UNDERSTANDING

THE SELF
CLASS ORIENTATION
Presented By : Carl Alejandrei Rongcales
Technological University of the Philippines | 2024
COURSE DESCRIPTION

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COURSE REQUIRMENTS

Quizzes
Recitations
Seatworks
Reaction Papers/ Case Analysis
Final Requirements: Your own Philosophy of the Self
Majors Examination

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CLASSROOM RULES

ATTENDANCE IS A MUST - 5 ABSENCES MEANS

YOUR DROPPING OUT
PANCTUALITY - 15 MINUTES GRACE PERIOD WILL
BE GIVEN, ANYTHING OR ANYONE WILL ARRIVE
AFTER 15 MINUTES WILL BE CONSIDERED AS LATE.
3 TARDINESS IS EQUAL TO 1 ABSENT
ONE MOUTH POLICY - RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU
WANT TO SHARE SOMETHING

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GRADE COMPUTATION

Attendance: 20%
Attitude: 10
Recitation: 25
Output: 20%
Major Exams: 25%
Total : 100%

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GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER:
Tell us your name, age, and where you reside
Tell us somthing about yourself
Answer the question Do you really know who your are?
why and why not?

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 WHAT IS SELF?

The self is your main companion living in this world

It is something that a person perennially molds, shapes, and
develops.
The self is not a static thing that one is simply born with like a
mole on one’s face or is just assigned by one's parents just like a
name.
Everyone is tasked to discover one's self.

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 LESSON 1:
THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES
Discuss the different representations and conceptualizations of
the self from various disciplinal perspectives
Compare and contrast how the self has been represented across
disciplines and perspectives
Examine the different influences, factors and forces that shape
the self
Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analyzing the
development of one’s self and identify by developing a theory of
the self

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 CHAPTER 1 PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE ON SELF

Philosophy is derived from the Greek words “Philos” and

“Sophia” which literally means “Love for Wisdom”.
It is the study of acquiring knowledge through rational thinking
and inquiries that involves in answering questions regarding
the nature and existence of man and the world we live in.
It is imperative to look into the various explanations from
different philosophers their notion of what the “Self” its nature
and how it is formed in order to have a better picture on how
people develop their behaviors, attitude and actions and to be
able to identify and understand who we are and how we came
to be. 2
SOCRATES (470-399 B.C.E.)
Socrates coined the famous quote "An unexamined life
is not worth living which philosophers agreed that
knowing yourself is the pre-requisite for meaningful
life
For him, the self is synonymous with the soul. He
believed that soul is immortal and every human
possessed it.
He also emphasized that Death is the separation of soul
to the physical body and Death is not the end
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THE DICHOTOMOUS REALM

PHYSICAL REALM - It is imperfect, transient,

and changeable and the body belongs to the
physical realm
IDEAL REALM- It is the realm where our soul
belongs. it is eternal, unchanging and immortal

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HOW TO CAN WE EXAMINE OUR LIVES ACCORDING TO
SOCRATES:

Socrates was the first thinker to focus on the full power of

reason on the human self: who we are, who we should be,
and who we will become.
The soul strives for wisdom and perfection, and reason is
the soul's tool to achieve an exalted state of life
Our preoccupation with bodily needs such as food, drink,
sex, pleasure, material possessions, and wealth keep us
from atttaining wisdom

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HOW TO CAN WE EXAMINE OUR LIVES ACCORDING TO
SOCRATES (CONT)

Goodness or beauty is the most important of all.

A person can have a meaningful and happy life only if he
becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can
be achieved through constant soul-searching.
For him, this is best achieved when one tries to separate
the body from the soul as much as possible.
The Socratic method, the so-called introspection, is a
method of carefully examining our thoughts and emotions
- to gain self- knowledge.
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PLATO

Plato included in his work the learnings and ideas

shared to him by his teacher Socrates.
According to Plato, a person who is a follower of
truth and wisdom will not be tempted by vices
and will always be just.
Plato also believed in the division of a person’s
body and soul which forms the person as a whole
aside from the material things and that could be
observed and associated with a person 7
PLATO’S 3 PARTS OF THE SOUL
Appetitive Soul –Plato’s idea of the appetitive soul is the
part of the person that is driven by desire and need to
satisfy oneself
Spirited Soul – this part of the soul can be attributed to
the couragous part of a person, one who wants to do
something or to right the wrongs that they observe.
Rational Soul – The last part of the soul could be said is
the driver of our lives, this is the part that thinks and plan
for the future “the conscious mind” it decides what to do,
when to do it and the possible results one could have
depending on their actions. 7
ARISTOTLE
For him, the mind and body is not a separate element but
they are one thing
The soul is simply the form of the body and is not capable
of existing without the body
The soul makes the person a person, and the soul is the
essence of the self
without the body, the soul cannot exist, and the dies
along with the body

