LECTURE NOTES : PART 1: BASIC CONCEPTS OF “SELF”

(MODULE 1)

At the end of this module, you will be able to:

1. analyze the need of understanding the self;
2. identify the meaning of self, its nature and importance;
3. examine the self in eastern and western thoughts;
4. demonstrate better understanding of the Filipino concept of the self; and,
5. discuss how the mind, self, and society functions and interact with society.

THE NEED OF UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

There is a well-encompassing need to understand the self. Understanding the Self

1. helps learners acquire a positive sense of self and social responsibility.

2. helps learners develop their potentials to enable them to live harmoniously in the context of a
fast changing and challenging world.
3. helps learners participate meaningfully in all endeavors as responsible members of a global
community taking into account multi-cultural perspectives.
4. helps learners understand local and global issues and concerns that continue to impact their
lives and the lives of others.
5. enables the learners develop the capacity to think, reason and act legally and morally as
these will have a sphere of influence to others.
6. enables the learners to behave in ways that will fulfill their needs and goals in the
contemporary society.
7. helps the learners to possess personal, civil, and moral obligations, not only to themselves
but also to their families, nations, and the globalized contemporary society.

In short, understanding the self must continue to expand beyond the self to a larger
selves. The flow of change process must necessarily starts from the self and continues
throughout life so that the self will live and work effectively as a human person.

MEANING AND NATURE OF SELF

The term "self" is defined in many ways:

1. Self is a unified being and is essentially connected to consciousness awareness, and agency or with
the faculty of rational choice.
2. Self is the condition of identity that makes one subject of experience distinct from all others.
3. Self is exhibited and inferred in the conduct and discourse that emanate from the individual alone.
4. Self is the person regarded as an individual apart from all others.
5. Self is one's identity
6. Self is expressed in the first person.
7. Self is a dynamic responsive process that structures neural pathways according to past adolescent
environment (Self, Culture, and Society Class, 2015)
There are many explanations with respect to the nature of the self.

1. The self is independent of the senses. It has no sensory contact with its own body. It is not logically
dependent on any physical being - Avicenna in his famous essay, "The Floating Man"

2. The self may have changed in many respects but the same self appears present as was present
then. Thus, the self is a bundle or collection of different perspectives which succeed one another
with an inconceivable and are in perpetual flux and movement - David Hume

3. The self is a narrative center of gravity, not physically detestable but a kind of convenient fiction that
does not correspond to anything tangible. “People Constantly tell themselves stories to make sense
of their world, and they feature in the stories as a character and that convenient but fictional
character is the self- Daniel Dennett

4. The self is both legal and moral person. It is legal in the sense that he is free and equal to other
selves, moral because he may have a unique identity different from other selves. Joshua Knobe

5. The self is an inter subjective being, a unique being who is never alone on its existence in the world.
Since the self is an inter subjective being, the self establishes relationship with "T" and "thou" (you) -
Rick Warren in his "Purpose Driven Life".

6. According to Swami Vivekananda, the self is conditioned by three factors: (1) the senses are
unreliable, (2) the mind is conditioned by space-time; (3) the mind is conditioned by logical
limitations.

a. The senses are unreliable. One has to know one's own self, but it does not meant that one
has to know it through the sense organ - for the structure of the sense organ is limited. Man is
an object not a subject and therefore he is more in a position to know his "self" than any other
objects in the world. The sense organs cannot be relied upon totally because they are
conditioned, "Nothing can be known by examining the objects through the relative activities of
the senses which change according to thy function, Krishnananda said

b. The mind is conditioned by space-time. The conditioning influence of space and time is
such that nothing can be known except as being present in space and time. Even if the one
does the eyes and imagined the existence of an object, it would be a presence conceived in
space and in time. It means that the mind is involved in the motion of space and time. All
objects are spaced-temporal, including one's own self as an observed subject; Inasmuch as
the mind is conditioned in this manner, one cannot hope to have an unconditioned knowledge
of anything Perception is restricted by the operation of space and time.

c. The mind is conditioned by logical limitations. The mind is limited in many other ways.
Mathematics, Algebra, and Geometry, for example are fixed science. They are incapable of
logical demonstrations and no questions can be raised about them.

