MGA TAO

Socrates
-The father of Western Philosophy
DUALISTIC PHILOSOPHY OF THE SELF
Man is composed of a:
 BODY- The BODY is the IMPERFECT, IMPERMANENT ASPECT of the self
 SOUL- The SOUL is perfect and permanent
-The state of our soul, or our inner being, determines the quality of our life
-Thus, our paramount goal is to make our soul as good and beautiful as possible.

Plato
-A student of Socrates who supported the idea of the dualistic nature of man
-Justice in the human person can only be attained IF THE THREE PARTS OF THE SOUL ARE
WORKING HARMONIOUSLY WITH ONE ANOTHER (the Republic).
Three components of the soul
 MIND/RATIONAL/REASON- Forged by REASON AND INTELLECT has to govern
the affairs of the human person
 PASSION/SPIRITED- In charge of emotions and should be kept at bay
 BODYPHYSICAL APETITE/APPETITIVE- In charge of BASIC DESIRES such as
eating, drinking, sleeping and having sex

Saint Augustine
• BODY- A part of man dwells in the world and is imperfect and continuously yearns to be
with the DIVINE. The BODY is BOUND TO DIE on earth. It can only thrive in the
imperfect, physical reality that is the world
• The SOUL is to anticipate living eternally in the realm of spiritual bliss in communion
with GOD. The SOUL can also stay after death in an ETERNAL REALM with the all
TRANSCENDENT GOD
• The goal of man: To attain a communion and bliss with the Divine by LIVING HIS LIFE
ON EARTH WITH VIRTUE

Rene Descartes- the self is a thinking thing, distinct from the body
-Father of Modern Philosophy
-Cogito ergo sum- I think therefore I am; the cornerstone of Descartes’ Philosophy
-The Self is a combination of two distinct entities
 COGITO-The thing that THINKS – MIND
 EXTENZA- The extension of the mind which is the body – a machine that is attached to
the mind

John Locke- personal identity is made possible by self-consciousness.

-Father of Liberalism
-Empiricist- The view that sense experience is the primary source of all knowledge and that only
a careful attention to sense experience can enable us to understand the world and achieve
accurate conclusions
David Hume- there is no “self”, only a bundle of constantly changing of perceptions passing
through the theater of our minds.
- TO SEE IS TO BELIEVE.
Gilbert Ryle- the self is the way people behave
• The SELF is NOT AN ENTITY THAT ONE CAN LOCATE and analyze but simply a
CONVENIENT NAME that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people make
• What truly matters is the BEHAVIOR that a person MANIFESTS in his day to day life

Maurice Merleau-Ponty- the self is embodied subjectivity

Phenomenology is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person
point of view. The central structure of an experience is its intentionality, its being directed
toward something, as it is an experience of or about some object.
• The mind and body are so intertwined that they CANNOT BE SEPARATED from
one another
• One cannot find an experience that is not an embodied experience.
• Embodied experience means that all of man’s experiences registers in his body, brain and
mind (Bivins, 2011)

George Herbert Mead- supports the view that a person develop a sense of self through social
interaction.
- The concept of “I” and “Me”
Jean Baudrillard exposes the negative consequences of postmodernity to individuals in the
society (Demeterio,2013). The postmodern individual achieve self-identity through prestige
symbols that they consume. Individuals seek for a position in society through the quality of
prestige symbols that they can afford to consume
William James - Concept of the Self- The Me-Self and The I-Self
Carl Rogers- Self Theory: Real and Ideal Self
Albert Bandura (2001) believed that human, through their agency are perceived as proactive
agents of experiences.
Carl Jung The Self as the Central Archetype
Sigmund Freud’s Construction of Self and Personality- He argues that the mind is composed
of three structures through which personality is formed: ID,EGO,SUPEREGO.
Erik Erikson’s Theory in Understanding the Self
In Erik Erikson’s theory, adolescence is a period of identity development ; Erikson’s Theory
proposes that individuals go through eight psychosocial stages of development: