UNIT I: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS

PERSPECTIVES
Lesson 1: Philosophy
2.5 weeks or 7.5 hours

Philosophy employs the inquisitive mind to discover the ultimate causes, reasons,
and principles of everything. It goes beyond scientific investigation by exploring all areas of
knowledge such as religion, psychology, politics, physics, and even medicine. Hence, the
etymological definition of philosophy "love of wisdom" could pertain to the desire for truth
by formulating never ending questions to provide answers to every inquiry about the
nature of human existence. The nature of the self is a topic of interest among
philosophers.
The philosophical framework for understanding the self was
first introduced by the ancient great Greek philosophers
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. In particular, Socrates
suggests: "Know thyself" But what exactly does "know
thyself" mean? What is self and the qualities that define
it? This lesson presents an overview of the philosophical
perspective of the self to assist students identify one's
own self to gain self-knowledge. It intends to give a
wider perspective in understanding the self. The
different views of prominent philosophers regarding the
nature of the self are discussed and while there are
disagreements in how philosophers view the self, most of
them agree that self-knowledge is a prerequisite to a happy
and meaningful life.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. discuss and explore the concept of the self from the different philosophical
perspective;
2. appreciate the contribution of each philosophical perspective to a better
understanding of the self;
3. examine oneself on how the philosophical perspectives on the self are applied; and
4. make a personal philosophy of the self.

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 Philosophy as a subject presents various philosophers offering multiple perspectives
on just about any topic including the self. Philosophical, discussion of the self is a basic
search for meaning and purpose in life. Determination, rationalization, and identification of
the self set the direction from which an individual travels to fulfill his or her purpose in life.
The inability to define oneself leads to a lot of contradictions within the self later on;
hence, it is one of the many imperatives in life to know oneself and to go on with the
business of leading a life charted by oneself.

Socrates
No historical document proves that Socrates really existed. We only know Socrates
because his illustrious students (from Plato to Aristotle) spoke eloquently and generously
about his wit, intellect, and wisdom. Socrates left no known writings, bur his highly

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regarded student, Plato, wrote extensively about him. Some would even claim that Plato,
in positing his own radical ideas in his era, spoke through the character of Socrates in his
writings. Despite this mystery in his identity, Socrates is credited for his many contributions
to western philosophy.
Socrates reminds us to "know thyself," a translation of
an ancient Greek aphorism gnothi Seauton, Socrates posited
that if a person knows who he or she is, all basic issues and
difficulties in life will vanish and everything will be clearer
and simpler. One could now act according to his or her own
definition of the self without any doubt and contradiction.
His technique of asking basic questions such as "Who
am I?" "What is the purpose of my life?," "What am I doing
here?" or "What is justice?" are all predicated on the fact that
humans must be able to define these simple things so as to
move forward and act accordingly based on their definition of the
self.
Self knowledge, for Socrates, means knowing one's degree of understanding about
the world and knowing one's capabilities and potentials. It is only through self-knowledge
that one's self emerges. Therefore, self is achieved and not just discovered, something to
work on and not a product of a mere realization.
For Socrates, possession of knowledge is virtue and ignorance is vice. He argued
that a person's acceptance of ignorance is a springboard for the acquisition of knowledge
later on. So, one must first have the humility to acknowledge his or her ignorance so as to
acquire knowledge. (“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”)
Answers will always be subjective and there is no right or wrong answer to the
questions posited by Socrates. The quality and quantity of answers are dependent on the
person answering these basic inquiries and one's subsequent actions are best understood
on how one defines oneself, thus the constant reminder to "know thyself."
For Socrates, every man is composed of body and soul. This means that every
human person is dualistic, that is, he is composed of two important aspects of his
personhood. For Socrates, this means all individuals have an imperfect, impermanent
aspect to him, and the body, while maintaining that there is also a soul that is perfect and
permanent. He argued that the ruler of the body is the soul. For him, soul pre-existed the
body, and soul is what makes the body alive.

Plato
An ancient Greek philosopher who was a student of
Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle, Plato produced a
substantial body of work that became the basis for western
thought. He basically took off from his master and
supported the idea that man is a dual nature of body and
soul. In addition to what Socrates earlier espoused, Plato
added that there are three components of the soul: the
rational soul, the spirited soul, and the appetitive
soul.
In his magnum opus, "The Republic" (Plato
2000), Plato emphasizes that justice in the human
person can only be attained if the three parts of the soul
are working harmoniously with one another. The rational soul
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forged by reason and intellect has to govern the affairs of the human person, the spirited
part which is in charge of emotions should be kept at bay, and the appetitive soul in
charge of base desires like eating, drinking, sleeping, and having sex are controlled as
well. When this ideal state is attained, then the human person's soul becomes just and
virtuous.
In terms of the concept of the self, Plato was one of the first philosophers who
believed in an enduring self that is represented by the soul. He argued that the soul is
eternal and constitutes the enduring self, because even after death, the soul continues to
exist.

St. Augustine
Augustine's view of the human person reflects the entire spirit of the medieval
world when it comes to man. Following the ancient view of Plato and infusing it with the
newfound doctrine of Christianity, Augustine agreed that man is of a bifurcated nature. An
aspect of man dwells in the world and is imperfect and continuously yearns to be with the
Divine and the other is capable of reaching immortality. The body is bound to die on earth
and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss in communion with
God. This is because the body can only thrive in the imperfect, physical reality that is the
world, whereas the soul can also stay after death in an eternal realm with the all-
transcendent God. The goal of every human person is to attain this communion and bliss
with the Divine by living his life on earth in virtue.
However, Augustine in his Confessions takes
this idea and expands it into an entire genre that
critically inquires what it means to be a person. In
other words, he explores the idea of the self until he
discovers personal subjectivity. As Augustine
constructs a view of God that would come to
dominate Western thinking, he also creates a new
concept of individual identity: the idea of the self.
This identity is achieved through a twofold process:
self-presentation, which leads to self-realization.
Augustine creates a literary character out of the self
and places it in a narrative text so that it becomes
part of the grand allegory of redemption. In The
Confessions, Augustine plays the lead role in the
story of his own life. By telling this tale he
transforms himself into a metaphor of the struggle
of both body and soul to find happiness, which
exists only in God’s love. He reads his life as an
allegory to arrive at a larger truth.

Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes, Father of Modern Philosophy conceived of the human person as
having a body and a mind. In his famous treatise, The Meditations of First Philosophy, he
claims that there is so much that we should doubt. In fact, he says that since much of
what we think and believe are not infallible, they may turn out to be false. One should only
believe that since which can pass the test of doubt (Descartes 2008). If something is so
clear and lucid as not to be even doubted, then that is the only time when one should
actually buy a proposition. In the end, Descartes thought that the only thing that one

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 cannot doubt is the existence of the self, for even if one doubts
oneself, that only proves that there is a doubting self, a
thing that thinks and therefore, that cannot be doubted.
Thus, his famous, cogito ergo sum, "I think therefore, I
am." The fact that one thinks should lead one to
conclude without a trace of doubt that he exists. The
self then for Descartes is also a combination of two
distinct entities, the cogito, the thing that thinks, which
is the mind, and the extenza or extension of the mind,
which is the body. In Descartes's view, the body is
nothing else but a machine that is attached to the mind.
The human person has it but it is not what makes man a
man. If at all, that is the mind. Descartes says, "But what
then, am I? A thinking thing. It has been said. But what is a
thinking thing? It is a thing that doubts, understands
(conceives), affirms, denies, wills, refuses; that imagines also, and
perceives" (Descartes 2008).
For Descartes, the existence of anything that you register from your senses can be
doubted. For example, if you are staring at a burning building, you are not certain if that
building is really burning or it is something you are only reconstructing from your dream.
One can always doubt about the certainty of things but the very fact that one doubts is
something that cannot be doubted. This is what "I think, therefore I am" means.
The self, for Descartes, is nothing else but a mind-body dichotomy. Thought (mind)
always precedes action (body). It has always been in that sequence. Everything starts with
a thought. Humans think first about doing something and then do it. When one thinks that
he or she will have a very busy week, then he or she will plan what to do from Monday to
Sunday. It is the thought that sets direction to human actions but humans are always free
to choose. So, if one says he or she will have a very busy week, then he or she can push
through with the tasks he or she needs to do for the week or not.
Humans are self-aware and being such proves their own place 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. If you have heard
of the saying that man is a rational animal, one is actually positing the ideas of Rene
Descartes. To acknowledge him, Filipinos have a unique term, "diskarte," a derivative of
the surname of Descartes, which denotes finding a way or making things possible.

