GEC 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

MODULE 1: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES

1st SEMESTER A.Y. 2021-2022
LECTURER: MS. WINDY DE LA CRUZ TRANSCRIBED BY: ROSHAN JUSTICE GALLOS

TOPIC o Spirited (feeling) – carry out the dictates

SUB TOPIC of reason
IMPORTAT TERMS o Appetitive (sensual) – emotion and
desires
THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL PERPECTIVES  Justice can only be attained if the 3 parts of the
soul are working harmoniously
1. Socrates
Quote: 3. Aristotle
 “Know thyself” Quote:
 “An unexamined life is not  “We are what we do
worth living” repeatedly”
Nationality: Greek Details:
Details:  human being is a
 Socratic method composite of body and soul and that the soul
 Man is dualistic: body and souls cannot be separated from the body
 2 important aspect of personhood:  hylomorphism
o Body – imperfect and impermanent o soul is the form or structure of the human
o Soul – perfect and permanent body
 The state of our soul (inner being) determines the  soul is immortal thus it is the first activity of a
quality of our life living body
 Virtue is defined as moral excellence  De anima (On the Soul) is his work
o Greatest good in lie it is capable of  Aristotle also believed that there were sections of
securing ones happiness the soul:
o Virtuous – their character is made up of o the calculative and scientific parts on the
the moral qualities that are accepted as rational side used for making decisions,
virtues. o the desiderative,
o Ancient Greece virtues – courage, o the vegetative parts on the irrational side
temperance, prudence, and justice responsible for identifying our needs
 Knowledge = virtue = happiness
 Socrates’ ideas: 4. St. Augustine of Hippo
o The soul is immortal  Latin father of the Church
o The care of the soul is the task of  human self is an
philosophy immaterial soul that can
o Virtue is necessary to attain happiness think
 Man yearns to be with the
2. Plato Divine
Quote:  Body will die; soul will live eternally
 “The human soul is immortal”  Body in the world, soul with God
Details:  Soul held the truth and was capable of Scientific
 Greatest student of Socrates thinking
 Socrates’ life  Self was an inner immaterial, it has self-
o Dialogue written by knowledge and self-awareness
Plato about Socrates philosophy  Human was both a soul and body, it possess
 Supported the idea of Socrates: body and soul imagination, memory, reason, and mind
 Three components of the soul:  Aspects of self/soul
o Rational (reasoning) – thinking portion o It is able to be aware of itself
within each of us; real or not o It recognizes itself as a holistic one
 o It is aware of its unity
5. Thomas of Aquinas
 Most prominent 13th century
scholar and stalwart of the medieval
philosophy
 Man is composed of two parts:
o Matter (hyle) – common stuff that makes
up everything in the universe. E.g: man’s
body
o Form (Morphe) – essence of a substance
or thing
 Self-knowledge is dependent on our experience
of the world
 We interact with our environment
6. Rene Descartes
 French philosopher,
Mathematician and scientist
 Father of modern western
philosophy
 Doubt was a principal tool of
disciplined injury
 Hyperbolical/metaphysical doubt
methodological skepticism
o Process of being sceptical about the truth
of one’s belief
 Descartes’ claims about self:
o It is constant; not prone to change; not
affected by time
o Immaterial soul remains the same
o Immaterial soul is the source of our
identity
 One cannot doubt the existence of the self
 “I think therefore, I am”
 Self is a combination of two entities
o Cogito (mind) – the thing that thinks
o Extenza (body) – extension of the mind
7. David Hume
 Self is not an entity over and
beyond the physical body
 Self is nothing else but a
bundle of impressions
 A Scottish philosopher / empiricist
o School that espouses knowledge can
only be possible if it is sensed and
experienced
 Self is a combination of all experiences with
a particular person
8. Immanuel Kant
 Self organizes the different
impressions that one gets in
his own existence
 It is the seat of knowledge
acquisition for all human
persons
9. Gilbert Ryle
 Behavior matters
 Self is a convenient name
refer to all behaviour that
people make
10. Sigmund Freud
 Philosopher, physiologist,
psychologist who’s an
influential thinker in 20th
century
 3 levels of consciousness:
o Conscious – present
o Pre-conscious/ Subconscious – data
that can readily be brought
or o Unconscious – data retained but not
available
 Freud developed a more structural model of
the mind
o id (child in us)
- the unconscious level
- the pleasure principle containing the
two biological instincts:
- Eros (love) , helps people to survive
and directs sustaining activities or the
life instincts known as libido
- Thanatos (death) instincts
o ego (adult)
- follows the reality principle
- both unconscious and conscious
- satisfies the demands of the id in a
safe and acceptable way
o superego (parent)
- the psychic apparatus
- the morality principle
- motivates us to behave in a socially
reasonable and acceptable manner
- this can make the person feel guilty
THE SELF FROM VARIOUS SOCIOLOGICAL PERPECTIVES
 discusses the self from the perspectives of
