What is the purpose of the word 'self', in Python?

What is the purpose of the self word in Python? I understand it refers to the specific object created from that class, but I can't see why it explicitly needs to be added to every function as a parameter. To illustrate, in Ruby I can do this:

class myClass
    def myFunc(name)
        @name = name
    end
end

Which I understand, quite easily. However in Python I need to include self:

class myClass:
    def myFunc(self, name):
        self.name = name

Can anyone talk me through this? It is not something I've come across in my (admittedly limited) experience.