John Locke
John Locke's main philosophy about personal identity or the self is founded on
consciousness or memory. For Locke, consciousness is the
perception of what passes in a Man's own mind. He rejected
that brain has something to do with consciousness as
the brain, as well as the body may change, while
consciousness remains the same. He concluded that
personal identity is not in the brain but in one's
consciousness.
In his work, "Identity and Diversity” in An Essay
Concerning Human Understanding (1689), he
pondered, if the same Substance which thinks be
changed, it can be the same person, or remaining the
same, it can be a different person." Here, he supports that
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consciousness can be transferred from one substance (body and soul) to another. While
the soul is changed, for instance, consciousness remains the same, thereby maintaining
the personal identity through the change. On the other hand, consciousness may be lost
involuntarily through forgetfulness while the soul stays the same. With this, he claimed
that there is the same soul but a different person. Thus, the same soul is unnecessary or
insufficient in the formation of one's personal identity over time when consciousness is
lost.
His philosophy can be understood easily in his illustration of “The Prince and the
Cobbler." Suppose a prince will die and have its soul resurrected in the body of a cobbler
whose soul has departed. With this exchange, the prince will still act and think as a prince
even though he finds himself in a new body. This idea supports the possibility that the
same person may appear in a different body at the time of resurrection and yet still be the
same person.
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 one's experiences over time.

David Hume
David Hume a Scottish philosopher, has a very unique way of looking at man. As an
empiricist who believes that one can know only what comes from the senses and
experiences, Hume argues that the self is nothing like what his predecessors thought of it.
The self is not an entity over and beyond the physical body. One can rightly see here the
empiricism that runs through his veins. Empiricism is the school of thought that espouses
the idea that knowledge can only be possible if it is sensed and experienced. Men can only
attain knowledge by experiencing. For example, Jack knows that Jill is another human
person not because he has seen her soul. He knows she is just like him because he sees
her, hears her, and touches her.
To David Hume, the self is nothing else but a bundle of
impressions. What are impressions? For David Hume, if one
tries to examine his experiences, he finds that they can all
be categorized into two: impressions and ideas.
Impressions are the basic objects of our experience or
sensation. They therefore form the core of our thoughts.
When one touches an ice cube, the cold sensation is an
impression Impressions therefore are vivid because they
are products of our direct experience with the world.
Ideas, on the other hand, are copies of impressions
Because of this they are not as lively and vivid as our
impressions. When one imagines the feeling of being in
love for the first time that still is an idea.
Hume's materialism views the soul as a product of the
imagination. There is no primordial substance that houses the self. Any concept of the self
is simply memory and imagination. Hume stressed that there is no stable thing called self,
for the self is nothing but a complex set of successive impressions or perceptions. If you
are looking for a self, you can't find it; the only thing that you can discover is a set of
individual impressions like happiness or sadness, hotness or coldness, hunger or fullness,
hate or love, and many others. What you think and what you feel constitute what you are
at this very moment. So, if at this moment, you are happy, then you are happy. If you are
hungry, then you are hungry. That is what you are; that is who you are.

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 What is the self then? Self, according to Hume, is simply “a bundle or collection of
different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in
a perpetual flux and movement”. (Hume and Steinberg 1992) Men simply want to believe
that there is a unified, coherent self, a soul or mind just like what the previous
philosophers thought. In reality, what one thinks is a unified self is simply a combination of
all experiences with a particular person.

Immanuel Kant
German philosopher Immanuel Kant theorized that consciousness is formed by
one's inner and outer sense. The inner sense is comprised of one's psychological state and
intellect. The outer sense consists of one's senses and the physical world.
Consciousness of oneself and of one's psychological state (or inner sense) was
referred to by Kant as empirical self- consciousness while consciousness of oneself and of
one's state via acts of apperception is called transcendental apperception.
The source of empirical self-consciousness is the inner
sense. All representational states are in the inner sense such
as moods, feelings, and sensations including pleasure and
pain. One must be phenomenally conscious to be aware
of something in the inner sense.
Apperception is the faculty that allows for
application of concepts. The act of apperceiving
allows one to synthesize or make sense of a unified
object. Transcendental apperception makes
experience possible and allows the self and the world
to come together.
Consciousness being unified, Kant argued, is
the central feature of the mind (Brook, 2013). Mind
should perform both the unity of consciousness and the
unity of apperception. Consciousness makes the world
intelligible. It is the self that organizes sensations and
thoughts into a picture that makes sense to a person. This
picture constitutes the "you" at the center of the universe, looking
at the universe from one's point of view. For example, think about a moment when you
shared memorable experiences with someone but each of you had radically different
experiences-swimming, attending reunion, or walking at a party. Reflect on the way each
person instinctively describes the situation from his or her perspective. This is the unity of
consciousness that Kant described. The self is able to perform this synthesizing and
unifying function because it transcends sense experience.
Kant recognizes the veracity of Hume's account that everything starts with
perception and sensation of impressions. However, Kant thinks that the things that men
perceive around them are not just randomly infused into the human person without an
organizing principle that regulates the relationship of all these impressions. To Kant, there
is a mind that organizes the impressions that men get from the external world. Time and
space, for example, are ideas that one cannot find in the world, but is built in our minds.
Kant calls these the apparatuses of the mind. Along with the different apparatuses of the
mind goes the "self." Without the self, one cannot organize the different impressions that
one gets in relation to his own existence. Kant therefore suggests that it is an actively
engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes all knowledge and experience. Thus, the self
is not just what gives one his personality. In addition, it is also the seat of knowledge
acquisition for all human persons.

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Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud emphasized the inner dynamics of unconscious motives. He asserted that the
sex urges in the unconscious constitute the main human drive. This is known as the
“libido” theory.
Many human desires are directed and complicated by
unconscious motives which we are not directly aware of
because they lie in the substrata of our consciousness
but which are nevertheless powerful drives that may
dominate our lives.
Basic to Freud’s theory is the conception that
the unacceptable (forbidden, punished}
wishes/desires of childhood principally libidinal
(sexual) are repressed in our consciousness or get
driven out of awareness. Repressed drives press to
find expression in dreams, slips of speech, and in
unconscious mannerisms. They are the reasons for many
of our inner conflicts in life.
Freud believed that all human behavior is energized by
psychodynamic forces. One needs psychic energy in order to satisfy his basic urges. He
viewed human as an inherently negative creature who is relentlessly “driven” by two kinds
of biological instincts (or motives).

Two Kinds of Biological Instincts

1. Eros or life instinct – helps the individual survive; directs life-sustaining activities.
Ex. respiration, eating, sex
2. Thanatos or death instinct – is viewed as the destructive forces present in all human
beings.
Ex. destructive acts like arson, murder, war

Freud’s Structure of the Human Mind

According to Sigmund Freud, our personality develops from the interactions among
what he proposed as the three fundamental structures of the human mind: the id, ego,
and superego.

