UNDERSTANDING THE SELF – REVIEWER

MODULE 1
What is Philosophy?

- From the Greek word Philo (loving) and Sophia (wisdom)

- The study of general and fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and
language.

Socrates and Plato

- Prior to Socrates, the Greek thinkers, with concerned with:
- what the world is really made of
- why the world is so,
- what explains the changes that they observed around them.

1. SOCRATES- a Greek philosopher and known for his ideas “I know that I don’t Know”
- Some Socrates ideas: the soul is immortal; care of the soul is the task of
philosophy and Virtue is necessary to attain happiness
- According to him, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”, Self-
knowledge or the examination of one’s self are important concerns because
only by knowing yourself you can hope to improve your life (Rappe,
1995).
- For him, the state of your inner being (soul) determines the quality of your
life
Existence is of two kinds:
- The visible existence changes while the invisible existence remains
constant.
- Self-knowledge is important because only by knowing your self can you
hope to improve your life.
- For him, everyman is composed of body and soul that every person is
dualistic
- Socrates believed that the goal of life is to be happy. The virtuous man is
a happy man and that virtue alone is the one and only supreme good that
will secure his/her happiness.
- The most important thing in life is the state of his/her soul and the acts
taken from taking care of the soul through self-knowledge.
- “Know thy self”-
- The more a person knows, the greater his or her ability to reason and
make choices that will bring true happiness.

 RATIONALISM- The theory that reason, rather that experience, is the

foundation of all knowledge.

2. PLATO- he was the student of Socrates and he’s famous of the statement “Balance
between mind and body”. According to him, the “soul” is the most divine
aspect of the human being.
- Best know for his THEORY OF FORMS- The physical world is not
really the “real” world because the ultimate reality exists beyond
the physical world.
- He wrote the Socratic dialogue
- He coined the three parts of the soul:
- Appetitive (sensual), - enjoys sensual experiences such as food, drink and
sex.
- Rational (reasoning)- loves truth, use of reason
 - Spirited (feeling)- understands the demands of passion, the part that loves
honor and victory.
- He emphasized that justice can only be attained if the three parts work
harmoniously with each other.

3. ST. AUGUSTINE- Latin Fathers of the Church, Doctors of the Church. Famous of
his ideas “All knowledge leads to God”, he believed that the human being
was both a soul and body and the body possessed senses, such as imagination,
memory, reason and mind through which the soul experience the world.
- The aspects of the self/soul according to Saint Augustine are:
a. It is able to be aware of itself
b. It recognizes itself as a holistic one
c. It is aware of its unity
- Give the theory of forms a Christian perspective
- The soul held the truth and was capable of scientific thinking.

4. RENE DESCARTES- Father of modern Philosophy and he’s famous of his words “I
think, therefore I am”, the first thinker to emphasize the use of reason to describe, predict
and understand natural phenomena based on observational and empirical evidence
(Bertrand, 2004; Grosholz, 1991).
He claims that self is:
-Constant, not prone to change and it’s not affected by time
-Only the immaterial soul remains the same throughout time.
- The immaterial soul is the source of our identity.
- Rationalism
- Hyperbolical/metaphysical doubt or methodological skepticism.

Cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am)

- Cogito (Mind) – the thing that thinks

- Extenza (Body) – extension of the mind

 EMPIRICISM
- The origin of all knowledge is sense experience

5. JOHN LOCKE- famous of his statement that “human mind at birth is a tabula
rasa, means that knowledge is derived from experience”. For
Locke, a person’s memories provide a continuity of experience that allows him/her
to identify himself/herself as the same person over time.
- “Everyone started as a blank slate, and the contents is provider by one’s
experiences over time (tabula rasa)”.

-The “self” is identified with consciousness and this “self” consists of sameness of
consciousness.
-He considered self to be founded in consciousness or memory and not on
substance of either soul and body.

