WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL

PERSPECTIVES ON THE
What is Philosophy?
Etymology: Greek
– Philos – love
– Sophia – wisdom
– “love of wisdom”
• The study of the basic/
fundamental principles of life,
knowledge, reality, existence,
morality, human nature, etc.,
through the use of logic and
reason
What is Philosophy?
•As an academic discipline, it
does not provide ultimate
answers, despite the ultimate
nature of philosophical ideas
• Opens the minds of people
• Encourages individuals to ask
questions and to seek answers
for themselves
• Encourages students to
philosophize
History of Philosophy:
An Approach that can be Employed
• Grounds the ideas to the context
of the philosophers
• Shows the development of
philosophy alongside with the
development of human discovery
and knowledge
• Grounds contemporary ideas
• Can provide an objective
presentation of philosophical ideas
• Can be a ground/basis for other
approaches
 Question:
How do you
answer
the question,
“Who
am I”?
Question
Who am I
in relation to
the natural
world
(cosmos)?
 Ancient Philosophy
• 1000 BC to 500 AD
• 3 Periods:
– Pre-Socratics (The Milesians)
– The Ancient Triumvirate
– Post-Aristotelians
 Pre-Socratics
• Cosmo-centric: There is a fundamental
principle/thing that underlies everything
else, including the human self:
– Thales: Water
– Anaximander:Apeiron – “Boundless Something”
– Anaximenes: Air
• Others: Democritus (atom) , Heraclitus (fire),
Anaxagoras (nous/mind), Pythagoras (numbers)
 Question:
In what
ways do I
get to
know
myself?
 The Ancient Triumvirate
•Socrates:
– Didn’t write anything, but his ideas were
echoed by his student, Plato, in his Dialogues.
– “Know thyself.”
– “An unexamined life is not worth living.”
– Each person has an immortal soul that
surpasses the death of the body. (dualistic
reality=body & soul)
 The Ancient Triumvirate
Socrates:
– Two Aspects of Reality
• Physical world : changeable, transient, and
imperfect; World of Senses/Matter
• Spiritual world: unchanging, eternal, perfect; The
World of Ideas/Form
– Our souls (self) strive for wisdom and perfection,
and reason is the soul’s tool to achieve such state.
– The soul is a unified, indissoluble, immortal entity
that remains the same over time, and that is in the
very likeness of the divine.
 The Ancient Triumvirate
• Plato:
– 3-part soul/self (psyche)
• Reason: the divine essence that lets us think deeply (wisdom), make wise
choices and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths.
• Physical Appetite: accounts for the basic biological needs such as hunger,
thirst and sexual desire
• Spirit/Passion: accounts for the basic emotions such as love, anger,
ambition, aggressiveness, empathy
– These are in a dynamic relationship with each
other: in agreement or in conflict. But it is the
responsibility of the Reason to restore
harmony among the three.
– Harmony: Justice in the individual, social and
political levels.
 The Ancient Triumvirate
• Aristotle:
– The mind (self) is a TABULARASA (a blank tablet)
– The self consists of matter and form; matter is in a
continuous process of developing and becoming.
– The process of completion is through experiences as
knowledge is acquired through the senses (and
this knowledge is true).
– But this self comes from a First Cause, the source of
all changes although unchangeable in Itself.
– The goal of the human self is reached in
happiness through moderation or balance of
things.
 The Post-Aristotelians
• Maintains the dualism between body
and soul
• More ethical in their ideas (moral
norms attainment of happiness)
– Stoicism: apathy or indifference to pleasure
– Hedonism: “Eat, drink and be happy, for tomorrow,
you will die.”
– Epicureanism: moderate pleasure
 Question:
Is the self related
to a supreme
being/God?
Who am I in
relation
to a supreme
being/
God?
 Medieval Philosophy
• 500 AD to 1350
• Theo-centric
• From the scientific investigation on
nature and search for happiness
to the question of life and
salvation in another realm, in a
better world (cf. afterlife)
• Influence from ancient thought:
– The (human) self endures through time.
 Medieval Philosophy
• Rather imposing than informing,
because it was trying to aim at
paganism and barbarism.