Three Components/Structures of the Mind

1. id – the most primitive of the three structures, is
concerned with instant gratification of basic physical
needs and urges without fear of consequences nor regard
for discipline or control. It operates by the pleasure
principle; it includes all the erotic cravings including sex
drives, pleasure drives, aggressive drives, and other
instinctual forces which seek expression. The id occupies
the unconscious level of the mind, and when a person is
id-dominated, he is aggressive, self-centered, sadistic,
arrogant and ambitious for himself alone.
For example, if your id walked past a stranger eating ice cream, it would most likely
take the ice cream for itself. It doesn’t know, or care, that it is rude to take
something belonging to someone else; it would care only that you wanted the ice
cream.
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 2. superego – Moral Arm of Personality or obey the morality
principle. It is concerned with social rules and morals. It
represents the ideal, and strives for perfection rather than
pleasure or for reality. It also serves as the conscience. It
develops as a child learns what their culture considers right
and wrong.
Example: If your superego walked past the same stranger, it
would not take their ice cream because it would know that
that would be rude. However, if both your id and your
superego were involved, and your id was strong enough to
override your superego’s concern, you would still take the ice cream, but afterward
you would most likely feel guilt and shame over your actions.
3. ego – In contrast to the instinctual id and the moral
superego, the ego is the rational, pragmatic part of our
personality. It obeys the reality principle and block the
id’s irrational thinking. It delays gratification and find
realistic ways of gratifying the instinct. It is less
primitive than the id and is partly conscious and partly
unconscious. It’s what Freud considered to be the
“self,” and its job is to balance the demands of the id
and superego in the practical context of reality.
So, if you walked past the stranger with ice cream one more time, your ego would
mediate the conflict between your id (“I want that ice cream right now”) and
superego (“It’s wrong to take someone else’s ice cream”) and decide to go buy
your own ice cream. While this may mean you have to wait 10 more minutes,
which would frustrate your id, your ego decides to make that sacrifice as part of
the compromise– satisfying your desire for ice cream while also avoiding an
unpleasant social situation and potential feelings of shame.

Conflict within the mind: According to Freud, the job of the ego is to balance the
aggressive/pleasure-seeking drives of the id with the moral control of the superego.

Conflicts among these three structures, and our efforts to find balance among what
each of them “desires,” determines how we behave and approach the world. What balance
we strike in any given situation determines how we will resolve the conflict between two
overarching behavioral tendencies: our biological aggressive and pleasure-seeking drives
vs. our socialized internal control over those drives.

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Freud's Three Levels of Mind
Freud delineated the mind in the distinct levels, each with their own roles and functions.
Freud likened the three levels of mind to an iceberg.
1. The conscious mind contains all of the thoughts, sensations, memories, feelings,
and wishes of which we are aware at any given moment. This is the aspect of our
mental processing that we can think and talk about rationally. This also includes
our memory, which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily
and brought into awareness. It is likened to the tip of an iceberg that you can see
above the water.

2. The preconscious mind includes thoughts, feelings, sensations, or memories we

are not aware of at the moment, but may be brought to consciousness. Compared
to the part of the iceberg that is submerged below the water, but is still visible.

3. The unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and repressed

memories, instincts and wishes we are not aware of or that are outside of our
conscious awareness. The unconscious contains contents that are unacceptable or
unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict. The bulk of the iceberg
that lies unseen beneath the waterline represents the unconscious.

The mind is like an iceberg-mostly hidden.

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Gilbert Ryle
Gilbert Ryle, a British philosopher, opposed Rene Descartes that the self is a
"thinking thing." He maintained that the mind is not separate from the body (mind-body
dichotomy). Mind consists of dispositions of people based on what they know, what they
feel, what they want, and so on. People learn that they have their own minds because they
behave in certain ways. What truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his
day-to-day life.
For Ryle, looking for and trying to understand a self as it
really exists is like visiting your friend’s university and looking
for the "university." One can roam around the campus, visit
the library and the football field, and meet the
administrators and faculty and still end up not finding the
"university." This is because the campus, the people, the
systems, and the territory all form the university. Ryle
suggests that the "self is not an entity one can locate and
analyze but simply the convenient name that people use to
refer to all the behaviors that people make.
Ryle supported the basic notions of behavioristic
psychology. His theory is called logical behaviorism or analytical
behaviorism-a theory of mind which states that mental concepts
can be understood through observable events.
In his work Concept of Mind (1949), he described Descartes mind-body dualism as
"ghost in the machine." For him, Descartes idea is a category mistake supporting that
there is an immaterial mind in a material body. Descartes thought that one has soul in the
body that possesses talents, memories, and character. The properties of a person are
better understood as adjectives modifying a body, than as noun (objects) parallel to it.
Kindness, for example, is not a thing that exists apart from and parallel to the body, but
rather a collection of properties a body has. Kindness includes properties such as being
generous, humble, courteous, loyal, and honest. Someone who never exhibited any of
these traits would not be called kind; and anyone who is considered kind exhibits some of
these traits.
The only proof of the mind's operation is visible and evident in activities like
singing, running, walking, and the like. Knowing and believing are just dispositions but
these influence people's actions. To understand Ryle's illustration of the mind, think of this
scenario: You went to a forest and you saw the trees, animals, falls, and caves. You might
ask, "Where is the forest?" This is similar to asking, "Where is the mind?" All the things you
saw is the forest. Therefore, the disposition to know, believe, feel, and act is called the
mind.
As for Ryle's concept of the self, the self is a combination of the mind and the
body. While the focus of other philosophers is towards the separation of mind and body (a
dualist view), for Ryle, self is taken as a whole with the combination of the body and the
mind. Ryle also posited the maxim, "I act, therefore I am." For him, the mind is not the
seat of self but the behavior, opposing Descartes' immaterial mind in a material body. The
self is the way people behave.

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Paul Churchland and Patricia Churchland

Paul Churchland and Patricia Churchland, who are both neuroscientists, introduced
eliminative materialism-"a radical claim that ordinary, common sense understanding of the
mind is deeply wrong and that some or all of the mental states posited by common sense
do not actually exist" (Ramsey, 2013). For theme it is false to claim that folk psychology,
or common sense psychology, is the capacity to explain mental states of people.

Most people think that we have a stream of consciousness that contains images
and conceptions of things about which we have beliefs and attitudes. Our beliefs and
attitudes are supported by our feelings, which include
mental states like joy and sorrow, or anxiety and relief.
It is also a folk belief that our sense of the world and of
ourselves is a direct representation of how the world is
formed, thus making our bodies reflect or adapt the way
the world is (Weed, 2011).

The Churchlands argued that talk of mental

states would eventually be abandoned in favor of a
radically different view of how the brain works not
identified with mental states. For them, self is nothing
else but brain, or simply, the self is
contained entirely within the
physical brain.

In Patricia Churchland's book Touching a Nerve: The

Self as Brain (2013), she wrote: "My brain and I are
inseparable. I am who I am because my brain is what it is.
Even so, I often think about my brain in terms different
from those I use when thinking about myself. I think about
my brain as that, and about myself as me. I think about my
brain as having neurons, but I think of me as having a
memory. Still, I know that my memory is all about the
neurons in my brain. Lately, I think about my brain in more
intimate terms-as me." This supports the idea that to
understand the self, one must study the brain, not just the
mind.

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Merleau-Ponty

Merleau-Ponty is a phenomenologist who asserts that

the mind-body bifurcation that has been going on for a
long time is a futile endeavor and an invalid problem.
Unlike Ryle who simply denies the "self," Merleau-
Ponty instead says that the mind and body are so
intertwined that they cannot be separated from
one another. One cannot find any experience that
is not an embodied experience. All experience is
embodied. One's body is his opening toward his
existence to the world. Because of these bodies,
men are in the world. Merleau-Ponty dismisses
the Cartesian Dualism that has spelled so much
devastation in the history of man. For him, the
Cartesian problem is nothing else but plain
misunderstanding. The living body, his thoughts,
emotions, and experiences are all one.

He distinguished the body into two types: the subjective body, as lived and
experienced, and the objective body, as observed and scientifically investigated. For him,
these two are not different bodies." The former is the body as-it-is-lived. He wrote, "But I
am not in front of my body, I am in my body, or rather I am my body.” He regarded self as
embodied subjectivity. It sees human beings neither as disembodied minds (existing
without body) nor as complex machines, but as living creatures whose subjectivity
(consciousness) is actualized in the forms of their physical involvement with the world. The
body is the general medium for having a world and we know not through our intellect but
through our experience. The latter is the body as observed and scientifically investigated.
It is the body that is known to others. These are bodies that people see, admire, imitate,
criticize, or even dissect.
For phenomenological philosophers, to be a subject (a self) essentially requires a
body. Consciousness cannot simply be immaterial but must be embodied. The "I think"
implies "I can,” in the sense that "I can” go somewhere else as a being possessing a body.
This is where Merleau-Ponty opposed the dualist account of subjectivity. Mind and body
are essentially correlated and it is not possible to understand subjectivity without taking
into account this essential correlation. He also opposed the Cartesian cogito. For him,
consciousness is both perceiving and engaging.
To sum it up, Merleau-Ponty's, "I am my body" cannot simply be interpreted as
advocating a materialist, behaviorist type position. He accepts the idea of mental states but
he also suggests that the use of the mind is inseparable from our bodily, situated, physical
nature. The body cannot be viewed solely as an object, or material entity of the world.

