TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction - Kant - Steven's life and philosophy
Chapter 1 - Plato - Alexandrite (Garnet Amethyst and Pearl)
Chapter 2 - Descartes (Yellow Diamond)
Chapter 3 - Locke - (Blue Diamond)
Chapter 4 - Hume - (Spinel)
Chapter 5 - Socrates - (White Diamond)
Chapter 6 - St. Augustine (Rose Quartz)
Chapter 7 - Closing
- END -

Hello, I am Steven Universe, and I believe in Immanuel Kant's Philosophy of the self, that tells that we are comprised of a body and our soul. As we grow older, we experience more things and our selves are more eager to learn more about our surroundings, that's why we have the urge to do more, to help other people and to do more things that'll make us happy and contented.

  INTRODUCTION

I view our experiences as multiple doors that will open our eyes to new opportunities that await, to new friends that we'll meet, to new interests that we'll spend time on, and so on. I view our experiences as a great help for us to be more connected with the world around us. I share the same viewpoint as Kant because we should understand the self as an principle that organizes our experiences as a product of our reason. I think that we understand ourselves through the experiences that we're having throughout the course of our lives. Without experiences to guide us, we can be lost and won't know what to do when we are faced with a new problem. Experiences for me are important because it tells us new stories everyday. Come along with me and I'll show you a story that I hold dear in my heart.

CHAPTER 1 
The Crystal Gems

Once upon a time, there was a boy with super gem powers named Steven Universe. He lived with other humans in harmony and with his gem friends; Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Garnet and Pearl fought the Great Gem War with Rose Quartz, Steven's mother; but she ultimately gave up her physical form to give birth to Steven. But a part of her lives in Steven, which can be found in his belly, her rose quartz gemstone.
They're called the Crystal Gems and they save the world from various corrupted beings which they once called friends that take the form of unrecognizable monsters. They got corrupted through a corrupting light, a light so intense powered by the various ideas that was forced to them by the Gem matriarchs and what they believe in.
But Garnet is sure that they will bring back their friends' sanity. They won't let every gem down.

"This was all because of the Diamonds!" Pearl said,
and Amethyst second the motion by saying "Yes, let's bring them down if they try to hurt the beings here again."
Garnet said "We must not wait, we must bring the Diamonds down and make them understand that our friends here are hurting here for millennia!" 

"So we should go to homeworld and confront them. All or nothing. I may be new to the team and I just got the hang of my powers but I know I can do it with you guys, after all; our experiences are what makes us intelligible and more aware of our surroundings. Steven said. He believes that is through our experiences that we can understand the world, that we can interact and love it for what it is and all its inhabitants.

The three gems; Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl believes in Plato's philosphy, in which, there are three parts of the soul - there's a reason, physical/appetite and the passion. It can be likened to the three because they embody each part.

Amethyst, for the physical, since she loves eating and are attached to worldly desires. She's in charge of physical strength when fighting villains while fused. Garnet, commonly called the Spirit; embodies the passion to win, passion to learn from the battles and most importantly, the ability to feel and show the emotion of one entity when fighting their enemies. Last but not the least, Pearl - she is the reason, the divine essence, she who knows the most about Homeworld and the one who understands things the most among the three. She's the brain of Alexandrite and she encourages everyone to think wisely about their decisions whether in fighting or just going on in an adventure. The three as Alexandrite, believes that people (and gems) can do everything if they have a systematic use of reason.

Steven learned something from the three, it is that these three parts make the soul complete and it is an interactive system. Without one, they cannot function because the three are interconnected. They may be in a hierarchy but without one, let's say for example, without the reason, we cannot think deeply and it'll affect our decision making processes. Without a component of a three part soul, we would not be our best selves. 

Even though that the three others doesn't share the same viewpoint with him, they're still friends because they have to understand each other and they have a friendship that traces way back when he was still in his mother's womb. Plus they still have a world and their former comrades to save!

The journey to the Gem Homeworld is a perilous one. There's a lot of asteroids and they can see various space monsters even when they traveled via wormhole. Even though they traveled fast, Steven can still see the magnificent cosmos and for him, he haven't seen a sight as wonderful as this before. 

4 minutes and they're here. They can see the wretched planet of the Gems from a distance. All of them couldn't believe their eyes. What have the diamonds done to their home planet? Did they force their beliefs to the various gems here too? Was there a rift that happened between the beliefs of the diamonds and their followers? There's only one way to find out.

CHAPTER 2
YELLOW DIAMOND

The rocket landed on barren yellow land. They know this is Yellow Diamond's doing.
They see Yellow Diamond's palace from a distance. They didn't hesitate to run to the said site, and when they reached it, they were confronted with flash of yellow energy. Steven retracted his shield and covered everyone from the light.

A loud shout echoed across the palace halls. Itcame from Yellow Diamond.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" said the first matriarch. 
We're here to get your help to return our friends back to normal at my home planet." said Steven.

"Go away. Your presence disgusts me, traitors." said Yellow.