For example: 2+2 equals 4. No one can rationally explain why 2+2 should make 4. It has to be taken
for granted that it must be like that they must be logically affirmed. This is a type of
conditioning that any question about it cannot be raised by the mind.
THE SELF OVERCOMES ALL CONDITIONING

The self can rise above all conditionings, according to Krishnananda. Man knows one's own
self in way that Logic and Mathematics cannot explained. Every person knows that he exists. The
phrase "I exist" need not be known by seeing with the eyes. Even if the eyes are closed and other
senses are not used, one can know that one exists. This knowledge that "I exist" cannot be explained
in terms of logic The only infallible knowledge that can be finally survive all tests and conclusions is
knowledge of the self. All other knowledge are liable to amendment. What today is infallible truth-
science become tomorrow an outgrown, outmoded knowledge. What was truth yesterday is not
necessarily so today. Science has not yet come to a conclusion as to what the ultimate truth is.

7. The self is constantly evolving due to the complexities of cultures and societies. The self is
dependent on the culture that the self has been situated in. Eastern versus Western cultures show
that there are differences among the self.

8. Religion views the nature of the self very widely. The self is a complex and core subject in many
spirituality. Two types of self are: the self that is the ego - also called the learned self the superficial
self of mind and body. The other self is the "true self" the "observing self" or the"witness" self.
Spirituality is the self's search for ultimate meaning through independent comprehension of the
sacred

9. Human beings have a self - that is they are able to look back on themselves as both subjects and
objects in the universe.

WHY SELF IS IMPORTANT?

Philosophers look at self as very important in several ways.
1. According to Kant by knowing ourselves, that we are free and that our actions and choices
matter, we can make good on these commitments without fear of being contradicted by
theory. In other words, we can be responsible to ourselves.
2. By knowing the self, we are able to examine what type of object the self is and how it is
constituted.
3. According to Thorin Klosowski, by knowing the self, we are able to develop self-awareness
and introspection which are the starting point to every improvement. This improvement
relates to understanding your own needs, desires and failings, habits and everything else.
The more you know about yourself, the better you are at adopting life changes.
4. Understanding the self is a very important basis of quantified self movement which means
that if a person collects data about himself, he can make improvements based on that data
(New York Times report)
5. Knowing the self requires more than intellectual self-examination for it demands knowing
something about your feelings and emotions. The more you pay attention to your feelings
and emotions and how you work on them, the better you will understand why you do the
things you do. Ultimately, the more you know about your habits, the easier it is to improve
those habits.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SELF
The self is an automatic part of every human being which enables people to relate to others. The
self is constituted or made up of three (3) main parts that, incorporated, allow for the self to maintain its
functions. These parts are: self-knowledge, interpersonal self, and the agent self.

1. SELF-KNOWLEDGE - This is sometimes referred to as self-concept. Self-knowledge allows for

people to gather information and beliefs about themselves. Self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-
deception belongs to the self-knowledge part of the self. We can learn about ourselves in four (4)
ways: looking glass self of Charles Cooley, introspection, social comparisons, and self-perception.
(Baumeister and others, 2011)

a) Introspection is a manner in which a person gathers information about himself through the use of
mental functions and emotions.

b) Social Comparison is the manner in which we compare ourselves to other people around us.

c) Self-perception aspect of self-knowledge is a process of which a person infers about himself

through his behavior.

The "looking glass self" is a theory that people learn about themselves through other people. In
the looking-glass self proposal, a person visualizes how he appears to others, the person imagines
how other people will judge him, and he then develops a response to the judgment he received from
other people. The response will likely be something viewed as pride or shame about themselves. The
looking-glass self has proven to be partially accurate and inaccurate. A person's self-concept does not
solely depend on how others view him. A person can view himself as friendly, however, he may appear
to be quiet and uptight to another person who may not know him very well. (Baumeister and others.
2015)

SELF-KNOWLEDGE is a desire for the majority of human beings In knowing about themselves, we are
more capable of knowing how to be socially acceptable and desirable. We seek out self-
knowledge due to the appraisal motive, self enhancement motive, and consistency motive. The
appraisal motive describes the desire to learn the truth about oneself in general. The self-
enhancement motive is the desire to learn about one's good qualities only. The consistency
motive is the desire to receive reinforcement of those preconceived notions that a person has
about himself. The feedback will verify the thoughts and beliefs they already had relating to him
self. (Watts, 2009)

SELF-AWARENESS is divided into two categories: private self-awareness and public self-awareness,

1. Private self-awareness is defined as the self looking inward at oneself, including emotions,
thoughts, beliefs, and feelings All of these cannot be discovered by anyone else.