sociology and anthropology
Mead and the Social Self
George Herbert Mead
 a sociologist well known for his theory of the
social self
o based on the perspective that the self
emerges from social interactions, such as Agents of Socialization
observing and interacting with others,
responding to others' opinions about
oneself, and internalizing external
opinions and internal feelings about
oneself
According to Mead, three activities develop the self:
1. Language
 allowing individuals to respond to each other
through symbols, gestures, words, and sounds
 allows individuals to take on the “role of the
other”
 allows people to respond to his or her own
gestures in terms of the symbolized attitudes of
others
2. Play
 allowing individuals to take on different roles, The Self embedded in culture
pretend, and express expectation of others
 “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and
women merely players.”
3. Games
 allowing individuals to understand and adhere to
the rules of the activity
According to Mead's theory, the self has two sides or
phases: 'me' and 'I.'
 The 'me' and the 'I' have a didactic relationship.
a. 'me'
 the socialized aspect of the individual
 represents learned behaviors, attitudes, and The Self and person in contemporary anthropology
expectations of others and of society
 It has been developed by the knowledge of
society and social interactions that the individual
has gained.
b. “I”
 the present and future phase of the self
 represents the individual's identity based on
response to the 'me‘, or the person’s individuality
The Socialization Process
 Humans learn the expectations of society through
socialization. By interacting with others, they
learn about the norms, cultures, values, etc.
Socialization is different based on race, gender
and class
a. The Family – basic unit of the society. Introduce
children to the expectations of society.
b. The Media – means where people can gain
information as well as entertainment
c. Peers – individuals whom you share one or more
characteristics. Interactions with them are usually
on a level of equality. Through interaction with
peers, children learn concepts of self, gain social
skills, and form values and attitudes
d. Religion/Church – a fellowship of individuals
believing in one god
e. Sports – activities involving physical exertion and
skill
f. Schools – dedicated to educate individuals
THE SELF IN THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
 How we see ourselves shapes our lives, and is
shaped by our cultural context.
 Culture has such a great influence on our lives
and is contributing greatly to our self-concept.
 Self-perceptions influence how we think about
the world, our social relationships, health and
lifestyles choices, and another people’s well-
being
 The impact of culture on the self is based on our
cultural beliefs and values
 Anthropology is providing insights into the
nature of self based on continuous understanding
of the basic element of culture
 Contemporary culture refers to current, shared
themes, beliefs and values of the society
Two ways in which the concept of self is viewed in
different societies:
a. Egocentric:
  suggests that each person is defined as a replica
of all humanity but capable of acting
independently from others
 the membership of a person in a particular social
group define the boundaries of the self
b. Sociocentric
 the self is viewed as dependent on the situation
or setting
 the self is viewed as autonomous and distinct
individual with inherent characteristics
THE SELF AS PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
 “Self” – one of the central subjects of psychology
 “our sense of personal identity and of who we are
as individuals”
 explains self by focusing on the individual and the
cognitive functions at the same time recognizing
other factors that contributes to its development
The Self as a Cognitive Construction
 Self-concept
o belief and feelings that we have about
ourselves
o includes our beliefs about our personality
traits, physical characteristics, abilities,
values, goals, and roles, as well as the
knowledge that we exist as individuals
 Self-schemas
o a cognitive structure involving some
aspects of the self that is considered
important to the individual
 Self-awareness
o refers to the extent to which we are
currently fixing our attention on our own
self-concept
William James and the Me-Self and I-Self
True vs False Selves
 William James, a renowned American
psychologist, developed a theory of self-
consciousness in his work, Principles of
Psychology, which was published in 1890.
William James Theory of Self
 The self is divided into two main categories: “Me”
Self and “I” Self
a. “ME” Self refers to the aspects of someone that
come from that person's experiences or known
as the “empirical self”.
1. The Material Self
o things that belong to us or that we
belong to (family, clothes, our body, and
money)
o refers to tangible objects, people, or
places that carry the designation my or
mine
o It is not the physical entities themselves,
however, that comprise the material self.
Rather, it is our psychological ownership
of them
o Two subclasses of the material self:
- The bodily self: This includes our body
