UNDERSTANDING THE SELF: MODULE 1

welcome to
OUR PRESENTATION
"Knowing others is wisdom, knowing the
self is enlightenment" - Lao Tzu

GROUP 5- PHILOSOPHY Page 01 of 35

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF: MODULE 1

The Philosophy of
SELF
By GROUP 5- PHILOSOPHY

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 Learning Objectives
Module 1: The Philosophy of Self

In this module, you will be able to:

-Know the meaning of philosophy and concept of self,
discuss the different representation and
conceptualization of self from various perspectives;

-Identify and examine the different concepts and

representations of self; discuss the influences of
Eastern and Western philosophers of self, and
demonstrate critical and reflective thinking in analyzing
the development of one self and identity.
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Jump Off :Read the following passage and reflect on it

Your Life on
Autopilot
By: Linda Ferguson and Chris Keeler, NLP Canada Training, 2008

Imagine this: You wake up one morning and the next thing you know you're sitting in
your car. You are freshly showered, appropriately dressed, and there's a travel mug of
coffee next to you. You have no conscious memory of how any of this happened and
you're already halfway to work.

We have evolved to run complex routine procedures on autopilot. Our unconscious

processes are faster, more reliable, than our conscious efforts to understand and
influence the world around us. We do not need to know much about ourselves to get
through an average day. We just need to go along for the ride.
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So what's the point of all the efforts we make to remember and discover who we
are? Why get to know yourself better if yourself runs just fine without you?

The short answer is this. It's hard to make it through a whole day without
learning something about yourself. The people with whom you connect, the
stories you hear or tell, the things you do all of them give you information about
yourself. One of the many automatic processes that drive you is the process
which causes you to pay attention to information about yourself. Paying
attention allows you to choose whether to incorporate new information into
existing patterns or to let it go. You cannot change without knowing something
about yourself and you cannot live in a world of change without changing
yourself.

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 So even though it slows you down and
introduces all sorts of existential difficulties, it
is hard to avoid learning more about yourself.
Fortunately, if you are active and intentional,
getting to know yourself better has real
benefits. It can be a fun process that leads to
results you like. It can give you choices you
would not see on autopilot and better results
when autopilot is running your life. It can even
grow your brain. (Ferguson & Keeler, 2008)

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The Self from
VARIOUS PERSPECTIVE

Module 1: The Philosophy of Self Page 07 of 35

The Self from Various Perspective
The philosophy of self refers to the condition of
identity that makes individual distinct from all
others.

Identity means the qualities, characteristics,

belief and etc. that makes a person or group
different from one another.

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The Self from Various Perspective
The concept of self may be examined in five ways :
- Self-Knowledge
- Self-Activity
- Self-Independent of the Senses
- Self-Identity
- Self-Image

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 Self-Knowledge
-refers to ones knowledge and understanding of one's own learnings,
character, motivation and capabilities.
To have Self-knowledge one must know his/her particular experiences,
sensation, attitude, beliefs.

Self-Activity
- defined as an independent and self-determined action.
- quality or state of being self-active/self-action.
- a person's decision to carry out actions which you have thought about
yourself and not been told to do by others.

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- infers motion or the power of moving one's self without the help or aid of
the external.
- basis of all learning.

Self- Independent of the Senses

- refers to the inner self
- maintaining a person as a separate or self-contained individual
- focuses on internal attributes like our abilities, natural intelligence not acquire
one.
- related to person's sense of worth and self-esteem and help us to strive to
achieve our goals.

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Self-Identity
- individuals uniqueness
- recognition of one's potential and qualities as an individual.
- it is awareness of one's individual Identity.

Example: Gender Identity, ID card

Self-Image
- mental picture of an individual and is quite resistance to change through
time regading to ones abilities, personalities and role.
- it is how you see yourself and feel about your personality, achievement
and values in life.
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THE EASTERN Philosophy
OF SELF

Module 1: The Philosophy of Self Page 13 of 35

The Eastern Philosophy of Self
Hindu Philosophy of Self (1500 B.C.E)
- Hindu indigenous (people who live in North
South of Asia who share some common ancestry
with the ancient Indians), believe that the self is
made up of two aspects: "Atman" and "Brahman."

Atman
- (self-soul) is a secular word which means "essence,
breath or soul." Atman means "real self" of the
individual, the innermost essence and soul of the
person.
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Hindu Philosophy of Self
In simplest term, Atman is the individual's inner self, spirit or
soul.

