1 GEC1

Understanding the Self

DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY
(1) “A study of fundamental nature of
SELF: DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHICAL PERPECTIVES knowledge, reality, and existence,
especially in academic discipline.” –
Wikipedia, 2020
THE QUESTIONS
• What is the self? (2) “A particular theory that someone has
• What is the meaning of the what? about to live or how to deal with particular
situation.” – Wikipedia, 2020
• What is the character of the self?
• What’s the point of the self?
(3) “The rational abstract and methodical
• What is the meaning of the self?
consideration of reality as a whole or of
• Origin of the self?
fundamental dimensions of human
• What self are we discussing here? existence and experience.” – Britannica,
⎯ You 2020
⎯ Consciousness
⎯ Man (4) “An all learning exclusive of technical
⎯ Soul precepts and practical arts. “ – Merriam-
⎯ Body Webster, 2020
⎯ Will
⎯ Mind (5) “The use of reason in understanding such
things as the nature of the real world and
WHY IS IT BEING ASKED
existence, the use and limits of knowledge
The condition: The Perennial Question and principals of moral judgment.” –
Cambridge Dictionary, 2020
• The question has been articulated and re-
articulated by different philosophers for PHILOSOPHERS OF THE ANCIENT TIMES
every historical period.
“Only the philosophical question is
perennial, not the answers.” The Socratic Life: Life of Inquiry
– Paul Tillich
- Know thyself!
• There are different ways where the - The unexamined life is not worth living.
question is being posed. There are different
answers being told. 1. Socrates
• The question is being asked because of the ⎯ “every man is composed of body
character of the self itself. and soul.”
“There is nothing permanent except
change.”
This means that all person has an
– Heraclitus imperfect, impermanent aspect to
him, and the body, while maintaining
• The inadequacy of the answers and that there is also a soul that is perfect
narratives. and permanent.
• The changing conditions of reality – natural
and sociological. ⎯ Who are we as Socrates wants us
to believe?
PHILOSOPHY
Beings of wonder, capable of reason,
and passionate pursuers.
• Philosophy came from the Greek words
“philia” and “sofia”
2. Plato
⎯ Three (3) Components of the soul
a. Sofia – stands for “wisdom”
b. Philia – stands for “love, desire for,
(a) Rational Soul – by reason and
interest in”
intellect
(b) Spirited Soul – by emotions
• Philia and Sofia was combined by
(c) Appetitive Soul – base desires
Pythagoras in 600 BC – meaning the love
(eating, drinking, etc.)
for wisdom.
⎯ Ideal state: Balance of the 3 souls.
3. Aristotle
⎯ Body – imperfect/impermanent 6. Immanuel Kant
Soul – perfect/permanent ⎯ Mind – organizes these impressions,
apparatuses of the mind.
⎯ Truth and wisdom
Virtues to attain ⎯ Intelligence – seat of acquisition for
all human persons.
4. Augustine
⎯ Concept of Plato and Christianity
3. Gilbert Ryle
Search to be with the divine. ⎯ Search for the university.

5. Thomas Aquinas ⎯ Self – not an entity one can locate and

⎯ Man is composed of two (2) parts analyze but simply the convenient
name that people use to refer to all
(a) Matter (Hyle) – common stuff that behaviors that people make.
makes up everything.
(b) Form (Morphe) – essence of a 4. Merlou Ponty
substance. ⎯ Body and Mind – instrument that
cannot be separated.
⎯ “It is what is makes it what it is.”

The soul is what animates the body, it ⎯ Living Body – thoughts, emotions,
is what makes us human. and experience are all one.

5. Churchland
PHILOSOPHERS IN CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
⎯ Eliminate materialism
(Eliminativism) – nothing but matter
1. Rene Descartes exists.
⎯ Believes that mind is the seat of our
consciousness. ⎯ Mind – the physical brain.
⎯ He gave the concept of dualism – that
6. John Locke
mind is separated from the body.
⎯ “Knowledge is something you are
(a) Cogito – mind not born with but learning and
(b) Extenza – body experience.”