2. Public self-awareness is defined by gathering information about your self through the
perception of others.

The actions and behaviors that others show towards a person will help that person establish a
sense of how others perceive him. For example, if a person likes to sing, however, many other people
discourage him singing, that person may conclude that he might not be the best in singing. Therefore, in
this situation, he is gaining public self-awareness about an aspect of himself. (Watts, 2009)
SELF-ESTEEM examines how a person evaluates himself positively or negatively. Four factors that
contribute to self-esteem are the reactions we get from people, how we compare people to
ourselves, social roles, and our identification. Our social roles can sometimes be conceived as
higher or ability such as an Olympic athlete or Biotechnologist. Other social roles might be
stigmatized as being negative, such as a criminal or homeless person. People with high self-
esteem tend to be confident, gain self-acceptance, do not worry as much about what others think
about them, and think more optimistically. In contrast, people with low self-esteem view their
selves as containing negative traits. It is rare for a person to rate his overall self as being terrible.

People with low self-esteem typically:

 are less successful in their work

 are less confident in their success rate
 have confused and diverged notions about their self (self-concept confusion)
 focus on self-protection more than self-enhancement
 are more prone to emotional imbalances
 are less confident about their success than high self-esteemed people
 worry what others think about them consistently
 have more pessimistic thinking
 desire to resemble others more than high self-esteemed people (Sedikides, 2007)

Our self-concept entails the thoughts, feelings and beliefs that each of us uniquely foster.
However, many psychologists have questioned whether our self concept is more realistic or filled with
illusions about ourselves and the world around us. Clinical psychologists have studied depressed people
with perceived low self-esteem in order to observe if their perceptions were fabricated or not. Contrary to
their hypothesis, they found that depressed people have a more realistic view of the world, the qualities
they obtain, and the control they have over situations in their life. It was proposed by psychologists
Shelley Taylor and Jonathan Brown that the majority of the people in normal-functioning mental states
display are instilled with positive illusions including: (Sedikides, 2007)

 overestimating their own good qualities

 their control over happenings in their life
 an unrealistic portrayal of optimism

Positive illusions remain constant for the majority of one's life due to self- deception. Self-
deception strategies are mental tricks of a person's mind that hide the truth and constitute false beliefs.
Due to self-deception, people are able to obtain resiliency upon negative events that might occur
throughout life. This also can reinforce different ideas or thoughts that the person wishes and hopes for.
The self-serving bias is a strategy in which a person titles acknowledgment for success and rejects
blame for failure.

For example: A person who wins a track meet would glorify his ability as an athlete. However, if that
person were to come in last in the meet, the person would most likely put blame on contributing factors
such as a muscle cramp or previous injury preventing a good performance. Another strategy that people
use is greater criticism involving bad feedback rather than good. A person would judge a situation more
harshly when he did worse, while the opposite would occur for a situation that entailed good feedback.
2. INTERPERSONAL SELF - can be referred to as your public self. This feature allows for social
connection to others. With the interpersonal self, a person is able to display himself to others around
him. Interpersonal self is apparent in situations of self-presentation, being a group member or
partner in a relationship, a person's social roles and his reputation. For example, a person might
show confidence and determination in his work atmosphere, whereas, he shows more emotional
and nurturing side in his romantic relationship.

Social roles are defined as the parts that a person plays in different situations and with other
people. Our roles change in order to fit the "expected" behaviors in various scenarios. For example,
a person may be a mother, a doctor, a wife, and a daughter. Her behavior would most likely charge in
her transition from being a doctor in coming home to her daughter.

Social norms constitute the "unwritten rules that we have about how to act in certain scenarios
and with various people in our lives. For example, when a person is in a classroom, he is more likely
to be quiet and attentive; whereas at a party, he is more likely to be socially engaged and standing.
Norms act as guidelines that shape our behavior. Without them, there would not be any order, as well
as lack of understanding in situations in society. (Baumaister and others, 2001)

3. THE AGENT SELF is known as the executive function that allows for actions. This is how we, as
individuals, make choices and utilize our control in situations and actions. The agent self resides
over everything that involves decision making, self-control, taking charge in situations and actively
responding. A person might desire to eat unhealthy foods, however, it is his agent self that allows
that person to choose to avoid eating them and make a healthier food choice.

The Constitution of the Self according to Aquinas and Aristotle

THE SELF IS AN EMBODIED SPIRIT
For St. Thomas Aquinas:

The self is by nature a finite embodied spirit in search of the Infinite, in social solidarity with its
fellow human beings, on a historical journey through this material cosmos towards its final trans-wordly
goal - a loving union with the Gods as the infinite fullness of all goodness (Ariola, 2016)

For Aristotle

The self is an embodied spirit - one in which it is expressed fully, shining for all the world to see. It
is the right and responsibility of the self to give the Spirit its fullest expression in this body. The
opportunity to become embodied and whole begins at birth and continues throughout life (Ariola, 2016)

THE FILIPINO CONCEPT OF SELF

The concept of self varies within a culture. This is explained in a study of Edman and Kameoka
as cited by Andres (1987) comparing educated and less educated women. The study found that:

1. educated Filipino women characterized themselves as more individualistic than less educated
Filipino women, while the less educated characterized themselves as more collectivistic.
 2. in terms of soció-economic status, middle class Filipino women rated themselves as more
competitive than those in the lower socio-economic group while lower class Filipino women
rated themselves collectivistic including being conforming obedient to elders, devoted to family
and friendly.

