MATERIAL SELF
William James – a Harvard psychologist in the
late nineteenth century, He described self into
components as:
1. Constituents
2. The Feelings and Emotions they arouse (Self
Feelings)
3. The Actions of which they Prompt (Self-
Seeking and self-Preservation)
The Constituents Self – are composed of the material
self, the social self, the spiritual self and the pure ego.
 The Material Self – according to
William James primarily is about our
o BODIES
o CLOTHES
o IMMEDIATE FAMILY
o HOME
 We are deeply affected by these things
because we have put too much
investment of our self to them.
BODY – The innermost part of our material self.
Intentionally we are investing in our body.
We are directly attached to commodity that we
cannot live without.
We strive hard to make sure that this body
functions well and good.
Any ailment or disorder affects us. We do have
preferential attachment or intimate closeness
to certain body parts because of its vital value
to us.
There were people who get their certain body
parts insured. Celebrities like Mariah Carey who
was reported to have placed a huge amount for
the insurance of her vocal cords and legs.
CLOTHES – influenced by the Philosophy of Dress by
HERMAN LOTZE, JAMES believed that clothing
is an essential part of material self.
Lotze – Microcosmus, stipulates that “any time we bring
an object in the surface of the body, we invest
that object into the consciousness of our
personal existence taking in its contours to be
our own and making it part of the self.
According to (Watson, 2014) The Fabric style of
the clothes we wear bring sensations to the
body to which directly affect our attitudes and
behavior. Thus, clothes are place in second
hierarchy of material self. Clothing is a form of
self-expression. We choose and wear clothes
that reflect our self.
IMMEDIATE FAMILY – Our parents and siblings hold
another great important part of our self. What
they do or become affects us.
When am immediate family dies, part of our
self dies too.
When their lives are in success, we feel
their victories as if we are the one holding
the trophy.
In their failures, we are also put to shame or
guilt.
When they are in disadvantage situation,
there is an urgent help like a voluntary
instinct of saving one’s self from danger.
We place huge investment in our
immediate family when we see them as the
nearest replica of our self.
HOME – is where our heart is. It is the earliest nest of
our selfhood. Our experience inside the home
were recorded and marked on particular parts
and things in our home.
Old Cliché about rooms – “if only walls can
speak” – The home thus is an extension of self,
because in it, we can directly connect our self.
o Having investment of self to things, made us
attached to those things. The more investment of
self-given to the particular thing, the more we
identify ourselves to it. We also tend to collect and
posses properties. The collections in different
degree of investment of self, becomes part of the
self. As James (1980) described self: “a man’s self is
the sum of all what he can CALL his”. Possession
then become a part or an extension of the self.
WHAT ARE WHAT WE HAVE
Russel Belk (1988) posts that “…we regard our
possessions as part of ourselves. We are what we have
and what we posses.”
The identification of the self to things started in
our infancy stage when we make a distinction among
self and environment and others who may desire our
possessions.
As we grow older, putting importance to
material possession decreases, However, material gains
higher value in our lifetime if we use material
possession to find happiness, associate these things
with significant events, accomplishment, and people in
our lives. There are even times, when material
possession of a person that is closely identified to the
person, gains acknowledgement with high regard even
if the person seated there; a well-loved and kept vehicle
of the person, which some of the bereaved family
members have a difficulty to sell or let go of because
that vehicle is very much identified with the owner who
passed away; the favorite pet or book, among others
that the owner who passed away; the favorite pet or
book; among that the owner placed a high value, these
favorite things are symbols of the owner.
The possessions that we dearly have tell
something about who we are, our self concept, our
past, and even our future.