6. DAVID HUME- An empiricist Scottish philosopher and famous of the statements that “all
knowledge is derived from human senses”. Hume identified with the bundle theory
wherein he described the self or person as a bundle or a collection of different perceptions
that are moving in a very fast and successive manner. He stressed that your perceptions are
only active for as long as you are conscious. Self is like a bulb that may be switched on or
off.
Impressions – basic objects of our experience or sensations
Ideas – copies of our impressions.
There is no self
7. IMMANUEL KANT- is famous of his statements “REASON is the final authority
of morality. Morality is achieved only when there is absence of war
because of the result of enlightenment.” Kant stressed that the body
and its qualities are rooted to the self.
The two components of the self:
- Inner self- aware of alterations in your own state. This includes your
rational intellect and your psychological state, such as moods, feelings
and sensations, pleasure and pain.
- Outer self- includes your senses and the physical world.
- Kant proposed that the self organizes information in three ways: Raw
perceptual input, Recognizing the concept and Reproducing in the
imagination.
- Proposed that it is knowledge that bridges the “self” and the material things
together.
-Mind has 2 fundamental capacities:
-Receptivity
- Spontaneity

8. SIGMUND FREUD- famous of his line “Wish fulfillment is the road to the
unconscious.” Freud distinguished three levels of consciousness:
a. Conscious- deals with awareness of present perceptions, feelings, thoughts,
memories and fantasies at any particular moment.
b. Pre-conscious/Subconscious- related to data that can readily be brought to
consciousness and
c. Unconscious- refers to data retained but not easily available to the
individual’s conscious awareness.
- Freud structured the psyche/mind into three parts:
1. Id- operates on the pleasure principle. Every wishful impulse
should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences.
2. Ego- operates according to reality principle. It works out realistic
ways of satisfying the id’s demands.
3. Superego- incorporates the values and morals of society. It
persuades the ego to choose moralistic goals and to strive for
perfection rather than simply realistic ones.
- “The mind is an iceberg. It floats with one-seventh of its bulk
above the water.”

-Proponent of the Psychoanalytic Theory

- Proposed that an individual gets motivated by unseen force, controlled
by the conscious and the rational thoughts.

9. GILBERT RYLE- British philosopher He’s famous of his line “I act, therefore I am”
- According to Ryle, your actions define your own concept of “self” (who
you are)
- was a British philosopher, principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism,
for which he coined the phrase " ghost in the machine." He was a representative of
the generation of British ordinary language philosophers who shared Ludwig
Wittgenstein 's approach to philosophical problems.

10. PAUL CHURCHLAND- Canadian Philosopher he’s famous of his line “The physical
brain and NOT the imaginary mind gives us our sense of self.”
 - He views the immaterial, unchanging soul/self does not exist because it
cannot be experienced by the senses (1989).
-
11. Maurice Merleau-Ponty- was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly
influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger.  famous of his line “Physical body
is an important part of the self.”
He distinguished the body into 2 types:
-Subjective body - the body-as-it-is-lived, I am my body
-Objective body - the body that is known by others. We observe and objectify others'
bodies.

12. Edmund Husserl - was a Jewish German Atheist philosopher and mathematician who
established the school of phenomenology. We experience our self as a unity, in which the
mental and physical state are seamlessly woven together

MODULE 2
Sociological Views of Self
Social Groups and Social Network:
Social group is described as having two or more people interacting with one another, sharing
similar characteristics and whose members identify themselves as part of the group. Example of
a social group is your family, your barkada and your classmates.

 Social Network is referring to the ties or connections that link you to your social group.
The connection you have with your family is your blood relation, your barkada is your
friendship and your classmates as the common interest to learn.
 A social group could either be Organic or Rational.
 Organic group is naturally occurring and it is highly influenced by your family.
According to George Simmel, you join these groups because your family is part of it.
There is rootedness in terms of connections, influences and values formation. The
foundation of social network runs deep and giving the members of the family the sense of
belongingness.
 Rational groups occur in modern societies. It is made up of different people coming
from different places. It is formed as a matter of shared self-interests, and people join
these groups out of their own free will.

Key characteristics of modernity:

1. Industrialism – The social relations implied in the extensive use of

material power and machinery in all process of production.