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After reading all the philosophical perspectives on the self, make your own philosophy of
the self incorporating the ideas you learned from the different philosophers.

MY PHILOSOPHY OF THE SELF

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Multiple Choice: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answers before the
number of the test item.
1. He is regarded as the Father of Modern Philosophy.
A. Gilbert Ryle B. Rene Descartes
C. John Locke D. Immanuel Kant
2. He postulates that the human mind at birth is a blank slate or tabula rasa.
A. David Hume B. Immanuel Kant
C. Gilbert Ryle D. John Locke
3. It refers to the emotion or desire portion that wants and feels many things based
on Plato’s ideas.
A. spirited soul B. rational soul
C. vegetative soul D. appetitive soul
4. What main categories did Hume use to describe mental perceptions?
A. impressions and ideas B. the physical and the spiritual
C. ideas and memories D. sensations and perceptions
5. The first philosopher to engage in systematic questioning about the self.
A. Aristotle B. Socrates C. Plato D. St. Augustine

Alata, Eden Joy, Caslib, Bernardo Jr., Serafica, Janice Patria & Pawilen, R.A. 2018.
Understanding The Self . 1st Ed. Manila, Philippines: Rex Book Store, 1st ed.

Brawner, D. and Arcega, A. 2018. Understanding the Self. 1st Ed. Manila, Philippines:
C & E Publishing, Inc.

Corpuz M. Ronald, Estoque S. Ronan, & Tabotabo, Claudio V. 2019. Understanding the
Self . 1st Ed. Manila, Philippines: C & E Publishing, Inc. 1st Ed.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/psychodynamic-
perspectives-on-personality/

16
 UNIT I: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS
PERSPECTIVES
Lesson 2: Psychology
1.5 weeks or 4.5 hours

How do you define who you are? Do you rely on

the different roles and relationships you have, such as
being a mother, a teacher, a soldier, or a son? Or, would
you say your identity is more based on your thoughts,
emotions, and knowledge of the world around you? Some
people believe it is neither of those, and that the sense of
self is your self-esteem. Do you like what you see when
you look in the mirror? What do you think you're capable
of accomplishing? All of these questions pertain to the
idea of the sense of self.
In psychology, the sense of self is defined as the
way a person thinks about and views his or her traits,
beliefs, and purpose within the world. It refers to a
person’s experience as a single, unitary, autonomous
being that is separate from others, experienced with
continuity through time and place. The experience of the
self starts when one identifies himself or herself as an
object, followed by describing oneself as a self-concept or
self-feeling, and ends with saying that the self is
manifested in how one acts and presents himself or
herself to others.(Zhao, 2014). In this process, the self is
perceives through how one sees and understands himself
or herself.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. identify oneself based on William James Theory of Self;

2. differentiate one’s real self and ideal self; and
3. value the importance of alignment of oneself.

17
Real Self vs. Ideal Self

On the left column list down descriptions of your real self (Who you actually are?) and on
the right descriptions of your ideal self (Who do you want to be?).

Real Self (Who you actually are) Ideal Self (Who do you want to be?)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Processing Questions

1. How did you feel when you were trying to identify words that describe your real
self?

2. Was it difficult or easy to look for words to describe your real self? Why or why
not?

3. How did you feel when you were asked to identify your ideal self?

4. Was it difficult or easy to think of words to describe your ideal self? Why or why
not?

18
The Self as Cognitive Construct

How people define themselves in relation to others greatly influences how they
think, feel, and behave, and is ultimately related to the construct of identity. Self-
development is a continuous process throughout the lifespan; one’s sense of self may
change, at least somewhat, throughout one’s life. Self-representation has important
implications for socio-emotional functioning throughout the lifespan.

William James Theory of Self

Philosopher and psychologist William James (1842–1910) was one of the first to
postulate a theory of the self in The Principles of Psychology. James described two aspects
of the self that he termed the “I” Self and “Me” Self. The “I” Self reflects what people
see or perceive themselves doing in the physical world (e.g., recognizing that one is
walking, eating, writing). It also refers to the aspects of someone that come from that
person's experiences or known as the
“empirical self”, whereas the “Me” Self
is a more subjective and psychological
phenomenon, referring to individuals’
reflections about themselves (e.g.
characterizing oneself as athletic,
smart, cooperative). It is classified as
the thinking self. Other terms such as
self-view, self-image, self-schema, and
self-concept are also used to describe
the self-referent thoughts
characteristic of the “Me” Self.

James further distinguished three components of the Me Self. These include: (1)
the material self (e.g., tangible objects or possessions we collect for ourselves); (2) the
social self (e.g., how we interact and portray ourselves within different groups, situations,
or persons); and (3) the spiritual self (e.g., internal dispositions).

1. The Material Self. Consists of

things that belong to us or that we
belong to. Things like family,
clothes, our body, and money are
some of what makes up our
material selves. It refers to
tangible objects, people, or places
that carry the designation my or
mine.

19
  Two subclasses of the material self can be distinguished: The bodily self and
the extracorporeal (beyond the body) self. Rosenberg (1979) has referred
to the extracorporeal self as the extended self.
 The bodily component of the material self requires little explanation. A
person speaks of my arms or my legs. These entities are clearly an intimate
part of who we are.
 But our sense of self is not limited to our bodies. It includes other people
(my children), pets (my dog), possessions (my car), places (my home
town), and the products of our labors (my painting) called extended self.
 It is not the physical entities themselves, however, that comprise the
material self. Rather, it is our psychological ownership of them (Scheibe,
1985). For example, a person may have a favorite chair she likes to sit in.
The chair itself is not part of the self. Instead, it is the sense of
appropriation represented by the phrase “my favorite chair.” This is what we
mean when we talk about the extended self. It includes all of the people,
places, and things that we regard as “ours.”

2. The Social Self. It refers to how we are regarded

and recognized by others.
 Our social selves are who we are in a given social
situation. For James, people change how they act
depending on the social situation that they are in.
James believed that people had as many social
selves as they did social situations they
participated in.

3. The Spiritual Self. For James, the spiritual self was who we are at our core. The
spiritual self is more concrete or permanent than the other two selves. The spiritual
self is our subjective and most intimate self. Aspects of an individual's spiritual self
include things like their personality, core values, and conscience that do not
typically change throughout their lifetime.
 The spiritual self is our inner self or our psychological self. It is comprised of our
self-perceived abilities, attitudes, emotions, interests, values, motives, opinions,
traits, and wishes.

Carl Rogers's Self Theory

Carl Rogers' believed that the self does not exist at birth; it is developed gradually
during childhood wherein one differentiates the self from non-self. He proposed that by
means of free choice and action, one can shape himself or herself based on what he or she
wants to be. Rogers considered the self as the center of experience. According to him, the
self is one's ongoing sense of who and what he or she is and how and why he or she
responds to the environment. The choices an individual makes are based on his or her set
of values. Roger's theory focuses on the nature of the self and the conditions that allow
the self to freely develop (Rathus, 2014).

20
Real Self vs. Ideal Self

The real self is who an individual actually is, intrinsically. It is the self that feels
closest to how one identifies with. It is how one thinks, feels, looks, and acts. It is the self
that feels most natural, comfortable, and true to what and who one really is. It is the self
that one continuously needs to accept, takes care of,
and improves. Despite the difficulty of an individual to
truly know how others see him or her, his or her real
self can still be possibly seen. One's significant other
may tell almost exactly his or her real self. The real
self is one's self-image.