and its parts. Example, “My eyes.”
- Extracorporeal (beyond the body)
self: This refers to other people (my
children), pets (my dog), possessions
(my car)
2. The Social Self
o how we are regarded and recognized by
others
o who we are in a given social situation
3. The Spiritual Self
o who we are at our core
o Our inner self or our psychological self. It
is comprised of our self-perceived
abilities, attitudes, emotions, interests,
values, motives, opinions, traits, and
wishes
b. ‘I’ Self is classified as the thinking self who could
not be further divided. He linked this part of the
self to the soul of a person, or what is now
thought of as the mind.
 Winnicott in his book “Ego Distortion in Terms of
True and False Self” published in 1960 said, “We
all wear masks.”
 When we are in control of what part of ourselves
we choose to show, the false self is no longer
foreign and detached: our social masks become
congruent and integrated. We are whole.
a. Authentic Self:
 The sense of self based on spontaneous
authentic experience and feeling of being alive,
having “real self”.
  Lack of disparity between values and lived values
 Unique combination of your vast multitude of
talents, skills, interests, and abilities
b. False Self:
 Putting on a facade with others may result in an
internal sensation of being depleted, drained, or The Social Construction of the Self in Eastern and
emotionally numb
 Possible tendencies to turn to mood-altering
substances in order to feel “different”
 Actions may feel forced, alienated, or detached
Real and Ideal Self-Concepts
 Carl Rogers came up with his conception of self
through the interventions he used
 Person – Centered Therapy: a non-directive
intervention because it believes that all people
have potential to solve their own problems
 Rogers believe that people must be fully honest
with themselves in order to have personal
discovery on oneself.
 In this concept of self, he came up with three
sides of a triangle.
a. Perceived Self (self-worth) It is how the person
sees self and others see him
b. The real self (Self-Image). It is who we actually
are. It is how we think, how we feel, look, and act.
c. The ideal self is how we want to be. It is an
idealized image that we have developed over
time, based on what we have learned and
experienced.
Importance of Alignment
 If the way that I am (the real self) is aligned with
the way that I want to be (the ideal self), then I Religious Beliefs
will feel a sense of mental well-being or peace of
mind.
 If the way that I am is not aligned with how I
want to be, the incongruence, or lack of
alignment, will result in mental distress or
anxiety.
 The greater the level of incongruence between
the ideal self and real self, the greater the level of
resulting distress
THE SELF IN WESTERN AND ORIENTAL/ EASTERN
THOUGHT
 Oftentimes we associate western thought with
individualism and eastern/oriental with
collectivism.
Western Thought
a. Individualism
 Individualist culture is a culture in which the goals
of the individual take precedence over the goals
of the group.
 members are responsible for themselves and,
perhaps, their immediate families
 success is measured by how far one stands out
from the crowd
 It is characterized by individual autonomy; self-
oriented; personal goals; unique and
independent; individual privacy; nuclear family;
individual rewards (equity); competition
b. Collectivism
 Collectivist culture is a culture in which the goals
of the group take precedence over the goals of
the individual.
 members are responsible for the group as a
whole
 success is measured by one’s contributions to
the group as a whole
 It is characterized by group unity and harmony;
group-oriented; group goals; conforming and
interdependent; group belongingness; extended
family; equal distribution of reward (equality);
cooperation
a. Confucianism
 This can be seen as a code of ethical conduct, of
how one should properly act according to their
relationship with other people, thus it is also
focused on having a harmonious social life (Ho
1995, 116).
 The cultivated self in Confucianism is what some
scholars call a “subdued self” wherein personal
needs are repressed for the good of many,
making Confucian society also hierarchical for
the purpose of maintaining order and balance in
society (Ho 1995, 118)
 b. Taoism
 Living in the way of the Tao or the universe.
Taoism rejects having one definition of what the
Tao is, and one can only state clues of what it is
as they adapt a free-flowing, relative, unitary, as
well as paradoxical view of almost everything.
 The self is not just an extension of the family or
the community; it is part of the universe, one of
the forms and manifestations of the Tao (Ho
1995, 120) Buddhism
 This believes that the self is seen as an illusion,
born out of ignorance, of trying to hold and
control things, or human-centered needs, thus
the self is also the source of all these suffering
(Ho 1995, 121).

In general:

 Confucianism and Taoism still situate the self

within a bigger context
 As for Buddhism, the self, with all its connections
and selfish ideas, is totally taken, not just out of
the center of the picture, but out of the whole
picture as a whole.