Collège de France.
■ From 1945 to 1952 he served as unofficial co-editor (with Jean-Paul
Sartre-Author of Existentialism) of the journal Les Temps Modernes.
Merleau-Ponty view of the Self
■ Merleau-Ponty ground his own theory in bodily behaviour
and in perception.
■ He held that it is necessary to consider the organism as
a whole to discover what will follow from a given set of
stimuli.
■ For him, perception was the source of knowledge and had
to be studied before the conventional sciences.
■ Believed on Marxism and wrote a lot defending its beliefs