The ideal self, on the other hand, is the

perception of what a person would like to be or thinks
he or she would be. It is an idealized image that has
developed over time based on the influence of the environment and the people one
interacts with. It is the self that one thinks he or she should be, and that one feels others
think he or she should be. This self is a product of expectations and pressures from other
people, and arises from the need to be loved and accepted by others. It is dynamic and
forever changing.
For example, your parents are medical doctors who are respected and admired in
the community, and experience tells you that in order to be happy, you need to be smart
and have a high-paying job. Your Ideal Self might be someone who excels in science
subjects, spends a lot of time studying, and does not get queasy at the sight of blood. If
your Real Self is far from this idealized image, then you might feel dissatisfied with your
life and consider yourself a failure.
Carl Rogers believed that we all own a real self and an ideal self. The real self of
course is what we are intrinsically. It’s the self that feels most true to what and who we
really are; the honest self that leaves us most comfortable in our skin. It may not be
perfect, but it`s the part of us that feels most real. And it`s the one we need to learn to
love the most. The ideal self on the other hand, is the self that we think we want to be,
that we strive to be, and that we feel we are expected to be. This self is borne out of
influences outside of us. It is the self that holds values absorbed from others; a
culmination of all those things that we think we should be, and that we feel others think
we should be. We want to accommodate those expectations because we believe we will
be more loved and accepted if we do. Holding the values of others is not a conscious
decision, but rather, a process of osmosis. For the most part, we are not even aware of it.

Importance of Alignment

Sadly, having an overly strong ideal

self can be detrimental to our mental health.
It is healthy to some extent to have what we
envision as an ideal self. It is something
that we all strive for; to be the best that we
can be. Who doesn’t want that? The
problem arises when our ideal selves are too

21
far removed from what we really are. When
there is a huge discrepancy between what
we actually are (real self), and what we want
I am a self-actualize
to be (ideal self), we begin to experience an
person!
incongruence, a dissonance, a lack of
resonance within our true selves, and a gap,
sometimes huge, between what we sense as
our real self compared to what we feel
compelled to aspire to (our ideal self). When
the discrepancy between the real self and
ideal self is huge, the resulting incongruence
can lead us to become demoralized and
discouraged because we have in fact set
ourselves up for failure. This discrepancy
can lead to stress and anxiety because the
real self never seems good enough and the
ideal self seems impossible to attain. Hence,
one should strive to reduce the discrepancy
by either addressing the issue or accepting
the issue if it cannot be resolved.

As much as possible, there has to be an alignment or congruence between the two

selves, which happens when the ideal self is closer to the real self. People with align or
congruent selves feel a sense of mental well-being or peace of mind. They are more likely
to attain self actualization compared to those with incongruent selves. Self-worth is high
when the real self and ideal self are close to each other.

22
In the activity part, you identified your real self and ideal self. Reflect and answer the
questions as honestly as possible.

1. Are your real and ideal self closely aligned? Why or why not?

2. How can you make you real and ideal self closely aligned? What steps are you
going to do to attain alignment?

Multiple Choice: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answers before the
number of the test item.

1. According to William James, it is classified as the thinking self or it refers to

individuals’ reflections about themselves.
A. “I” self B. “We” self C. “Us” self D. “Me” self

2. It is the self we aspire to be or who we want to be.

A. ideal self B. actual self C. real self D. true self

3. Which of William James’ three components of the self is based on all the physical
elements that reflect who you are?
A. material self B. social self C. spiritual self D. political self

4. John is an introvert and a pessimist. He hopes to become an optimist and a more

sociable person someday. This happy and positive person that John wants to
become is his image of the:
A. real self B. ideal self C. self-image D. false self

5. A subclass of material self that represents our psychological ownership.

A. bodily self B. political self C. extended self D. social self

23
Alata, Eden Joy, Caslib, Bernardo Jr., Serafica, Janice Patria & Pawilen, R.A. 2018.
Understanding The Self . 1st Ed. Manila, Philippines: Rex Book Store, 1st ed.

Brawner, D. and Arcega, A. 2018. Understanding the Self. 1st Ed. Manila, Philippines:
C & E Publishing, Inc.

Corpuz M. Ronald, Estoque S. Ronan, & Tabotabo, Claudio V. 2019. Understanding the
Self. 1st Ed. Manila, Philippines: C & E Publishing, Inc. 1st Ed.

Macayan, J.V. et al (2019). Understanding the Self (Outcome-Based Module). Quezon City:
C & E Publishing, Inc.:

https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Ideal+Self

https://www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/psychology/psychology-and-psychiatry/self-
representation

https://listentomethunder.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/the-real-vs-the-ideal-self/

24
 UNIT I: UNPACKING THE SELF
Lesson 3: Sociology
1 week or 3 hours

In the realm of sociology, the self interacts with the social world. Initially, the self
is self-absorbed and is just concerned with its own. Progressively, however, the self
expands and is now concerned with other constellations of selves, known as others.
Conceptually, with the introduction of others, sociology as a science comes to fore,
expanding the self in its contemporary setting and relating with other selves as well.
No one could live by himself or herself alone. By extension, man will always look for
someone to commune with. The human person is a social animal; he or she will always
seek others for commercial or personal reasons. These
reasons will always be equated with relationships.
Relationships and their scientific study will always be
correlated with sociology.

In sociology, the self is a product of modern

society versus other constructs or archetypes. When one
talks about sociology, one talks about social norms and
social values. Social factors such as political system,
children, partners, school, location, education, economic
status, physical status, religion, wealth, family, and
ethnicity are also considered.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. describe and discuss the different ways by which society shape the self;
2. examine oneself in relation to the sociological perspective; and
3. identify how the self is influenced by the different institutions in the society.

25
Collage Making

Cut out pictures showing the influences of the different social institutions in the shaping of
one’s self and paste it below the box.

26
Answer the following questions:

1. How do you feel and think as you make your collage?

2. Explain the social influences by different social institutions that you have identified in
your collage.

27
The Self as a Product of Society

Sociological perspective of the self is based on the assumption that human behavior
is influenced by group life. A particular view of oneself is formed through interactions with
other people, groups, or social institutions. This lesson draws on the principles and
concepts of well-known sociologists to foster student understanding of sociology and how
sociology impacts students' everyday lives, and provide a pathway to self-understanding of
"who you are" and "what you are" in contemporary society. For sociologist like Mead the
self does not depend on biological predispositions; rather, it is a product of social
interaction. The sense of self emerges as the individual partakes in the society.

George Mead's Social Self

Sociologist George Herbert Mead argued that the self is not biological but social.
Self is something that is developed through social interaction. The self is developed as one
grows and ages. He illustrated the development of self in the case of Genie, a girl who was
confined in a room until she reached the age of 13. She was found when she was already
13 years old; she did not know how to walk and speak. According to Mead, she had no
development of the self. Even though her body developed normally according to her age,
she had not developed her "self" because of her isolation from the world. Self, therefore, is
constructed by directly engaging in the world through interaction and through reflections
on those interactions.

Mead explained that self has two parts: (1) self-awareness and (2) self-image. He
proposed the idea that the self develops through social interaction; that social interaction
involves the exchange of symbols (i.e., language); and that understanding of symbols
involves being able to take the role of another. In order for interaction to prosper, each
person involved must correctly interpret the meanings of symbols and intentions of others.
It can only succeed by the existence of common symbols, but actually accomplished
through the process of role playing.

Role playing is the process in which one takes on the role of another by putting
oneself in the position of the person with whom he or she interacts. One's response to the
action of another comes after putting oneself in the position of another person. Through
role playing, the individual develops a concept of self. By putting oneself in the position of
others, one is able to reflect upon oneself. The idea of self can only be developed if the
individual can get outside in such a way that he or she can become an object to oneself.
To accomplish this, one must be conscious of oneself from the standpoint of others.
Therefore, the development of the concept of "self" lies in the ability to wear other
people's shoes."

28
 For Mead, self is not inborn. Babies cannot interpret the meaning of other people's
behavior. It is usually learned during childhood which comes in three stages of
development.

