-Is it really essential to understand the self?

-What are the different notions of the self from

different standpoints of various philosophers across
time and place?
-How do we compare those varying standpoints?
-How do I examine myself using these different
standpoints or perspectives?
 Is this who we really are?

Boy or girl? Name

 Philosophy- “Love for wisdom”
 Answers questions regarding the nature of and
existence of man and the world.
 (Socrates, Plato, St. Augustine, Descartes, Locke,
Hume, Kant, Hume, Freud, Ryle, Churhland, Monty-
Ponty).
 All to answer the basic question, who are you?
 Philosophy offers a ton of philosophers offering a ton
of perspective with just about any topic. But for this
endeavor, some selected philosophers were
collected who directly talked about the self.
 Philosophically, discussion of the self is a basic
search for meaning and purpose in life.
Determination, rationalization, and identification of
self; sets the direction from which an individual travel
to fulfill his identified purpose in life.
 Inability to define oneself leads to a lot of
contradiction in life later on, hence, it is one of the
many imperative of life to know oneself right away
and to go on with the business of leading a life
charted by oneself.
 We only know Socrates because his
illustrious students (from Plato to
Aristotle) spoke eloquently and
generously about his knowledge, wit,
wisdom and intellect.
 Socrates left no known writings, his
highly regarded student Plato though,
wrote extensively about Socrates.
 “gnothi seuton”= “know thyself.”
 If you know who you are, all basic
issues and difficulties in life would be
gone in a simple snap of a finger. If
you know who you are, then
everything would be clearer and
simpler. One could now act
according to his own self-definition
without any doubt and self-
contradiction.
  “Socractic method” or the art of
(Cont’d) questioning
 His simple technique of asking basic
questions such as “who am I?”, “what is
the purpose of my life?”, “what am I
doing here?”, “what is justice” were all
questions predicated on the fact that
humans must be able to define these
simple things so as to move forward and
act accordingly based on what is the
definition of the said individual.
 Possession of knowledge is a virtue and
that ignorance is a vice, that a person’s
acceptance of ignorance is a source or a
springboard for the acquisition of
knowledge later on.
 So, one must first have the humility to
acknowledge one’s ignorance so as to
get or acquire knowledge.
  Answers will always be subjective.
(Cont’d)  There is really no right or wrong answers
to the questions posited by Socrates, the
quality and quantity of answers is
dependent on the respective person
 Answering these basic premises and his
subsequent actions is best understood on
how he defined himself.
 Thus, the constant reminder of “know
thyself”.
 Historically, he is known as the first martyr
of education, knowledge and philosophy.
For lighting up the minds of his students,
he was literally charged with corruption of
minors. Socrates is even considered to be
so ugly, that only his own mother could
love.
 He is the acknowledged author of the
groundbreaking book “The Republic”
which became the bedrock of
democracy as we now know it today.
 This book talks about justice, balance,
equality, how best to rule and how to
prepare for ruling. It talks about
statecraft, how to run a country, how to
govern with the best interest of people
at heart.
 Believes in the division of body and
soul.
 Appetetive Soul- needs and wants that
are to be statisfied
 Spirited Soul- courageous part of the
person; one who wants to do something
or right the wrongs
 Rational Soul- “the conscious mind”;
decides, plans, and thinks.
 Plato made the philosophical allegory of the cave. Slaves born
as such inside a cave facing only the shadows of men, will
never have knowledge that there is another set of men
representing or creating their respective shadows. That when a
chained slave escapes and learned that shadows are just mere
representatives of their captors. If this escapee returns and tell
his former slave buddies that what they are seeing and hearing
inside their cave is nowhere near to what is actually a reality,
they would doubt him, in fact - they would even doubt his own
very existence.
 Follows the notion that everything is
better if we devote ourselves to God
 The Roman Catholic Church have
written tons of papers about St.
Augustine, in fact the concept of
modern church is predicated on his
writings. St. Augustine is even
credited with the invention of the idea
of “original sin.”
 He even developed the concept of the
church being the city of god. That a
city governed by the church is a city
governed by god.
 The physical body is bound to die on
earth while the soul is to anticipate
living eternally in communion with
God.
 He is best known for quoting “cogito
ergo sum”, or “I think therefore, I
am”.
 With all the groundbreaking
advances of computers, with
computer being able to do a trillion
computations by a second, they still
fall short in comparison to the
greatest computer of all, the human
brain.
 Just as no animal would be musing
about the purpose of his life, only
humans have the audacity and
impertinence of trying to figure out
the meaning of his life and is actually
self aware of his own existence.
  Only humans have the hubris of
musing such irreverent questions on