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ARISTOTLE
He suggested that anything with life has a soul
these souls are:
Vegetative- The Physical Body; Allows things to grow
Santient - Sensual Desire, Feelings, and Emotions
Rational - What makes us human; Include intellect
that makes man know and understand things
Aristotle suggests that the rational aspect of the self is to
lead a good, flourishing, and fulfilling life

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ST. AUGUSTINE

A Saint and a Philosopher of the church, St.

Augustine follows the idea that God encompasses
us all, that everything will be better if we are with
God.

His idea of a man and how to understand who we

are as a person is related to our understanding of
who we are and how we question ourselves

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ST. AUGUSTINE (CONT)

He emphasized that we may not be able to give our

agreement to everything other people tell us but we can
still agree to those who we, from our own perception,
think is right or wrong based from our perception.

He believes that our notion of ourselves and our idea of

existence comes from a higher form of sense in which
bodily senses may not perceive or understand, and the
more one doubts and question his life means that, that
person is actually living. 7
ST. AUGUSTINE (CONT)
He emphasized that we may not be able to give our agreement to
everything other people tell us but we can still agree to those
who we, from our own perception, think is right or wrong based
from our perception.

He believes that our notion of ourselves and our idea of existence

comes from a higher form of sense in which bodily senses may
not perceive or understand, and the more one doubts and
question his life means that, that person is actually living.

By continuously questioning and finding the truth will we be

able to find the best answer to who we are and what our role is
in the world.
RENE DESCARTES
Descartes is known for the statement “Cogito Ergo Sum”
which means in English as “I think therefore I am”. According
to him a person is comprised of mind and body, the body that
perceives from the different senses and the mind that thinks
and question or doubt what the body has experienced.
For him, the body and its perceptions cannot fully be trusted
or can easily be deceivedFor him, the body and its perceptions
cannot fully be trusted or can easily be deceived
He also implies that being in a constant doubt regarding one’s
existence is proof that a person actually exist.
LOCKE
His work on the self is most represented by the concept
“Tabula Rasa” which means a Blank Slate.
He believed that the experiences and perceptions of a
person is important in the establishment of who that
person can become.
The experiences of the person in the identification and
establishment of who we are as a person.
The process of the mind to absorb information and
accumulate knowledge may imply that as a person to be
able to be whom we want to be
DAVID HUME
There is no permanent “self”, that since our impressions of
things based from our experiences and from such impressions
we can create our ideas and knowledge which leads to the
argument that since our impression and ideas change
He said when a person is asked the question “who you are?
“That person tends to answer different impressions such as
good, happy, optimistic, contented, sad, etc. generally they
apply to who you are now but at the same time these
characteristics might change from time to time
EMMANUEL KANT
Kant responded to Hume’s work by trying to establish that the
collection of impressions and different contents is what it only
takes to define a person.
Kant argued that the awareness of different emotions that we
have, impressions and behaviour is only a part of our self
Kant argued that the sense called “Transcendental
Apperception” is an essence of our consciousness that provides
basis for understanding and establishing the notion of “self” by
synthesizing one’s accumulation of experiences, intuition and
imagination goes. Which means that this idea goes beyond what
we experience but still able to become aware of.
SIGMUND FREUD
Freud believed that man has different constructs of personality
that interacts with each other and along with his concept of the
different levels of consciousness provides an idea how a person
develops a sense of self.
SIGMUND FREUD’S ASPECT OF PERSONALITY
ID - also known as the child aspect of a person, The ID’s
attention is on satisfaction of one’s needs and self-gratification.
It is driven by the pleasure principle.
SUPEREGO- is the conscience of the one’s personality, Superego
has the inclination to uphold justice and do what is morally
right and socially acceptable actions.
EGO - Sometimes known as the Police or the mediator between
id and superego. It operates within the boundaries of reality,
primary function is to maintain the impulses of the ID to an
acceptable degree.
SIGMUND FREUD’S PROVINCES OF MIND
The Conscious where minority of our memories are being stored
and the memories that are in the conscious is easier to be
tapped or accessed.
Pre-conscious, the middle part of the entirety of our
consciousness, the memories stored in this area can still be
accessed but with a little difficulty
Unconscious, this area is where majority of our memories since
childhood are deeply stored. It is very difficult to tap the
memories in the unconscious, it would need a trained
professional and several special techniques in order to make
some memories resurface.
GILBERT RYLE
Self is the behavior presented by the person, his notion of
dualism is that the behavior that we show, emotions and
actions are the reflection of our mind and as such is the
manifestation of who we are.
Once we encounter others, their perceptions of what we do,
how we act, and the way we behave will then result to the
understanding of other people and establishing of who we are.