First is the preparatory stage (0-3 years old). Children imitate the people
around them, especially family members with whom they have daily interaction. Example,
a child imitates the behavior of his or her parents like sweeping the floor. But they copy
behavior without understanding underlying intentions, and so at this stage, they have no
sense of self. During this stage, children are just preparing for role-playing or role-taking.

Second is the play stage (3 to 5 years old). During the play stage, children start
to view themselves in relation to others as they learn to communicate through language
and other symbols. At this stage, role-playing is exhibited. It involves the child playing the
role of others. For example, the child may act as a teacher, carpenter, or soldier. In doing
these, he or she becomes aware that there is a difference between himself or herself and
the role that he or she is playing. However, children do not perceive role-playing as
something expected of them. The self emerges as children pretend to take the roles of
specific people or significant others, those individuals who are important agents of
socialization. At this stage, the self is developing.
Last is the game stage (begins in the early school years; about 8 or 9 years
old). Children understand not only their own social position but also those of others
around them. They come to see himself or herself from the perspective of other people. To
play the game, the child must be aware of his or her relationship to other people and place
himself or herself in their roles in order to appreciate his or her particular role in the game.
In doing this, he or she sees himself or herself in terms of the collective viewpoint of other
people and the attitude of generalized others. They become concerned about and take into
account in their behavior the generalized others which refer to the attitudes, viewpoints,
demands, and expectations of the society which include cultural norms and values that
serve as references in evaluating oneself. This is the time when remarks like "He is
brilliant," "She is creative," or "He is lazy" are formed. They can have a more sophisticated
look of people and an ability to respond to numerous members of the social environment.
During this stage, the self is now present.

"I" and "Me" Self

For Mead, all humans experience internal conversation. This conversation involves
the “I” and “me”, which he called phases of self. For him, self is essentially a social process
going on between the “I” and “me”. The “I” is the phase of the self that is unsocialized and
spontaneous. It is the acting part of the self, an immediate response to other people. It
represents the self that is free and unique. It is the subjective part of the self. The “Me”,
on the contrary, is the self that results from the progressive stages of role playing or role-
taking and the perspective one assumes to view and analyze one's own behaviors. It is the
organization of the internalized attitude of others. It represents the conventional and
objective part of the self.

The “I” is the response of the organism to the attitude of others. The 'I' represents
the individual's identity based on response to the 'me‘, or the person’s individuality. It
allows the individual to still express creativity and individualism and understand when to
possibly bend and stretch the rules that govern social interactions. The 'I', therefore, can
be considered the present and future phase of the self.

29
 The “Me” is the organized set of attitudes of others which one assumes. It is the
socialized aspect of the individual. It represents learned behaviors, attitudes, and
expectations of others and society. It is developed through the knowledge of society and
social interactions that the individual has experienced. A phase of the self that is in the
past.
The full development of the self is attained when the "I" and the "me" are united.

Generalized Others
One of Mead's best known concepts is the generalized other. He described it as
an organized community or social group which gives to the individual his or her unity of
self. The attitude of the generalized other is the attitude of the entire community. For
example, a dance group, as a team, is the generalized other as long as it enters as an
organized process or social activity into the experience of any one of the members of the
group. When one takes the role of a member of the dance group, it can be said that one is
playing roles in groups. However, this sort of exchange is entirely different from the more
complex set of behaviors that require an individual to participate in the dance presentation.
With this, one is required to learn not only the responses of specific others, but also the
behaviors associated with every member of the stage. These can be internalized, and
when one succeeds in doing so, he or she comes to view his or her own behaviors from
the perspective of the dance presentation as a whole.

The Socialization Process

Humans learn the expectations of society through socialization. Socialization is
different based on race, gender and class.

Agents of Socialization

 The Family
Families introduce children to the expectations of society. Socialization is
different based on race, gender and class. Human persons learn the ways of living
and therefore their selfhood by being in a family. It is what a family initiates a
person to become that serves as the basis for this person’s progress. Babies
internalized ways and styles that they observe from their family. Internalizing
behavior may either be conscious or unconscious. Table manners or ways of
speaking to elders are things that are possible to teach and therefore, are
consciously learned by kids.
One is who he is because of his family for the most part.

 The Media
The average young person (age 8–19) spends 6 3/4 hours per day
immersed in media in various forms, often using multiple media forms
simultaneously. Television is the dominant medium, although half of all youth use a
computer daily. Can you notice how children eventually become what they watch?
How children can easily adapt ways of cartoon characters they are exposed to.

30
  Peers
For children, peer culture is an important source of identity. Through
interaction with peers, children learn concepts of self, gain social skills, and form
values and attitudes.

 Religion
Children tend to develop the same religious beliefs as their parents. Very
often those who disavow religion return to their original faith at some point in their
life, especially if they have strong ties to their family of origin and after they form
families of their own.

 Schools
In school, teachers and other students are the source of expectations that
encourage children to think and behave in particular ways. Research finds that
teachers respond differently to boys than to girls, with boys receiving more of their
attention.

Determining Appropriate Social Behavior

Describe how you are expected to behave and interact with other people in each of these
situations. You may consider the following factors: volume of your voice, dress code,
general behavior.

1. Attending church services

2. Studying in the library

3. Attending a class

4. Meeting a new friend

5. Attending a formal party with parents

31
Multiple Choice: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answers before the
number of the test item.

1. It is the process in which one takes on the role of another by putting oneself in
the position of the person with whom he or she interacts.
A. projection B. role playing C. copying D. coaching
2. He proposed the theory of social self.
A. Carl Rogers B. William James
C. George Herbert Mead D. Charles Horton Cooley
3. During this stage, the self emerges as children pretend to take the roles of
specific people or significant others
A. game stage B. preparatory stage
C. imitation age D. play stage
4. It is considered the socialized aspect of the individual and represents learned
behaviors, attitudes, and expectations of others and of society.
A. “ME” self B. “I” self C. “WE” self D. “US” self
5. During this stage, there is no sense of self.
A. play B. game C. preparatory D. role-taking

Alata, E.J.P. et al (2018). Understanding the Self. : Quezon City: Rex Bookstore Inc.

Corpuz, R.M. et al (2019). Understanding the Self. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.

Macayan, J.V. et al (2019). Understanding the Self (Outcome-Based Module). Quezon City:
C & E Publishing, Inc.:

32
 UNIT I: UNPACKING THE SELF
Lesson 4: Anthropology
1 week or 3 hours

The Self Embedded in Culture

How we see ourselves shapes our lives, and is shaped by our cultural context. Self-
perceptions influence how we think about the world, our social relationships, health and
lifestyles choices, and another people’s well-being. Culture has such a great influence on
our lives and is contributing greatly to our self-concept. The influence might either be
negative or positive depending on the type of culture we have been brought up in. Culture
contributes a great deal in shaping our individual personality or the SELF.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. explore the self from the perspectives of Anthropology;

2. examine the cultural influences in shaping one’s self; and
3. analyze how these influences are manifested in real life situations.

33
Let’s explore . . . . .

How much do you know?

List down as many cultural practices as you know from different regions of Luzon, Visayas
and Mindanao.

Cultural Practices from different Regions of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao

Luzon Visayas Mindanao

Based on your lists, answer the following questions:

1. What are the similarities among the regional practices?

2. What are its uniqueness in each region?

3. Which cultural practices can you best relate with?

4. What significant learnings can you get from the cultural practices?

34
 Cultural Anthropology is the study of human culture and society. It is the study
of people – their origin, their development, and contemporary variations, wherever and
whenever those have been found (Ferraro, 2008).

Culture on the other hand refers to the major way in which human beings adapt
to their environment and give meaning to their lives. It includes human behavior and ideas
that are learned rather than genetically transmitted, as well as the material objects
produced by a group of people (Nanda and Warren, 2007).

How we see ourselves shapes our lives, and is shaped by our cultural context. Self-
perceptions influence how we think about the world, our social relationships, health and
lifestyles choices, and another people’s well-being. Culture has such a great influence on
our lives and is contributing greatly to our self-concept. The influence might either be
negative or positive depending on the type of culture we have been brought up in. Culture
contributes a great deal in shaping our individual personality or the SELF.

