CHAPTER I

THE SELF FROM THE

VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES
Prepared by: Ma. Sheila H. Florido, MS
 Why is it important to know
oneself?
► it is critical to being an effective team member
► as well as being successful in life, work, and
relationships
► your personal identity influences everything you do,
and
► it changes and evolves over time.
 The Concept of the Self
► A temporary behavior or character.
► A person’s essential being that distinguishes
him/her from others
► A set of someone’s characteristics, such as
personality and ability
► The totality of the psyche, including all the
elements such s ego
► Is a holistic model/understanding of all facets of
one’s experiences
 How to know oneself?

► SELF DISCOVERY
❑ Should be included to our goal
❑ it is through self discovery that we are able to identify our
purpose and actualize our potential
❖ failure to discover oneself will cheat us the chance to
understand who we are and what we want out of life,
and how we can help others.
 Remember:
Discovering who we are and we can be,
is the greatest journey of our lives.
A. The Philosophical Perspective in
Understanding the Self

► The philosophy of self is defined, among other

things, as the conditions of identity that make one
subject of experience distinct from all others
► The self is sometimes understood as a unified being
essentially connected to consciousness, awareness,
and agency (or, at least, with the faculty of rational
choice)
 Self
as defined by
Philosophers
► He introduced the Socratic problem also known as the
Socratic question.
► The goal of which was to” know thyself”.
► A dialogue between the self and the soul.
► “One should accept that he knows nothing and he knows
and accepts that he knows nothing as it leads to learning
and discovering the truth”
► greatly known for his Socratic method stated that “An
unexamined life is not worth living.”
► To have knowledge of yourself and to question how you
should live your life is an essential concern of thyself.
Because knowing yourself is the way of to improve your life. Socrates
► It is the goal of Socratic perspective to better the quality of (470-399 BC)
human life through consistent self- examination. “I know, That I Don’t
Know”
► stated that the “psyche” or the “mind” is composed
of three elements.
1. The appetites involve our pleasurable desires such as
those which provide us physical pleasure and
physiological comfort.
2. The spirited denotes the part within us that is agitated
most of the time. It is highly spirited and motivated
to surpass and conquer life challenges. it is the area
within us that enjoys triumph, honor, greatness and
affirmation.
3. The mind is the conscious awareness which thinks,
meditates, weighs choices and assesses situations in Plato (424-347 BC)
our lives. This side is rational and logical as it chooses Balance between
only the best for us. mind and body.
► He discovered and developed the concept of
individual identity and conceptualized an idea of the
self and eventually achieving an identity.
► Deeply influenced by Plato’s ideas and adopted his
view that the “self” is and immaterial (but rational)
soul.
► Concept of the “self” was an inner, immaterial “I”
that had self-knowledge and self-awareness.
► Both soul and body, and the body posses senses and
mind through which the soul experience the world.
► Aspects of self/soul
Saint Augustine of
❑ able to be aware of itself Hippo (AD 354-430)
❑ Recognizes itself as holistic one All knowledge leads to
God.
❑ Aware of its unity
► described the mind as the “intellectual substance” which
possesses a will.
► pointed onto the relation from such insight begun his quest for
true knowledge and
► stated his every brilliant principle which state that “Cogito
ergo sum” which is “I think, therefore I am”. This is a method
to assess one’s self.
► This is Descartes’ first theory of knowledge which laid the
foundation in his concept of self.
► He asserted that the idea of human brings about awareness of
the self which may lead to the development of a unique
identity. Rene Descartes
► For him, being self-conscious is necessary to develop a (1596-1650)
personal identity. “I think, Therefore
► The essence of your self makes you a “thinking thing” engaged I am”
I all forms of mental operations determinant of being a human
with a distinct persona.
► developed the concept of “Tabula Rasa.”
► He pointed the theory that at birth, the mind is a blank
slate without innate ideas, and it is experience that
provides us knowledge provided by sensory experiences
and reflections.
► he stated that personal identity or the self is found in
the consciousness.
► He identified the brain as comprising the consciousness
