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Understanding the Self (University of Perpetual Help System DALTA)

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CHAPTER 1 St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas

DEFINING THE SELF: PERSONAL AND Augustine
DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES ON - his view of the human person
SELF AND IDENTITY reflects the entire spirit of the
medieval world when it comes to
 Defining the “NAME” man.
 A name is not the person itself no - believes that body can remain in
matter how intimately bound it is with physical world only but the soul
the bearer. It is only a signifier. remains even after death

How is the Name connected to Self? Thomas Aquinas

- most eminent 13th century scholar
The Self is something that a person and stalwart of the medieval
perennially molds, shapes, and develops. philosophy
-The self is not a static thing that one - Said that man is composed of 2
is simply born with like a mole on parts:
one’s face or is just assigned by a) matter or Hyle in Greek
one’s parents just like a name. means “common stuffs that
makes up everything in the
Abstraction universe
The history of philosophy is replete with b) Form or Morphe in Greek
men and women who inquired into the means “ essence of a
fundamental nature of the self substance or thing”
- Believes that soul is what animates
The Greeks were the ones who seriously the body
questioned myths and moved away from
them in attempting to understand reality Rene Descartes
and respond to perennial questions of - father of modern philosophy
curiosity, including the question of the self. - believes that the only thing the one
cannot doubt is the existence of self
The Philosopher’s view of Self - famous for his lines cogito ergo sum,
1. Socrates “ I think therefore, I am”.
- first philosopher to engaged in a
systematic questioning about the David Hume
self. - a scottish philosopher
- For him, every man is composed of - argues that Self is not an entity over
body and soul and beyond physical body.
- Every human person is dualistic - believes that the Self is nothing else
(imperfect aspect & body maintaining but a bundle of impressions
soul
2. Plato Immanuel Kant
- 3 components of the soul: - believes that without the Self, one
a) Rational - forged by reason & cannot organize the different
intellect impressions that one gets in relation
b) Spirited - charged by emotions to his own existence.
c) Appetitive - charged by based
desires Gilbert Ryle
- emphasizes that justice in the human - believes that what truly matters is the
person can only be attained if the 3 behavior that a person manifests in
parts of the soul are working his day-to-day life.
harmoniously with one another. - suggests that Self is not an entity
one can locate and analyze but

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simply the convenient name that It is what a family initiates a person to

people use to refer to all the become that serves as the basis for this
behaviors that people make. person’s progress.

Without a family, biologically and

Merleau Ponty sociologically, a person may not even
- a phenomenologist who asserts the survive or become a human person.
mind-body bifurcation.
- who simply denies the “Self”, says Gender and the self
that mind and body are so Another important aspect of the self is the
intertwined that they cannot be gender.
separated from one another. Gender is one of those loci of the self that is
subject to alteration, change, and
Lesson 2 development.
The self, society, and culture
Oftentimes, society forces a particular
What is the self? identity unto us depending on our sex
-defined by the following characteristics: and/or gender.
Separate
Self-contained Nancy Chodorow, a feminist, argues that
Independent because mothers take the role of taking
Consistent care of children, there is a tendency for girls
Unitary to imitate the same and reproduce the
Private same kind of mentality of women as care
providers in the family.
The self and culture Men on the other hand, in the periphery of
According to Marcel Mauss, a french their own family, are taught early on how to
Anthropologist, every self has a two faces: behave like a man.
personne and Moi
Lesson 3: The Self as Cognitive
Moi- refers to a person’s sense of who he Construct
is, his body, and basic identity, his biological Identity
givenness. Thus, a basic identity. - composed of personal characteristics,
Personne- has much to do with what it social roles, and responsibilities.
means to live in a particular institution,
family, religion, nationality, how to behave William James
etc. - one of earliest psychologist to study
the self and conceptualized the self
For Mead and Vygotsky as having two aspects:
- the way that human persons develop a) the I is for thinking, acting and
is with the use of language feeling.
acquisition and interaction with b) The “me” on the other hand is the
others. physical characteristics.
- both treat the human mind as Self-concept- the idea of what to become
something that is made, constituted Self-schema
through language as experienced in Carl Rogers- our organized system or
the external world and as collection of knowledge about who we are.
encountered in dialogs with others.
Sigmund Freud- id/ego/superego
Self in Families
Human persons learn the ways of living and
therefore their selfhood by being in a family.

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3 reasons why self and identity are

social products
- We do not create ourselves out of Taoism
nothing. - living in the way of Tao or the
- Whether we like to admit it or not, universe
we actually need others to affirm - rejects one definition of what the Tao
and reinforce who we think we are. is
- What we think is important to us - free flowing, relative, unitary, as well
may also have been influenced by as paradoxical view of almost
what is important in our social or everything
historical context.
Self-awareness Buddhism
Two types of self that we can be aware - the self is seen as an illusion, born
of: out of ignorance, of trying to hold
1. the private self or your internal and control things, or human-
standards/private thoughts/feelings. centered needs.
2. the public self or your public image - a quest to forget about self, break
commonly geared toward having a good attachment of the world, attain the
presentation of self. state of Nirvana

Self-awareness presents 3 self-schema: The Western Culture

1. the actual self- who you are at the - also called as an individualistic culture
moment since their focus is on the person.
2. the ideal self- who you like to be - has loose association or even loyalty to
3. the ought self- who you think you should their groups
be -also emphasize more on the value of
equality even if they see that the individual
Social comparison can rise above everything else.
- also called self-evaluation maintenance
theory
- states that we can feel threatened when
someone out-performs us.

Narcissism
- a trait characterized by overly high
self-esteem, self-admiration, and
self-centeredness
-
Lesson 4: the self in Western and
Eastern thoughts
Cultural beliefs and political philosophies
Confucianism
-can be seen as code of ethical conduct of
how one should properly act according to
their relationship with other people

Self-cultivation
seen as ultimate purpose of life but the
characteristics of chu-tzu, a man of virtue or
noble character, is still embedded in his
social relationships.

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