⎯ “Cogito Ergo Sum” – I think therefore ⎯ Identity:

I am.
Man – physical body
One cannot doubt the existence of the Person – self, what our identity
self. A thing that thinks, therefore consists of.
cannot be doubted.
7. Sigmund Freud
2. David Hume
⎯ Man has consciousness
⎯ Empiricist – one can only know what
comes from the sense and
experience. ⎯ 3 parts of consciousness
(a) Id – pleasure principle.
⎯ Self – a combination of all Unconscious. (e.g. hunger, thirst,
experiences with a particular person. sex)
(b) Ego – reality principle. Conscious,
Bundle of expressions subconscious. (your present
- Basic object of our situation
experience and sensation. (c) Superego – moral principle.
- Forms the core of our Conscious, subconscious,
thoughts. unconscious. (your values and
morals)
Ideas – forms of impressions.
 •
2 GEC1 Language
Understanding the Self - “Both publicly share and privately
utilized symbol system in a site
THE SELF, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE where individual and the social
make and remake each other.” –
(Schwartz, White, Lutz 1993)
THE QUESTIONS
• What is the relationship between the - “The way that human person
external reality and the self? develop is with the use of
• How much of you are essential? language acquisition and
• How much of you are now is a product of interaction with others.” – (Mead
your society, community, and family? and Vigotzky)

THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WORLD

THE SELF
Mead and Vigotzky
1. Separate – the self is distinct from other
selves. • “The human mind is something that is
made.”
2. Self-contained and independent – in
itself it can exist • The way that human persons develop is
with the use of language acquisitions and
3. Consistent – it has a personality that is interaction with others.
enduring. It can be studied, described, and
measured. • We process information in form of internal
dialogue.
4. Unitary – the center of all experiences and
thoughts that run through a certain person. • The cognitive and emotional development
of a chile is mimicry of how it is done in the
5. Private – sorts out information, feelings, social world.
emotions, and thought processes within the
self. It is isolated from the external world. • A child internalizes values, norms,
practices, and social beliefs through
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM exposure to dialogues that will become part
of his individual world.
• The self should not be seen as static
entity that stays constant through and SELF IN FAMILIES
through.
Families
• In constant struggle with external reality
• Human persons learn the ways of living
and is malleable in its dealing with society.
and therefore their selfhood by being in a
family.
• The self is capable of morphing and fitting
itself into any circumstances it finds itself in. • The kind of family we are born in, the
resources available to us, and the kind of
THE SELF AND THE CULTURE development that we will have will certainly
affect us as we go through life.
• Marcel Mauss – every self has two faces:
personne and moi. GENDER AND THE SELF

(1) Personne – what it means to live in a Gender

particular institution, family, religion,
nationality, and how to behave in • One of the loci of the self that is subject to
given expectations, and influences alteration, change, and development.
from others.
(2) Moi – refers to a person’s sense of • It is important to give one leeway to find,
who he is, his body, his basic identity, express, and live his identity.
his biological givenness.
 “I” VS “ME”

3 GEC1
Understanding the Self
Self as subject.
Active
experience.
process
Self as object.
of What to know about
self.
THE SELF AS COGNITIVE CONSTRUCT Self-reflexiveness Self-descriptors
Self-awareness of Influenced by
ability to act and react. perceptions of other’s
Cognitive Psychology attitudes.
• Concerned with mental processes, as Unique individuality. Internalized attitudes
perception, thinking, learning, and memory, and values.
especially with respect to the internal Self construction. Social construction.
events occurring between sensing and the
expression of behavior. THE NATURE OF THE SELF

How do we gain self-knowledge?

Cognition
It’s not easy. We can look inward but it is
• The mental processes involved in gaining not always helpful to do this since our thoughts and
knowledge and comprehension. It includes
feelings are often confused.
thinking, knowing, remembering, judging,
and problem-solving. So, we tend to look outward to the societal
environment for clues. We learn a great deal about
• These are higher-level functions of the ourselves by observing how people treat us and
brain and encompass language, how we treat others.
imagination, perception, and planning.
• Identity or self-concept
- Composed of personal
THE SELF IN PSYCHOLOGY characteristics, social roles, and
responsibilities.
• The distinct individuality or identity of a - It is what comes to your mind when
person or thing. asked about who you are.
- It is not fixed in one-time frame.
• A person’s usual or typical bodily makeup
or personal characteristics. • Definition of self-concept
- We refer to the “known” aspect of
• An individual’s consciousness of his own the self as the “self-concept” which
identity or being. is the contents of the self. (i.e. our
knowledge of who we are.)
• The self is defined as, “the sense of - We refer to the “knower” aspect as
personal identity and of who we are as “self-awareness” which is the act of
individuals.” thinking about ourselves.