No, we won't go away until you give us your blessing that can be found in your gem.
I don't get why you guys forced your beliefs on our friends, do you know why they rebelled? It's because you guys made the gems made on earth a laughing stock for not being able to get your beliefs.

I admit that I was wrong, we we're wrong for forcing our beliefs, all I wanted to make them believe is that they should be able to understand more about themselves, for them to doubt what information they recieve, for them to be more aware of their surroundings through knowing Descartes' principle. I believe that nothing is necessarily true. Some of your friends are ignorant about how they should look for themselves. They should think more deeply.  Plus have you seen your friends? They're slow, I thought that if I enhanced them... and made them think about themselves and be conscious about their existence more, without doubting..... 
"Enough of this. Give up your physical form for now and you can return back later. Retreat to your gem so that we can heal our friends from the damages you three caused." Steven said.

Everyone is free to believe in what they want to believe, no forcing should happen because we are all different beings and we are all entitled to our own opinion. - the half human/half gem responded.

Just because you don't understand someone else's belief, you shouldn't force your belief into that person.

I want to make things right, again... - said the first matriarch.

The diamond obliged with the request and retreated back to her gem. 
They got one gem that'll help restore their friends back to normal.

Steven realized from Yellow that if a person is conscious, that person thinks about themselves and they're more than their physical bodies. 
If we are conscious, we think about ourselves and we can be called thinking entities. We think about ourselves and others as well so we are conscious about our environment and the things around us. There's more to us than our physical bodies if we think.

CHAPTER 3
BLUE DIAMOND

Next, they swam to the depths of the Blue Lake, where Blue Diamond's palanquin can be found. 

They found Blue Diamond, depressed, on the middle of the palanquin.
Maybe it's because she knew all this time that she failed?

Um, hello, Blue? Said Pearl.
There's this aura of blue magic around her that keeps her down.
Blue, we need to talk to you; please drop your magical aura.
Yes, I will drop it; and I will willingly give my gem. 
What? Why so sudden blue?

Because I've realized my mistakes. The gems, they're all thinking beings, they think about themselves and they use their minds to reason, to reflect on what they're doing to help each other, everyday. I should've seen this sooner, they're capable of thinking with concsciousness. I should've known that they are capable of feeling, they are able to sense experiences to build their own selves. The way I view it, is that their consciousness is what makes them know themselves more. Steven realized this too, like Blue he didn't know that the gems are capable of feeling with their consciousness and this is what makes themselves know more about themselves as well. It is important in knowing oneself because through this consciousness, we're feeling, we're digging in deeper with the help of our feelings that make up ourselves; our personal identity.

Steven learned a new lesson again from the matriarch and her belief.
"Let's go"- said Amethyst.
Steven realized that he's been thinking for too long his mind wandered off from Blue Diamond. So he asked them where is the second matriarch, and they said:
"Here" - Pearl said, while gesturing to her hand with the blue gemstone from Blue Diamond.
Let's go, White Diamond's palace is a long journey from here.

CHAPTER 4
SPINEL

They're on their quest to find White Diamond amidst the chaos that's happening on Homeworld.

On the way, they met a gem named Spinel, a forgotten gem soldier who believes in Hume's theory which explains that there is no self at all. She saved them from the intense light that can corrupt the gems if they're not aware of what is happening.

She let the gems take cover on her hideout for a while, because of White Diamond's immense blasts of energy outside, and told them that they're safe for the moment.

For her, there is no self because it's only imaginary and it can be likened to our constant changing perceptions, impressions about the world around us, that will always change and vary from time to time. There's no real self. Everything we see, touch, hear, smell and taste, everything we feel; is imaginary. It was never real, it was just some thoughts running in your mind and saying that you are happy, you are sad, and so on and so forth. Steven thought to himself, maybe Spinel is right, maybe there's no self, just our thoughts that tell us how to act, how to feel and what to do in a certain situation. Maybe we're just doing what we want to do because of our thoughts, impressions and other ideas that we have inside our heads?He learned a new thing again from the beliefs of others around him.

Spinel signaled them that it is safe to go outside and confront White Diamond, who can be seen from afar, on the terrace of her magnificent White Palazzo. 

They're far from her but it feels like she can see their every move.

It seems like she's waiting for them to confront her.
With this, they bid Spinel goodbye, and continued with their journey, until.....

"Wait, I want to join your clique, and I wanna save my Homeworld from the horrendous outbursts of White Diamond." 
And so they went on, but they hid from the sight of the diamond, because if they walked straight to her, they might get obliterated at once.

CHAPTER 5
WHITE DIAMOND

They trod through the path that looked like a million feet walked on top of it.

They reached the palazzo, and it was eerily quiet. Steven felt like a trap was set right before their eyes, just for them.

"This is it" said Garnet, as they looked at the huge palace doors in front of them.
She fused with the others and broke the door to reveal White Diamond sitting at her throne, in the middle of the room.

"Well well well, isn't this a nice surprise?"- said White Diamond.