The impact of culture on the self is based on our cultural beliefs and values. It also
depends on the kind of education we receive or the kind of culture we are growing up into.
It is sometimes argued that the concepts of the self, the person, or the individual are
culturally variable because people are not always considered to be persons everywhere.
Culture is something shared that characterize a group collectively just like identity.

The Origins of Self explores the role that selfhood plays in defining human society,
and each human individual in that society. It considers the genetic and cultural origins of
self, the role that self plays in socialization and language, and the types of self we
generate in our individual journeys to and through adulthood.

Anthropology
- has explored various meanings of culture, self and identity to better understand the
self.
- holds a holistic view of human nature. It is considered with how cultural and
biological processes interact to shape the self.

Contemporary Anthropologist
Culture and self are complementary concepts that are to be understood in relation
to one another.

James L. Peacock – an Anthropology professor

An academic field of understanding the
interconnection and interdependence of biological and cultural
aspects of the human experience at all times in all places.

He mentioned that Anthropology have

emphasized that culture is not behavior itself but the shared
understanding that guide behavior and are expressed in
behavior.

35
Who am I?
What could be the answer to this question?

Anthropology considers human experience as an interplay of

“nature” referring to genetic inheritance which sets the individual’s potentials.
- meaning to all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are –
from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics

“nurture” referring to the sociocultural environment

- meaning to all the environmental variations that impact who we are, including
our early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social relationship,
and our surrounding culture.

Anthropology is providing insights into the nature of self-based on continuous

understanding of the basic element of culture

The Cultural Construction of Self and Identity

Edward Burnett Tylor (British Anthropologists)

Culture – that complex whole which includes knowledge,
belief, art, morals, laws, customs and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by men as a member of society.
Culture being diverse, self and identity may have different
meanings in different culture.

Martin Sokefeld
Culture and self thus become complementary concepts that
have to be understood in relation to one another.

Two ways in which the concept of self is viewed in different societies:

1. egocentric – suggests that each person is defined as a replica of all humanity but
capable of acting independently from others.
2. Sociocentric – the self is viewed as dependent on the situation or setting.

In sociocentric, the membership of a person in a particular social group define the

boundaries of the self.

In egocentric, the self is viewed as autonomous and distinct individual with inherent
characteristics.

- From the similarities and differences in characteristics among individuals, people

construct their social identities.

- The identity toolbox refers to the “features of a person’s identity that he or she
chooses to emphasize in constructing a social self”.

- Self-identification may be attained by: kinship, family membership, gender, age,

language, religion, ethnicity, personal appearance, and socioeconomic status.
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 - Some characteristics such as kinship, gender and age are almost universally used to
differentiate people.

- Other characteristics such as ethnicity, personal appearance, and socioeconomic

status are not always used in every society

- Family membership could be the most significant feature to determine the person’s
social identity.

- Another important identity determinant that is often viewed as essential for the
maintenance of a group identity is language.

- In other societies, religious affiliation is an important marker of group identity.

- Personal naming, a universal practice with numerous cross-cultural variations

establishes a child’s birthright and social identity. A name is an important device to
individualize a person and to have an identity.

- Changes in one’s identity usually involve rites of passage that prepares individuals
for new roles from one stage of life to another

Three phased Rite of Passage

Arnold van Gennep (French Anthropologist)

One’s identity is not inborn but

something people continuously develop in life.
Rites of Passage help a person adjust
from one social dimensions of his or her life to others.

Separation Liminality Incorporation

the reintegration stage
- people detach from this is the transition
which an individual is
their former identity stage from one identity
reintroduced into
to another to another
society in his or her new
position
Graduation
STUDENT
Finding a job
Worker/ Employee

Identity Struggle
There are some cases that an individual disagree on their respective identities.
Anthony Wallace and Raymond Fogelson named this case as
IDENTITY STRUGGLES
- is a discrepancy between the identity a person claims to possess and the
identity attributed to that person by others.

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Identity Crisis
this happens when values and moral principles of an individual become relatively
determined by politics or ideology

Zagorka Golubović (Serbian philosopher, anthropologist and

sociologist).

To attain self-identification, individuals have to

overcome many obstacles such as traditionally
established habits and extremely self-images.

Cognitive Anthropology

Toon van Meijl (Professor of Cultural Anthropology),

suggests that in order to maintain a relatively stable and
coherent self, members of the multicultural society have no
choice internalize divergent culture and reject/suppress
identification that may conflict with other self-presentation.

Illusion of Wholeness

Katherine Pratt Ewing (Professor Emerita of Cultural Anthropology

and Religion at Duke University)
We continuously reconstitute ourselves into new selves in
response to internal and external stimuli. Therefore, the continuity
of the self is only illusory.

The most important philosophical task of the postmodern

man today is to “work on yourself” just like the Socratic
message “know thyself”,

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The Self as Embedded in Culture

Max Weber (Maximilian Karl Emil Weber was a German

sociologist, philosopher, jurist, and political economist, who is
regarded today as one of the most important theorists ...)
Man is an animal suspended in web of significance he
himself has spun

Web are perceived to be symbolic of culture

Stephen R. Robbins considered human beings as cultural

animals as they create the meaning of objects, persons,
behavior, emotions and events and behave in accordance
with meanings they assume to be true.

Image of Man

1. Culture should be perceived

as a set of control mechanism
Human nature is
interdependent with such as plans, recipes, rules,
culture instructions for the governing
behavior
“Without men, no
culture, certainly; but
2. Man is precisely the animal
equally and more
significantly, without most desperately dependent
culture, no men” upon such extragenetics,
(Geertz, 1973) outside – the – skin
mechanisms such cultural
programs, for ordering his
behavior.

Cultural Differences exist when groups of people assign different meanings to different
life events and things. Therefore, the self is embedded/ attached in culture

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 American Anthropologist Clifford Geertz in
“The Impact of the Concept of Culture on
the Concept of Man” states that “. . .
culture provides the link between what
men are intrinsically capable of becoming
and what they actually, one by one, in
fact become.”

This lead us to the importance of culture

in understanding who we are as human
beings.

 Culture – is a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of

which people communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge about and
attitudes toward life.

 Man acquires his knowledge, beliefs, morals, customs, and other habits and capacities
from his interactions with others in the society where he belongs.
 We learn our cultural practices and traditions by listening, talking, and interacting with
other people.
 As a child we learn appropriate behavior by observing and copying the behavior of
adults.
 We express our feelings and make judgement of what is right or what is wrong based
on our interpretation of adults behavior.
 This serves to guide our own behavior and perceptions throughout life.
 Thus, our shared beliefs, values, memories, and expectations bind us together who
grow up in the same culture.

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Look at this text message. Do you think everybody can get or understand the message? If
this is the way you relay messages, does it follow correct grammar and structures that you
learn from your English subjects since elementary and high school?

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Make a reflection paper using the guide questions below.

1. How do you feel about the pictures that was presented above?
2. What is its main message to you? Support you answer.

_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ ___ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ __ _ _

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Alata, E. J., Caslib, B. Jr., Serafica, J. P. & Pawilen, R.A. (2018). Understanding the self
(1st ed.). Manila: Rex Book Store.

Aligada, G. & Trajeco, S. (2010). Introduction to sociology and anthropology: Text and
workbook. Quezon City: AMMS Publications.

Ariola, Mariano (2012). Sociology and anthropology with family planning. Intramuros,
Manila: Purely Book Trading and Publishing Corp.

Atienza, M.E., Rico, R., Arugay, A., Franco, J. & Quilala, D. (2016). Understanding culture,
society and politics. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.

Brawner, D. & Arcega, A. (2018). Understanding the self. Quezon City: C & E Publishing,
Inc.