• There was an aim to merge

philosophy and religion
(Christian, Jewish, Muslim)
 St. Augustine
•Integrates Platonic ideas with the tenets
of Christianity
• Platonic Realm of Idea/Forms: the
Christian philosophy of a
transcendent God: the self strives to
Achieve union with God through
faith and reason.
• The finite, temporary world of Plato
becomes a proving ground for our
eternal destinies: such that the
human person becomes whole with
both body and soul (more unified
view).
 Question:

How can I be
sure that
the self exists?
What are the
proofs
that the self
exists?
 Modern Philosophy
• 14th century to the early 20th century
• Anthropocentric = centered on the human person
• Thinkers began to reject the scholastics’ (medieval
thinkers) excessive reliance on authority
• Period of radical social, political and intellectual
developments
• Genuine knowledge has to be based on
independent rational inquiry and real world
experimentation, rather than dependent on
knowledge handed down by authorities.
 René Descartes: A Rationalist
•“Cogito ergo sum.” – “I think, therefore, I am.”
• Human identity: self-awareness
• Self: A thinking thing
• Self: can exist independently of the body
– But doesn’t deny the association of the body to the self
• Dualism: thinking (spiritual) self vs. physical body
• The spiritual self (governed by the laws of reason and
God’s will) surpasses the physical self (governed by
the laws of nature).
• Yet the intimate connection between the soul and the
body is undeniable (pineal gland)
 John Locke: An Empiricist
• Knowledge originates in our direct sense
experience.
• Reason plays a subsequent role in figuring
out the significance of our sense
experience and in reaching intelligent
conclusions.
 John Locke: An Empiricist
• The self is not necessarily embedded in a
single substance or soul, but exists in
space and time,
– Every aspect of the physical body is integrated with
personal identity. The body changes. The physical
self changes.
• But the self endures because of memory.
• Conscious awareness and memory of
previous experiences are the keys to
understanding the self.
David Hume: Empiricist, Skeptic & Nihilist
• There is no self!
• Empiricism
– Impressions – basic sensations of experiences
– Ideas – copies of our impressions
– *Impressions form a fleeting stream of sensations
– *No constant and invariable self that exists as
a unified identity over the course of life.
• The self is a “bundle or collection of different
perceptions, which succeed each other in
an inconceivable rapidity, and are in
perpetual flux and movement.”
 Immanuel Kant
• Contests Hume’s idea by alluding to the
primary experience of the world that is not
a disconnected stream of sensations.
• A priori concepts: fundamental organizing rules
or principles built into the architecture of the
mind, which categorize, organize and
synthesize sense data into the familiar fabric
of our lives , bounded by space and time.
– They are innate.
– Unity of consciousness that makes the
world intelligible
 Immanuel Kant
• The self actively organizes all the sensations and
thoughts into a picture that makes sense to each
one of us. WE CONSTRUCT THE SELF!
• The self is not an object located in the
consciousness, but rather, it is a subject, an
organizing principle that makes a unified
and intelligible experience possible.
• The self exists independently of and transcends
experiences.
• The self is a transcendental unifying principle of
consciousness
 Sigmund Freud
• Founded the psychoanalytic school of
psychology
• The SELF is multi-tiered/multi-layered:
– Conscious (governed by the reality principle; at this
level, behavior and experience are organized in
ways that are rational, practical and appropriate to
the social environment.)
– Preconscious
– Unconscious (contains the basic instinctual drives
including sexuality, aggressiveness, and self-
destruction; traumatic memories; unfulfilled wishes
and childhood fantasies; thoughts and feelings that
would be considered socially taboo.)
 Gilbert Ryle: A Physicalist
• Behaviorism: No more dichotomy by
denying the inner selves, immortal souls,
states of consciousness, or unconscious
entities
• The self is defined in terms of behavior that
is presented to the world.
• The self is a pattern of behavior, the
tendency or disposition for a person to
behave in a certain way in certain
circumstances.
 Paul Churchland: A Physicalist
• Eliminative Materialism: grounded in
neuroscience
• The mind/self is the brain
 Question:

Describe what
happens
to you when you
fall in
love—physically,
emotionally,
mentally
(cognitively).
 Contemporary
Philosophy
• Late 19th century
• Political revolution
• Industrial Revolution
• Scientific advancements and
growth of materialism
• Theory of Evolution
• More humanist as a response
to the so-called alienation
of the human person.
 Edmund Husserl
• The father of
Phenomenology
• We experience our self as
a unity in which the
mental and physical are
seamlessly woven
together.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
• “lived body”
• An entity that can never be
objectified or known in a
completely objective sort of
way, as opposed to the
“body as object” of the
dualists.
• “There is no duality of
substance but a dialectic of
living being in its biological
milieu.”
Embodied Subjectivity
• Both Husserl and Merleau-
Ponty agree that our living
body is a natural synthesis
of mind and biology.
• Phenomenological approach:
describe the phenomena of
the lived experience
(reducing biases) by
describing what your
immediate responses are—
physically, emotionally,
cognitively.
 Question:

Which among
these philosophies
can you relate
with? How do
they affect the
way you see
yourself?