• William James (1890) • Self-concept Clarity

- Some people have a clearer self-
⎯ He conceptualized the self as “I” concept than others.
and “Me” - It is defined as the extent to which
knowledge about the self is clearly,
I – the thinking, acting, and feeling or consistently defined.
self. - People who are low in self-concept
Me – the physical characteristics, clarity are more likely to be neurotic,
capabilities. have low self-esteem, and less
likely to be aware of their internal
• Carl Roger (1915) state. (See Campbell and
colleagues, 1996)
⎯ Theory of Personality
DEFINITIONS AND OTHER CONCEPTS
I – the one who acts and decides.
Me – what you think or feel about
yourself. • Self-schema
- Our organized system or collection
of knowledge about who we are.
 The self-schema includes your - Presents us three (3) other self-
hobbies, family, religion, nationality, schema:
interest, work, course, age, name,
etc. a. Actual self – who you are at the
moment.
• Sigmund Freud b. Ideal self – who you like to be.
- He sees the self and the mind as a c. Ought self – who you think you
result of interaction between these should be. (e.g. responsibilities)
three (3) parts:
• Social Comparison Theory
a. Id – the instinctual part of the - We learn about ourselves, the
mind that contains sexual and appropriateness of our behaviors,
aggressive drives and hidden as well as our status, by comparing
memories. It is selfish and ourselves to other people.
wishful in nature. Illogical and
fantasy oriented. - Downward Social Comparison –
is a common type of comparing
b. Ego – the realistic part that ourselves to others. We create a
mediates between the desires positive self-concept by comparing
of id and super-ego. Modified by ourselves with those who are worse
the direct influence of the than us.
external world. The decision-
making component personality. - Upward Social Comparison – is
comparing ourselves with those
c. Super-ego – operates as a who are better than us. It can be a
moral conscience. Applies the motivation for some, but it could
values of society which are also lower your self-esteem
learned from one’s parents and because it shows your
others. weaknesses.

• Symbol Interactionism (G.H. Mead) • Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory

- Argues that the self is created and - States that we feel threatened
developed through human when someone outperforms us
interaction. We are social products or does better than us. Especially
because: when that person is close
peer/partner/friend.
▪ We do not create ourselves
out of nothing. - We usually act in three (3) ways:
▪ We need to others to affirm
and reinforce who we think a. We distance ourselves from the
we are. person.
▪ What’s important to us is b. We reconsider the aspect or
influenced by our social or skill you were outperformed in.
historical context. c. We try to improve that aspect of
ourselves.
• Self-awareness
- When we are aware of our self- • Always beware of narcissism.
concepts.

- Two (2) types of self we can be

aware of (Carver & Scheier,
1981):
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Understanding the Self
SELF IN WESTERN AND EASTERN THOUGHTS
a. The private self – your internal
private thoughts and feelings. Confucianism
b. The public self/image – geared
to having a good presentation of • Code of ethical conduct – of how one
yourself to others. should properly act according to their
relationship with other people.
 • Focused on harmonious social life. (Ho, • Loose associations or even loyalty to their
1995) groups.

• Self-cultivation • Competition is the name of the game.

- Seen as the ultimate purpose of life.
- Characteristics of chun-tzu, a man • Straightforward and forceful in their
of virtue or noble character. communication as well as decision-making.
- “subdued” self or the personal
needs are repressed for the good of
the many.
Taoism
• Living in the way of the Tao or the universe.

• Rejects having one definition of what the

Tao is and one can only state clues of what
is as they adopt a free-flowing, relative,
unitary, as well as paradoxical view of
almost everything.

• Reject the hierarchy and strictness brought

by Confucianism.

• Prefer a simple lifestyle and its teachings.

Thus, aim to describe how to attain that life.

• The self is not just an extension of the

family or community. It is part of the
universe, one of the forms and
manifestations of the Tao.

• Act spontaneously.

• Not restricted by some legalistic standards

because they are in harmony with
everything.
Buddhism
• The self is as an illusion, born out of
ignorance, of trying to hold and control
things, or human-centered needs.

• The self is the source of all these

sufferings.

• Our quest is to forget about the self, forget

the craving of the self, break the
attachments you have with the world, and
to renounce the self which is the cause of
all sufferings and in doing so, attain the
state of nirvana.
Western Culture
• Dualities – distinct from the other person,
the creator is separate from the object he
created.

• Individualistic Culture – the focus is the

person.