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/phillipines/

https://prezi.com/go6zixmolgw-/an-anthropological-conceptualization-of-self/

43
 UNIT I: UNPACKING THE SELF
Lesson 5: The Self in Western & Oriental/Eastern
Thought
1 week or 3 hours

Different cultures and varying environment tends to create different perceptions of

the “self” and one of the most common distinctions between cultures and people is the
eastern vs. western dichotomy wherein eastern represents Asia and western represents
Europe and Northern America. Oftentimes we associate western thought with individualism
and eastern/oriental with collectivism. In this lesson we learn more of their differences in
terms of culture, values, norms, and practices.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. examine the cultural influences in shaping one’s self;
2. analyze how these influences are manifested in real life situation;
3. discuss personality differences of people from collectivist and individualist cultures;
4. differentiate the concept of self according to Western thought against Eastern/Oriental
perspective.

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 Let’s read this . . . . .

Sherpa village is found at the mountains around Mt. Everest in Nepal. Six (6) Sherpa
children were observed on how they were able to learn to speak their own Sherpa
language and culture.

Here are the findings . . . .

When Sherpa adults talk to children, they used commands at astronomical rates.
Sometimes, there were over 200 commands per hour. Often these commands came when the
child was already coming, washing, or eating. Then, when a 4 year old talked to a 2 year old
child, there was the same proportion of commands. What these commands, were really being
used for was to mark status, which is based on age in Sherpa society.

These children were learning language ........ but right from the start they’re also
learning the cultural patterns and expectations that go along with the language use.

Language and culture comes together. The language they’re learning is full of
information about their culture and some of the most important parts of the culture are about
how language should be used.

The better we understand how language is learned across culture, the better we can
interact with people from different backgrounds.
(“Language Development and Socialization in Sherpa” Ciesielski, Sara U. retrieved at https://www.phdcomics.com/tv)

Ways of greetings in different countries.

Greetings around the world differ radically from culture to culture and sometimes
they are shaped by religion or superstitious beliefs. Study the pictures and identify what
country they represent. Choose your answers below and write it on the space provided
below the pictures.

a. Russia c. Japan e. Argentina

b. Philippines d. New Zealand f. Nigeria

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Based on where you live, do you agree or disagree with the traits associated with yourself
and the residents of your area of the country? Why or why not?

46
 Personality is shaped by both genetic and environmental factors. The culture in
which you live is one of the most important environmental factors that shapes your
personality. The term culture refers to all of the beliefs, customs, art, and traditions of a
particular society. Culture is transmitted to people through language as well as through the
modelling of culturally acceptable and nonacceptable behaviors that are either rewarded or
punished.
Different cultures and varying environment tends to create different perceptions of
the “self” and one of the most common distinctions between cultures and people is the
eastern vs. western dichotomy wherein eastern represents Asia and western represents
Europe and Northern America. Oftentimes we associate western thought with individualism
and eastern/oriental with collectivism.
Individualist cultures and collectivist cultures place emphasis on different basic
values. People who live in individualist cultures tend to believe that independence,
competition, and personal achievement are important. People who live in collectivist
cultures value social harmony, respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs.
These values influence personality. For example, people in individualist cultures displayed
more personally oriented personality traits, whereas people in collectivist cultures displayed
more socially oriented personality traits.
The Western Culture is what we would call an individualistic culture since their
focus is on the person. Asian culture, on the other hand, is called a collectivistic culture as
the group and social relations that is given more importance than individual needs and
wants.

Individualism vs. Collectivism

Individualism Collectivism
• Individualist culture is a culture in • Collectivist culture is a culture in
which the goals of the individual which the goals of the group take
take precedence over the goals of precedence over the goals of the
the group.
individual.
It means that, members are responsible for It means that members are responsible for
themselves and, perhaps, their immediate
the group as a whole.
families.

Success is measured by how far one stands Success is measured by one’s contributions
out from the crowd. to the group as a whole.
Ex: self-made millionaires, Ex: loyalty to company or country,
employees of the month, standing out… specialized skills, fitting in…
• The “I” identity. • The “We” identity.
• The individual identifies primarily • Collectivist views the group as the
with self, with the needs of the primary entity, with the individuals
individual being satisfied before lost along the way.
those of the group. • The survival and success of the
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 • The individual is acts and makes his group ensures the well-being of the
own choices, looks after and taking individual, so that by considering the
care of oneself and being self- needs and feelings of others, one
sufficient. protects oneself.
• Independence and self-reliance are • Harmony and the interdependence
greatly stressed and valued. of group members are stressed and
• In general, they tend to distance valued.
themselves psychologically and • It sees the group as the important
emotionally from each other. One element, and individuals are just
may choose to join groups, but members of the group. The group
group membership is not essential to has its own values somehow
one’s identity or success. different from those of the individual
• Individualistic doers are self-assured members.
and very independent people. They • Each person is encouraged to be an
are quiet and realistic, very rational, active player in society, to do what is
extremely matter of fact people. best for society as a whole rather
They strongly cultivate their than themselves.
individualism and enjoy applying • Rules promote unity, brotherhood,
their abilities to new tasks. But they and selflessness.
are also very spontaneous and • Working with others and cooperating
impulsive persons who like to follow is the norm; everyone supports each
their sudden inspirations. other.
• Individualistic people are susceptible  collectivist people can have a strong
to loneliness fear of rejection.
• Individualism:  Collectivism:
Individual autonomy; self-oriented; personal Group unity and harmony; group-oriented;
goals; unique and independent; individual group goals; conforming and
privacy; nuclear family; individual rewards interdependent; group belongingness;
(equity); competition extended family; equal distribution of
reward (equality); cooperation
 Countries with generally  Countries with generally collectivist
Individualistic culture are: culture are :
 United States Italy  China Malaysia
 Australia Belgium  Taiwan Egypt
 United Kingdom Sweden  India Cyprus
 Canada Ireland  Pakistan Ghana
 Netherlands Norway  Bangladesh Nepal
 Hungary Switzerland  Indonesia Argentina
 New Zealand Germany  Afghanistan Armenia

By valuing the individual, Westerners may seem to have loose associations or even
loyalty to their groups. Competition is the name of the game and they are more likely
straightforward and forceful in their communication as well as decision-making. Eastern or
oriental persons look after the welfare of their groups and values cooperation. They would
also be more compromising and they tend to go around the bush in explaining things,
hoping that the other person would “feel” what they really want to say ( Qinxue 2003 in
Alata et al. 2018).

48
 Westerners also emphasize more on the value of equality even if they see that the
individual can rise above everything else. Because everyone is on their own in the
competition, one can say that they also promote ideals that create “fair” competition and
protect the individual. Asians, with their collectivistic culture, put more emphasis on
hierarchy as the culture wants to keep things in harmony and order ( Qinxue 2003 in Alata
et al. 2018).
It must be emphasized, however, that these are general commonalities among
Western cultures as compared to Asian or Oriental cultures. In the case of the Philippines,
we can also consider the colonization experience for differences and similarities with our
Asian neighbours. We might also find variation among provinces and regions due to
geographical conditions.
With the social media, migration, and intermarriages, variety between the Western
and Asian perceptions may either be blurred or highlighted. Whereas conflict is inevitable
in diversity, peace is also possible through the understanding of where each of us is
coming from.

Create a representation, diagram, or concept map of the SELF according to where you
came from, starting from your maternal and paternal grandparents. Provide a brief
explanation of places, religion and culture where they came from in which the family used
it until now.

MY FAMILY

FATHER
MOTHER

Place of Place of
Birth Birth
Religio Religio
n n

Brothers and Sisters

YOU

Place of Birth
Religion
Beliefs
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1. Is your family considered as individualistic or collectivistic? Why?

2. What western or eastern cultures influence your family?

3. What western or eastern culture would you like to adapt in your own self?

Alata, E.J.P. et al (2018). Understanding the Self. : Quezon City: Rex Bookstore Inc.

Brawner, D. and Arcega, A. 2018. “Understanding the Self” C & E Publishing, Inc.

Blog by Tochi and Julie. Ways of Greeting in Different Countries. Retrieved at

https://worldwithtj.wordpress.com August 4, 2020

Cultural Understanding of Personality. Introduction to Psychology. Retrieved at

courses.lumenlearning.com August 4, 2020

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