existence and purpose of life. And
(cont’d) only humans have satisfied itself with
his own answers to his own musings.
 Humans, are self-aware, they are
conscious and being such proves
their own placement in the universe.
Humans create their own reality and
they are the masters of their own
universe.
 Western philosophy is largely based
on the writings of Descartes.
 , Filipinos have a unique word of
“diskarte” denoting finding a way or
making things possible. Such a word
is a derivative of the surname of
Descartes.
 Father of liberalism
 Coming from an era where proper
decorum, conservative thinking and
compliance to a collective imposition of
the known authority, John Locke posited
liberalism not just from physical
bondage but from psychological and
spiritual bondage as well.
 John Locke’s profession was that of a
country lawyer and he even had a
degree in medicine, fortunately for the
field of philosophy, the mark of John
Locke was in advancing the idea of
empiricism (which is no wonder, since
he is by profession, a lawyer).
 The other remarkable contribution of
this country lawyer was the notion of
“tabula rasa.” This concept posits that
everyone started as a blank slate, and
the content is provided by experiences
and by what one could prove, as
collected by life experiences.
 This is an irony because, he espoused
three (3) notable contention in
philosophy; empiricism, skepticism and
naturalism. He promoted empiricism by
basing his knowledge and philosophy
on evidences, knowing and proving are
two different things. And in life, it is not
what you know, but rather what you can
prove.
 One can only know through senses and
experience.
 David Hume was a known atheist and as
such, he believed in the natural cycle of
life. Everything is governed by reason,
by rationality and as such, there is a
natural order of things.
 There is no permanent “self”
 The self is a collection of a person’s
different impressions and perceptions
 Became critical of Hume’s ideas.
 In this book, he posited the idea that
there is a connection between
reason and experience. That in
order to have solid rationality, one
must have a variety of experience
and exposure.
 He further contended that there is a
correlation between experience and
rationality. You cannot have one
without the other.
 Immanuel Kant subscribe to the idea
of metaphysics, that which is beyond
matter, he also subscribes to the
idea that pure reason is one of the
prime source of morality. That what
is right, that what is moral, is best
explained via reason and rationality.
 Father of Psychoanalysis
 Predicated on sex and aggression
with the unconscious mind as the
platform.
 Present self or personality is
greatly shaped by the person’s past
experiences.
 Utilized introspection as a tool
 Unconscious, preconscious,
conscious
 Id- pleasure principle
 Ego- reality principle
 Superego- morality principle
 Ninety percent (90%) of the time, man is unaware of his
behavior and often, his behavior is to feed the libido, residing
in the id. According to the theory of psychoanalysis, every
individual is composed of the superego, ego and the id. It is the
main function of the superego and the ego to regulate and
control the id.
 Accordingly, man and his unconscious mind is affected by
Oedipus complex, penis envy and castration anxiety. By and
large, man’s behavior is an interplay of sexual energies and
endeavor, all to facilitate the attainment or near attainment of
sexual gratification because of sexual excitation.
 Eventually, Sigmund Freud experimented on his own children
and based on his observations and conclusions, his theories
were derivatives of his study on his children.
 Freud eventually, became addicted to cocaine and his demise
was officially credited to his acquisition of cancer of the mouth.
 “Ghost in the machine” view.
 The main concept of Gilbert Ryle is
that there is a relationship between
the body and the mind. Conversely,
the body affects the mind and the
mind affects the body. There is a
body and mind dualism.
 The self is affected by the mind and
by the body. The self is a
combination of the mind and the
body.
 While the focus of other
philosopher is veered towards the
separation of the mind and body,
for this British philosopher – self is
taken as a whole, with body and
mind combination.
 The self is an integrated whole
made up of different parts and
systems.
 Gilbert Ryle also posited the maxim “I am therefor I am” and
more importantly, he also posited the concept of ghost in the
machine. By extension, things take a life of their own. In his
contemporary times, every machine assumes a life of its own –
more than what it was intended for.
 According to Churchland, Folk
Psychology will eventually be
discredited by scientific inquiry.
Indigenous notions, theories, concepts
and ideas will be supplanted by
scientific method.
 The “self” is defined by the movements
of the brain.
 The main philosophy of Churchland is
predicated on “eliminative
materialism”. Principally, eliminative
materialism contention is that people’s
common sense understanding of the
mind is false and that most of the
mental states that people subscribe to,
in turn, do not actually exist.
 The world could be wrong; most
people could be wrong and even the
mind could also be wrong. In short,
everyone and everything could be
fallible. There is no such thing as
infallibility.
Five examples of common sense thinking

Heavy clouds lead to rain. Not all the time.