which has one’s identity.
► It is alleged that life is a quest for understanding of John Locke
what is after death and immortality. (1632-1704)
► He argued as well that a person may only be judged for “Human mind at birth
the acts of his body but the truth according to him is is a Tabula Rasa,
that one is liable only for the acts of which he is which means the
conscious. knowledge is derived
from experience”
► known for his insights on the psychological basis of
human nature where he posited that passion rather
than reason governs human behavior.
► He argued against the existence of innate ideas,
positing that all human knowledge is ultimately
founded solely in experience.
► He reiterated that reason is only the slave of passion
which implies that logic and intellect is basically
superseded by an individual’s passion, drive and
motivation.
► He also perceived that experiences are derived from
internal and external stimulus and they create David Hume
impressions on the individual. “All knowledge is
► For Hume, the self and one’s mind is like a derived from human
machine that can be turned on and off as they are senses”
only active when one is conscious.
► He asserted that it is the human mind creates the
structure o human experiences
► His vie of the “self” is transcendental > meaning
self is related to a spiritual or nonphysical realm.
► For him, the self is not in the body. The self is
outside the body, and it does not have the
qualities of the body. Immanuel Kant
► He also stressed that the body and its qualities are (1724-1804)
rooted to the self. “REASON is the final
authority of morality.
► He proposed that it is the knowledge that bridges Morality is achieved only
the “self” and the material things together when there is absence of
(Boeree, 199; Brook, 2004) war because of the result
of the enlightenment”
► He stated that there are three components in the mind
(id, ego, and superego) that interact to produce the
individual persona, and which largely can be found
within the unconscious.
► The conflict between these three components gives
rise to human persona.
► The id and the superego are in constant conflict
brought about by differences in their desire. As the id
demands pleasure and gratification of urges, the
superego requires compliance to societal norms.
► The conflict is resolved by the ego which is the “self”
by maintaining the balance between these two
structures of the mind. Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
► He considered the ego as the realistic area of one’s “Wish fulfillment is
persona that maintains the balance and harmony the road to the
within the individual. unconscious:”
► He believed that mental phenomena are
explained by observing public behavior.
► He focused on observable behavior in defining the
self.
► He stated that every human being has both a
physical body and a non-physical mind, which are
ordinarily “harassed together” while we are alive.
► Though the physical body is subject to the
mechanical laws;
Gilbert Ryle
► The mind, on the other hand, is not accessible to (1900- 1976)
the public and definitely never subjected to “I act therefore I am”
mechanical laws.
► He is a modern-day- philosopher whose studies
greatly focuses on the workings’ of the brain.
► He argued that “nothing exists “which is also known
as materialism.
► He hypothesized that the human consciousness can
be explained through the neural networks
communicating through its hub in the brain which is
the thalamus.
► As we begin to use empirical evidence to describe
how our brains and bodies function we learn to
determine how we feel and how certain situation
affects us.
Paul Churchland (1942)
► He believes that many are unaware of the
“The physical Brain and
appropriate terms to determine the exact emotions
and sentiment that they are undertaking. Hence, NOT the imaginary
this leads to confusion as to how we understand mind gives us our sense
ourselves. of self”
► He expounded his thesis on “The primacy of
Perception” where he revealed how the body is
central to one’s perception.
► As an existentialist, he argued that perception is the
determinant of one’s consciousness.
► It is our prejudice that creates the perception that we
have in our mind.
► This is the primacy of perception where he said that
“there is harmony between what we aim at and what
is given, between intention and performance,”
► The same provides an explanation as to his claim that Maurice Merleau
“consciousness is primarily not a matter of “I think Ponty
that”, but of “I can”. “Physical body is an
► Hence in this argument, it shows how action is important part of the
required in the formation of self-perception as well as self”
self-concept.