Atman is the true self that lies at the inner core of human
identities and it is only this inner core that is identical with God.
The self-identity of a person can be compared to that of onion
with various layers. The outer layer of our identities involve
common sense of views of ourselves that we experience. The
inner layer involves the self-God within each of us and sees the
underlying unity of the world (Dalal, 2010).

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Hindu Philosophy of Self
Brahman
- it connotes the highest Universal Principle, the Ultimate Reality in the
universe. In major schools of Hindu philosophy, it is the material, efficient,
formal and final cause of all that exists. It is the pervasive, genderless, infinite,
eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes.
Brahman as a metaphysical concept is the single binding unity behind
diversity in all that exists in the universe (Lochtefeld, 2002).

In simplest explanation, Brahman is said to be infinite, with no beginning or end.

Brahman is changeless and is the source of the universe in Hindu beliefs.

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Buddhism Philosophy of Self
(5th Century B.C.E to the present)

Buddha's teaching of self is to understand the nature

of self which is a combination of five aggregates of
existence known as the "Five Skandhas or the Five
heaps:" Form, Sensation, Perception, Mental
Formation, and Consciousness.

The Five Skandhas

"First Skandha" Form- it is the physical form.

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"Second Skandha" Sensation

- it is the made up of feelings-both emotional and

physical, and senses: seeing, hearing, tasting,
touching, and smelling.

"Third Skandha" Perception

- takes in most of what is called thinking, which
includes conceptualization, cognition, reasoning.
This also the recognition that occurs when an
organ comes into contact with an object.
Perception can be thought of as "that which
identifies." The object perceived may be a
physical object or a mental one, such as an idea.

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"Fourth Skandha" Mental Formation

- includes habits, prejudices, and predispositions. Human

volition, or willfulness, is also part of the fourth skandha,
as are attention, faith, conscientiousness, pride, desire,
vindictiveness, and many other mental states both
virtuous and not virtuous

"Fifth Skandha" Consciousness

- it is an awareness of or sensitivity to an object, but

without conceptualization. The fifth skandha is
explained in some schools as a base ties the
experience of life together. (Plott, 2000).

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Confucian Philosophy (551 B.C - 479 B C)
- is the importance of having a good moral character,
which can then affect the world around that person
through the idea of “cosmic harmony."

The human adult self, in Confucianism is defined as an

"achieved state of moral excellence rather than a given
human condition', and there are several implications
to such an understanding. First, strictly speaking, one
may speak of a human being in Confucianism only as
such with regard to the human potential to become a
human being.
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Confucian Philosophy
In Confucianism the quest for the human self, the search for what it is to be
human in terms of spirit or body, does not exist. What takes precedence in the
writings of Confucius is that of personality-personality as such is not seen as
inherently existing, but as something that is being formed through upbringing
and environment. In that, the human being is seen as a social being.

In Confucianism then, self can never be static. If one stops to develop the
virtues in one's living, one has already lost them all. To be human means to
develop and to keep pursuing the virtues. In the sage, this has ceased to be a
conscious effort or decision. The dynamic has been integrated into the nature
of the self, and has become the self. It has become an unconscious way of
being.
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 THE
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY
OF SELF

Module 1: The Philosophy of Self Page 22 of 35

SOCRATES : The First Moral Philosopher
(470-399 B.C.E)

Socrates believes that to understand the self is to "know

thyself" The particular characteristics of the self
determine its identity. This assertion, imperative in the
form, indicates that man must stand and live according
to his nature. Man has to look at himself. To find what?
By what means? How, then.
This knowledge of oneself can be achieved only through
the Socratic method through the dialogue between the
soul and itself or between a student and his teacher.
Without this work on oneself, life is worthless according
to Socrates.
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ARISTOTLE : Father Of Western Philosophy
(384-322 B.C.E)

According to him, the self is made up of the soul which

is the core essence of a living being which is not
separated from the body. The soul is the one that acts
within the body (ex. just as we cannot separate the
activity of cutting from the knife) the knife is the body
and the act of cutting is the soul.

Aristotle, in his treatise On the Soul posits three kinds

of soul; the vegetative soul, the sensitive soul, and the
rational soul.