Ryle is saying that the things that we do, how we behave and
react and all other components like the way we talk, walk, and
look is generally who we are as a person.
PAUL CHURCHLAND
The main philosophy of Churhland built the idea of
“eliminative materialism”. Basically, eliminative materialism
opposes 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, this idea also applies on the
understanding of behaviour and emotions.
He believed that to fully understand one’s behaviour, one
should understand the different neurological movement of the
brain that pertains to different emotions, feelings, actions and
reactions and how such brain movements affect the body
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
For him perception guides our action based from what our
experiences are
The body perceives while our consciousness provides the
meaning or interprets the various perception we have in the
world and the self could be established by the perceptions we
have in the world, whereas one’s action
Behavior and language used could be said to be the reflection of
our united perception of the world.
 LESSON 2

SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Presented By : Carl Alejandrei B. Rongcales
WHAT IS SELF

The self is a relatively stable set of perceptions of who we are in

relation to ourselves, others, and tosocial systems.

The self is socially constructed in the sense that it is shaped

through interactionwith other people.
THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF MODERN SOCIETY
According to Gerry Lanuza's article, "The Constitution of the Self" (2004). In
modern societies, the attainment and stability of self-identity are "freely
chosen".

It is no longer controlled by customs and traditions.

The dissolution of traditional values and communities in a modern society

guided the individual to develop a strong and stable self-identity, and the
postmodernindividual accepts all the possibilities for self-improvement.

Therefore, in the postmodern societies, self-identity continuously developed

due to the very demanding multiple social contexts and the advent of new
information technologies and globalization
THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF POSTMODERN SOCIETY

Jean Baudrillard, a French sociologist, exposed the negative consequences of

post modernization to individuals in society (Demetrio, 2013).

The postmodern individuals achieve self-identity through prestige symbols

that they consume.

Individuals want to have a position in society through the quality of prestige

symbols that they can afford to consume.

It is manifested through the cultural practices of advertising and mass media

that have a great impact on the individual consumers' behavior of goods
consumption not for their value and utility but more for the feeling of
goodness and power when compared with other.
THE LOOKING-GLASS SELF

The looking-glass self describes how we perceive ourselves or how we base

our self-identity based on how other people view Us. Every person we
encounter become a mirror where we look at and see our reflection

The people we encounter served as a mirror, likewise their judgments,

opinions, sayings, perception, etc. on us served as a mirror. We look into that
mirror and see ourselves based on their description on us

We may consider their view of us, or we may not. We might use their
judgement to measure our worth,.values, and behavior, or we might not. It
depends o
MEAD
One of the most important sociological approaches to the self was
developed by American sociologist George Herbert Mead. Mead
conceptualizes the mind as the individual importation of the social
process.
This process is characterized by Mead as the “I” and the “me”. The
“me” is the social self and the “I” is the response to the “me”. The “I” is
the individual’s impulses. The “I” is self as subject; the “me” is self as
object.
For Mead, existence in a community comes before individual
consciousness. First one must participate in the different social
positions within society and only subsequently can one use that
experience to take the perspective of others and thus become self-
conscious
THE TWO DIVISIONS OF SELF: ME AND I
The "Me" Self - The objective element of the self and
considered as the socialized aspect of self. This
represents the behaviors and attitudes we get from
other people, and the expectations of others and
society we are trying to meet.

The "I" Self - The subjective element and the active

side of the self. This can be considered as the present
and future phase of the self. This represents the
unique traits of the individual.
MEAD’S THREE ROLE-PLAYING STAGES OF SELF DEVELOPMENT

The Preparatory Stage (Birth – 2 years Old) – According to Mead, during this
stage the infant simply imitates the actions and behaviors of the people that
the infant interacts with.

The Play Stage (2 – 6 years old) – for the Play stage, it is the time where
children begins to interact with other with which certain rules apply, these
rules often time does not adhere to any set or standards but rather are rules
that are set by the children themselves.

The Game Stage (6-9 years old) – The final stage of self-development
according to Mead where are characterized by the ability of the children to
recognize the rules of the game and be able to identify their roles and the
roles of the others that is playing with them.