According to Baumeister (1987) increase in individualism within a country is due to increase social
mobility that allows a person to become detached from his/her social position. The concept of self within
the community of women is a function of socio-economic changes and increased educational
opportunities. The study may also be true between educated Filipino men and less educated Filipino
men.

THE EASTERN CONCEPT OF SELF

The two (2) major religions of the Asian countries delve on the existence and nature of the self.
These major religions are Hinduism and Buddhism.

Hinduism

In all the branches of Hinduism, there are two (2) important concepts that will help the students
understand the Hindu view of the self: the Brahman and Atman.

According to Hinduism, the self is just part of a larger whole, the Brahman (universe), which
encompasses everything. The self (Atman) is tied to everything. A sacred Hindu text says, "Thou art
thou." To explain this concept more, here is a narrative saying "Think of a single drop of water in a cloud
way up in the sky. It comes down with other drops in the form of rain and makes its way to river where it
blends with other drops. Eventually, this single drop of water flow out to the ocean where it is
indistinguishable from other drops. Finally, it evaporates and make its way to the atmosphere, where it
becomes part of a cloud again."

To the Hindus, this drop of water is the Atman, and the cycle that it goes through of like
reincarnation or the belief that people die and are reborn over and over again. Each time a person dies
and is reborn it comes closer to Brahman. Eventually, the person will complete the cycle of reincarnation
when he had developed enough. When this happens, he stops being reborn and are fully reunited with
the Brahman. Its like the drop of water that stopped collecting in a cloud, raining down, and evaporating
and instead simply dissolves into everything the air, the earth and the water.

To summarize the above concept:

Atman ('atman/) is a Sanskrit word that means inner self or soul. In Hindu philosophy, especially
in the Vedanta School of Hinduism, Atman is the first principle the true self of an individual beyond
identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual. In order to attain liberation (moksha) a
human being must acquire self-knowledge (atmajnana), which is to realize that one's true self (Atman) is
identical with the transcendent self Brahman.

The six orthodox schools of Hinduism believe that there is Ātman (soul, self) in every being, a
major point of difference with Buddhism, which does not believe that every soul or self.
WESTERN CONCEPT OF THE SELF
The concept of self in Western countries differ from the concept of self in the eastern countries.

Here is a summary of the Western concept of the self:

1. The self is formed by the individual's duty to use his judgment to determine who and what he is.

2. The self is free to accept and to deny the will. The self can decide for and against; it is free to judge
and to act, even against better reasons. In acting, the self makes himself independent of the world.

3. Reason is passion and passion is not a contradiction to reason. Reason contradicts desire and
greed, but not passion.

4. The goal of self-assertion and the exercise of one's own capacities are directed toward excellence
and immortality.

5. The basic premise of Western philosophy of self is to build and strengthen the self to improve overall
functioning of the body.

6. Perfectionism, anxiety, compulsiveness, self-destructive behavior, rigid beliefs are manifestations of

an underdeveloped self.

7. At the center of the conscious realm of the self lies ego. The ego serves many purpose and is vital to
healthy and adaptive functioning.

8. The true self consists of both the conscious and the unconscious. To experience the true self, a
person must integrate his conscious and unconscious minds. This requires becoming aware of the
material hidden in the unconscious mind. This material is often difficult, and anxiety-provoking
(which is why the ego has not allowed it into conscious awareness).

Despite its many necessary functions, the ego can hinder one's quest to experience his true self.
Recall that one of the roles of the ego is to act as a gatekeeper between consciousness and
unconsciousness. Thus, the ego can, at times, interfere with efforts to know the true self by preventing
unconscious material from entering conscious awareness, (Ruth Hasenauer, University of Paderborn,
Germany)

Mind, Self and Society from the Standpoint of Social Behaviorists

In 1934, the students of George Herbert Mead, posthumously published his book entitled "Mind,
Self, and Society". This book is credited as the basis for the theory of symbolic interactionism.