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The human soul incorporates the powers of the other
kinds: Like the vegetative soul it can grow and nourish
itself; like the sensitive soul it can experience sensations
and move locally. The unique part of the human, rational
soul is its ability to receive forms of other things and to
compare them using the nous (intellect) and logos
(reason).
For Aristotle, the soul is the form of a living being.
Because all beings are composites of form and matter,
the form of living beings is that which endows them with
what is specific to living beings, eg. the ability to initiate
movement (or in the case of plants, growth and chemical
transformations, which Aristotle considers types of
movement).
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RENE DESCARTES (1596- 1650)
To him the "self" is a thinking person. In his
writing "Cogito ergo sum" (I think therefore; I
am") He stressed that the mind is a substance
within the brain capable of thinking (affirming,
doubting, judging etc.)
The self then, is regarded the one that makes us
aware to perceive the external world. Descartes
emphasized the notion of self which is made of
consciousness (observer- observed) that forms
our thinking and guides our behavior. It is the
self that perceives the world.
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DAVID HUME : Empirical Philosopher
(1711-1776)
The self is nothing more than the mental
perceptions which are available to our
memory. This perception relies on our
previous experiences that give meaning
based on the principles of cause and
effects. We view things as distinct but
they are connected together by
resemblance, contiguity or causation. All
perceptions of the mind is divided in two
distinct kinds, the "impression" and
"ideas."
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Impressions are the original form
of all our ideas. The self-according
to Hume can be explained further
in the "Bundle Theory of Personal
Identity." Hume said the mind is
simply a bonded of perceptions
and experiences linked by the
relations of causations and
resemblance.
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JOHN LOCKE : English Empirical Philosopher
(1632-1704)

The self can be understood by examining

one's mind, what constitute the mind. Locke
stressed that mind consists of memory
where our consciousness (thoughts,
experiences) resides. Locke suggests that
the self (consciousness) is a thinking
intelligent being, that has reason and
reflection and continuous to define one's
personal identity.

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Thus, the self can be equated with one
personal identity. This consciousness
determines one's selfthat continues to
grow and develop trough times that
form our personal identity.
For example, as far as our
consciousness could remember the past
experience or thought, that determine
this identity as a person, it is the same
self now as it was then. Memory
therefore is a necessary condition of
personal identity.
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SIGMUND FREUD : Drive Theory Of Self
Freud believes that the self has three layers: The id,
ego, and superego.

The Id, which works on the pleasure principle, is the

seat of our, passion, desires and other instinctual
drives. Like our bodily needs, want and impulses.
Example: Our sexual and aggressive drives

The Ego seeks to please the Id drives in realistic way. It

is also the ego that regulates our action.
Example: We can resist the urge of stealing money
from others, but instead we work to earn money.
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The Super Ego, which works on the morality
principle, is the seat of what is right or
wrong- as it reflects the internalization of
cultural rules, set by the guidance and
influence of our parents.

The three layers of the self-interact with

each other. The Ego meditate between the
Id and Superego and whichever dominates
from the other two structures, the Ego will
act in reality. This is how our self determines
our personality.

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SIKOLOHIYANG
PILIPINO

Module 1: The Philosophy of Self Page 32 of 35

VIRGILIO G. ENRIQUEZ(1942-1994)
The Philippines also has a homegrown phycho -
philosophical view of the self . This view was
developed by Virgilio Enriquez , who is considered as
the Father of Sikolohiyang Pilipino .

The self in the Filipino is the unity of the " self " and "
others " expressed in the Filipino word " kapwa . "
Concept of " self " and " others " He proposed the
idea that concept of " self " or ( personhood ) can be
centered on the core values expressed in the word
"kapwa."

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- the word " kapwa " is a concept of how every Filipino thinks
, behaves and relates with others . " kapwa " does not mean
only " others " but the shared inner self of a person .

-Enriquez points out that when a Filipino says the word "
kapwa , " it shows the essence of sharing , seeing and caring
the other as oneself . It is then , that the Filipino concept of
self can be identified with the unity of his inner self ( one self
) and outer self ( others ) expressed in the word " kapwa .

Example : The Filipino word " magalang " is a

concept that can describe a person's one self . This concept
was develop to the person because of what others think of
him .
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 Module 1: The Philosophy of Self

THAT'S ALL,
THANK YOU!
PERFORMED BY: Group 5- Philosophy
Rivera, Alvic Ken A.
Delos Santos, Kimberly C.
Gepoleo, Kenneth G.

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