Understanding The Self
Understanding The Self
Understanding The Self
Page |1
CHAPTER 1: PRE-SOCRATICS
DEFINING THE SELF: PERSONAL AND -Thales
DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES ON SELF AND -Pythagoras
IDENTITY -Parmenides
-Heraclitus
LESSON 1: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS -Empedocles
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES
Name- it signifies a person These men endeavored to finally locate an
-It is not the person itself no matter how explanation about the nature of change, the
intimately bound it is with the bearer seeming permanence despite change and the
unity of the world amidst its diversity.
Self- it is thought to be something else than the
name CONCERNS OF PRE-SOCRATICS
-it is something that a person perennially 1. Explaining what the world is really made up
molds, shapes and develops. of
-it is not a static thing that one is simply 2. Why the world is so
born with like a mole on one’s face or is just 3. Explains the changes that they observed
assigned b one’s parents just like a name. around them
Justice in the human person- Plato emphasizes Thomas Aquinas- the most eminent thirteenth
it his magnum opus, the Republic that it can century scholar and stalwart of the medieval
only be attained if the three parts of the soul philosophy, appended something to the
are working harmoniously with one another Christian View
Rational Soul- forged by reason and intellect Augustine’s View of the Human Person
has to govern he affairs of human person 1. He adapted some ideas from Aristotle
2. Man is composed of two parts: matter and
Spirited Soul- in charge of emotions should be form.
kept at bay 3. Matter (Hyle in Greek)- common stuff that
makes up everything in the universe.
Appetitive Soul- in charge of base desires like Man’s body is part of this matter
eating, drinking, sleeping, and having sex are 4. Form (Morphe in Greek)- essence of the
controlled as well substance or thing.
It is what makes it what it is
The human person’s soul will become just and 5. Body- something that a person shares even
virtuous if this ideal sate is attained with animals
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
Page |3