Rich people are happy people. Not all rich people are happy.

People with glasses are intelligent people. Even dumb people wear glasses.

Harvard students are intelligent. Not all Harvard students are intelligent.
 More importantly, Churchland postulated that the mind and
body are separate. They are not related. The physical body
cannot influence the mind and the same is also true for the
mind, the mind cannot influence body.

 The main articulation of the self-
philosophy of Merleau-Ponty is
existentialism. Very briefly,
existentialism is predicated on the
premise that man gives meaning to his
own life. Happiness and sadness are
dependent on the individual and his
perception of his on reality.
Consciousness and perception are
related to one another.
 Proponent of descriptive psychology,
this by extension - places the current
interpretation of reality dependent on
the perception, consciousness and
appreciation of an individual.
 Phenomenology of Perception:
 The Body
 The Perceived World
 People in the World
Socrates (Greek) Died by drinking of Had a chance to go to Charged with corruption Know thyself
hemlock exile of minors
Plato (Greek) Student of Socrates Wrote the republic Founded the academe Man has a soul
St. Augustine (Numidia, Love of knowledge brings Made the doctrine of Developed the concept of Doctor of the church
Roman province of happiness original sin the church as the city of
Africa) god
Rene Descartes (French) Cogito ergo sum Western philosophy was Had an ambition as a Father of modern
largely based on his military officer rationalism philosophy
writings
John Locke (English) empiricism Father of liberalism Was a country lawyer and Tabula rasa
obtained a degree in
bachelor of medicine
David Hume (Scott) Empiricism, skepticism, atheist Raised by a single mother, Although of noble
and naturalism worked as a merchant ancestry, had no source
assistant of income and no
learned profession
Immanuel Kant Metaphysics, beyond Relationship between Young scholar, aptitude for Critique of Pure Reason
(German) matter. Reason is the reason and experience study at an early age
source of morality.
Sigmund Freud Died of cancer of the Addicted to cocaine Subjected his own children Oedipus complex,
(Prussian) mouth to psychoanalysis penis envy, castration
anxiety
Gilbert Ryle (British) Ghost in the machine, Father was a doctor who Brothers were also Body and mind dualism
concept of the mind, I act passed on to his children considered to be eminent
therefore I am his vast collection of scholars
books
Paul Churchland Eliminative materialism Wife is also a noted Folk psychology will The self as a brain, mind
(Canadian) philosopher (Patricia eventually be discredited and body are separate
Churchland) by a scientific from one another and
inquiry/method they are not related
Maurice Merleau-Ponty Existentialism, Proponent of descriptive Father died at his very Perception influence
(French) consciousness and psychology young age one’s understanding
perceiving are correlated
-END-
 Play video of east versus west
 The Physical self (the impact of culture on body image, self-
esteem, the importance of beauty)
 The sexual self (development of secondary self, human
reproductive system, erogenous zones, human sexual response,
biology of sexual behavior, love, diversity of sexual behavior,
solitary, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, transsexual) and
methods of contraception (natural and artificial)
 See folder sexual self
 Conflict management
 Stress management
 Managing and caring for the self
 Becoming a better student.
 Metacognition and self-regulated learning
 Goals for success, the importance of goals.
 Albert Bandura (self-efficacy), Dweck’s mindset (growth vs.
fixed), Locke’s goal setting theory.
 Taking charge of one’s health.
 Stress and coping.
 Social and cultural dimensions of stress (kinds of stress).
 Taking care of the self, the need for self-care and compassion.
 Acquintance game (sipsapsop).
 Ideal/real self.
 Student interview.
 tweeter entries, summary for each chaper.
 Journals (for each topic).
 Conduct of a survey.
 Self-grading.
 Concept map writing (theories, methods and uses).
 Essay writing.
 Ranking of stress.
 Write a letter to oneself (different topics aligned with the uts
topics).
 Write your own obituary.
 Design a self care plan.
 Reflection paper related to uts.
 Last movie watched, relate this with uts, why and how.
 think paper.
 Stress ranking (how do you feel when answering, what are your
feelings with the results).