LESSON 1

THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES

TOPICS
a. Philosophy
b. Sociology
c. Anthropology
d. Psychology
e. The Social Construction of the Self in Western and Oriental/Eastern
Thought

LEARNING OUTCOMES
a. Discuss the different representations and conceptualizations of
the self from various disciplinal perspectives.
b. Examine the different influences, factors and forces that shape
the self.
c. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented across
the different disciplines and perspectives.
d. Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analysing the
development of one’s self and identity by developing a theory of
the self.

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TOPIC 1: PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Ronuel L. del Rosario https://www.slideshare.net/shinpaiwa/understanding-the-self-lecture-1-philosophical-perspectives?next_slideshow=4

PHILOSOPHY
• It refers to the study of the basic essence of knowledge, truth and life, in
particular in academic discipline.
• It is somebody's idea of how to live or how to treat a specific situation.
• It is an academic discipline concerned with investigating the essence of the sense
of ordinary and scientific beliefs – investigates the validity of ideas through
logical argument in relation to their consequences, relationships as well as truth,
intelligence, moral judgment, etc.
• It is a great deal of philosophy concerned with the basic essence of existence.
• The Greeks were those who strongly challenged myths and moved away from
them in order to understand truth and respond to persistent questions of
interest, including the question of existence.
The following are analyses of various viewpoints and understandings of the self by its
prime movers from ancient thinkers to modern philosophers:
THE PRE-SOCRATICS
The Pre-Socratics (Thales, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Empedocles, etc.) were
concerned with answering questions such as…
• What is the world really made up of?
• Why is the world the way it is?
• What explains the changes that happen around us?
• Arché- origin or source/the “soul”/the primal matter
• The soul’s movement is the ultimate arché of all other movement.
• Arché has no origin outside itself and cannot be destroyed.
• It explains the multiplicity of things in the world.

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SOCRATES
• Concerned with the problem of the self
• “The true task of the philosopher is to know oneself.”
• “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
• Underwent a trial for ‘corrupting the minds of the youth’
• Succeeded made people think about who they are
• “The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to live but die inside.”
• “Every person is dualistic.”
• Man = body + soul
• Individual = imperfect/permanent (body) + perfect & permanent (soul)
PLATO
• 3 components to the soul rational soul – reason & intellect to govern
affairs spirited soul – emotions should be kept at bay appetitive soul –
base desires (food, drink, sleep, sexual needs, etc.)
• When these are attained, the human person’s soul becomes just &
virtuous.
(ST.) AUGUSTINE

• ‘Spirit of man’ in medieval philosophy

• Following view of Plato but adds Christianity
• Man is of a bifurcated nature.
• Part of man dwells in the world (imperfect) and yearns to be with the Divine.
• Other part is capable of reaching immortality.
• Body – dies on earth; soul – lives eternally in spiritual bliss with “God”
(#lifegoalz)

(ST) THOMAS AQUINAS

• Man = matter + form • matter (hyle) – “common stuff that makes up
everything in the universe”
• Form (morphe) – “essence of a substance or thing”; (what makes it what it is)
• The body of the human is similar to animals/objects, but what makes a human
is his essence.
• “The soul is what makes us humans.”

MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Rene DESCARTES
• Father of Modern Philosophy
• Human person = body + mind
• “There is so much that we should doubt.”

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 • “If something is so clear and lucid as not to be doubted, that’s the only time
one should believe.”
• The only thing one can’t doubt is existence of the self.
• “I think, therefore I am.”
• The self = cogito (the thing that thinks) + extenza (extension of mind/body)
• The body is a machine attached to the mind.
• It’s the mind that makes the man.
• “I am a thinking thing. . . A thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies,
wills, refuses, imagines, perceives.”

David HUME
• Disagrees with the all the other aforementioned philosophers
• “One can only know what comes from the senses & experiences” (he is an
empiricist).
• “The self is not an entity beyond the physical body.”
• You know that other people are humans not because you have seen their soul,
but because you see them, hear them, feel them, etc.
• “the self is nothing but a bundle of impressions and ideas.”
• Impression – - basic objects of our experience/sensation - forms the core of our
thoughts
• Idea – - copies of impressions - not as “real” as impressions - feeling mo lang
yun!
• Self = a collection of different perceptions which rapidly succeed each other
• Self = in a perpetual flux and movement
• We want to believe that there is a unified , coherent self, soul, mind, etc. but
~~actually~~ it is all just a combination of experiences.

Immanuel KANT
• Agrees with HUME that everything starts with perception/sensation of
impressions
• There is a MIND that regulates these impressions.
• “Time, space, etc. are ideas that one cannot find in the world, but is built in our
minds
• “Apparatus of the mind”
• The self organizes different impressions that one gets in relation to his own
Existence.
• We need active intelligence to synthesize all knowledge and experience.
• The self is not only personality but also the seat of knowledge.

Gilbert RYLE
• Denies the internal, non-physical self
• “What truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his day-to-day
life.”

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 • Looking for the self is like entering LU and looking for the “university” (explain!)
• The self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient.
Name that we use to refer to the behaviors that we make.

MERLEAU-PONTY
• A phenomenologist who says the mind- body bifurcation is an invalid problem
• Mind and body are inseparable.
• “One’s body is his opening toward his existence to the world.”
• The living body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one.
• If you hate this subject, Merleau-Ponty understands you.

ACTIVITY # 1

I. Bubble Map
Direction: Summarize the Self from various philosophical perspectives.
II. Answer the following questions:
1. Would you believe there's a difference between soul and body? Would you think you
will have? Who separates the two?
2. What happens to a person whose soul has 3 components, unbalanced?
3. Do you believe in the idea of the soul after death landing in heaven? Which makes the
animals different from humans?
4. Do you agree with the claims so far concerning the self (body & soul)? Which, in their
conjectures, is doubtful?