Mead analyzed through behavior and interacting of an individual's self with reality. Mead rejects
the view that psychology deals with consciousness in the sense of something existing prior to and
bringing about behavior. But he is just as much opposed to Behaviorism which deals exclusively with
bodily processes. Social Psychology for Mead studies inner experience or activity which arises within a
social process. The paradigm is language, which consists both of meaning or intelligence and
intercommunicative (social) behavior. Mead thought that the origin of psychological phenomena in social
processes saved it from any taint of parallelism

The second division constitute of lengthy argument purporting to show that mind arises through
communication by a conversation or gestures in a social process.
 For Mead, the mind is well characterized by the process of meaning, knowing, significance, and
reflection. Now, meaning lies within the field of gesture. When an individual's gesture indicates a
subsequent behavior to another organism, then it has meaning. When the organism has indicated to it
that the other organism is responding to his gesture, then the gesture is significant. Such significant
gestures are symbolic of and basic to intelligence and reflection.

The self arises in the process of gesture conversation or symbolic communication when the
individual takes the attitude of another and acts toward himself as others do. The self comprises two
aspects in so far as the "l" consists of the responses of the organism to the attitudes of others, while the
"me" consists of the set of attitudes of others which the individual himself assumes. In terms of these
aspects of the self, Mead explains social control (the "me" limits the "T") and social change (the "1"
asserts itself within the limits of his society).

Since society is not only the source of the individual in so far as he is mind or self but also the
perennial locus of his activity, the section entitled "Society" consists of a discussion of various
adjustments of individuals Sympathy is calling out in ourselves the attitude of the person we are assisting,
while self realization consists in having others partake in and accept one's own attitudes.

By and large, Mead's social psychology sums up to a dialectic of mind quite in the tradition of the
post-Kantian idealists. But so modern is his gestural dialectic that it becomes for him basic to a criticism
of even recent conceptions of mentality, for the intercourse of individuals reaches down to a level of
biological functions. Thus mind is an objective fact in a world of observable phenomena.

Howsoever well satisfied philosophers may be with Mead's social psychology, we fear that it may
be entirely acceptable to the psychologist, since the latter will question whether it touches the concrete
realities (Reviewed by Jacob Robert Kantor, U.S.A.)

The "I" and "Me" of Mead

The "Me" is what is learned in interaction with others and (more generally) with the environment
other people's attitudes, once internalized in the self, constitute the "Me". This includes both knowledge
about that environment (including society), but also about who the person is: his sense of self. "What the
individual is for himself is not something that he invented. It is what his significant others have come
to ...treat him as being." This is because people learn to see who they are (man or woman, old or young,
etc.) by observing the responses of others themselves or their actions. If others respond to a person as
(for instance) a woman, the person develops a sense of herself indeed as a woman.

At the same time, the "Me" disciplines the "I" by holding it back from breaking the law of the
community. It is thus very close to the way in a man Freud's (ego-sensor), the conscience.. arose from
the critical influence of his parents (conveyed to him by the medium of the voice), to whom were added,
as time went on those who trained and taught him and the innumerable and indefinable host of all the
other people in his environment - his fellow men - and public opinion'. It is the attitude of the other in
one's own organism, as to controlling the thing that he is going to do'.
 By contrast, the "T" is the response of the individual to the attitude of the community. The "T" acts
creatively, though within the context of the me. Mead notes that "It is only after we have acted that we
know what we have done... what we have said. People, he argues, are not automatons, Mead states that
"the I" reacts to the self which arises though the taking of the attitude of others." They do not blindly
follow rules. They construct a response on the basis of what they have learned, the "me". Mead
highlighted accordingly those that attach particularly to the "t" rather than to the me,"..which cannot be
calculated and which involve the reconstruction of the society, and so of the 'me' which belongs to
society." Taken together, the "I" and the "me" form the person or the self in Mead's social philosophy.
According to Mead, there would be no possibility of personality without both the "I" and the "Me". (Based
from the review of Kantor)

FUSIONS
Mead explored what he called 'the fusion of the "I: and the "me" in the attitudes of religion,
patriotism, and team work, noting what he called the "peculiar sense of exaltation" that belongs to them.
He also considered that the idea of the fusion of the "I" and the "me" gives a very adequate explanation
of this exaltation...in the aesthetic experience. In everyday life, however, a complete fusion of the "I" and
the "me" may not be a good thing...it is a dynamic sort of balance in between the "I" and the "me" that is
required.

References:

Ariola, Mariano M. General Psychology Today Purely Book Trading 2004, General Psychology with Drug Education
Katha Publishing Co.,2009, Philosophy of Human Person Purely Book Trading 2013
Warren, Rick L and Elizabeth Hayes Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education