2. Capitalism - a production system involving both competitive product

markets and the commodification of labor power.

3. Institutions of surveillance – the massive increase of power and

reach by institutions, especially in government.

4. Dynamism – characterized as having vigorous activity and progress.

Mead and the Social Self: George Herbert Mead is well known for his theory “theory of the
social self.” Mead’s work focused on how the self is developed. The theory is based on how the
self is developed based on the perspective that the self is a product of social interactions, social
experiences and activities.

 Stages of self-development: language, play and game

- Language stage- gives the individual that capacity to express himself/herself at the
same time comprehend what other people are conveying. Language sets the stage for
self-development.
 - Play stage- individuals role-play or assume the perspective of others. Role-playing
enables the person to internalize some other people’s perspectives thus, he/she
develops an understanding of how the other people feel about themselves in a variety
of situations.
- Game stage- the individual not only internalizes other people’s perspectives, he/she is
also able to consider societal rules and adheres to it. According to Mead, self is
developed by understanding the rule and one must abide by it to win the game or be
successful at an activity.

 Two sides of Self: “I” and “Me”

- The “me” is the product of what the person has learned while interacting with others
and with the environment. Learned behaviors, attitudes and even expectations
comprise the “me”. The “me” exercises social control over the self. Sees to it that
rules are not broken.
- The “I” is the unsocialized and spontaneous. It is the individual’s response to the
community’s attitude toward the person. The “I” presents impulses and drives. It
enables him or her to express creativity. It does not blindly follow rules. It
understands when to possibly bend or stretch the rules that govern social interactions.
It constructs a response based on what has been learned by the “Me.”

Anthropological views of self

Anthropology- it is the study of people, past and present. It focuses on understanding the
human condition in its cultural aspect. It facilitates understanding on how humans evolved
and how they differ from one another.
- Anthropologist Katherine Ewing, (1990) described the self as encompassing the
“physical organism, possessing psychological functioning and social attributes.

- Joseph LeDoux (2002) conceptualized the implicit and explicit aspect of the self.
The aspect of the self that you are consciously aware of is the explicit self, while the
one that is not immediately available to the consciousness is the implicit aspect.
Hence, the self is framed, maintained and affected biologically, mentally and
socially. The self is not static, not added to and subtracted from by genetic
maturation, learning, forgetting, stress, aging and disease. It is both the implicit and
explicit aspects of the self.

 Self as representation- the self is illusory which means that people construct a series of
self-representations based on selected cultural concepts of person and selected chains of
personal memories.

 The Self Embedded in Culture- how individuals see themselves, how they relate to
other people and to the environment deeply defined by culture. Psychologist Catherine
Raeff (2010), believed that culture can influence how you view: relationships,
personality traits, achievement and expressing emotions.
- Culture influences how you enter into and maintain relationships.
- Culture influences how you value traits, like humility, self-esteem, politeness,
assertiveness as well as
how you perceive hardship or how you feel about relying on others.
- Culture influences how you define success and whether you value certain types of
individual and group
achievements.
- Culture influences what will affect you emotionally, as well as how you express
yourself such as showing
your feelings in public or keeping it in private.
- “Culture is not a force or causal agent in the world, but a context in which people live
out their lives.” (Clifford, G., 1973)

 Anthropology liberates the self from the fallacies of dominant ideas. The self is no longer
seen as an entity with innate ideas, ready to face the world and as if programmed to
respond to the demands of time.
 The self is not seen as a “blank slate” ready to encode all the details of everyday
experiences so that it becomes limited only to what is written on the slate.

 The self is recognized as:

 A.) biologically attuned to respond to his/her environment,
B.) Variably self-aware of the mechanisms of the elements of culture working within the
self.

MODULE 3
The Self as a Cognitive Construction
What is Psychology?
 Psychology scientific discipline that studies mental states and processes and behavior in humans and
other animals.
 The discipline of psychology is broadly divisible into two parts: a large profession of practitioners and
a smaller but growing science of mind, brain, and social behavior. The two have distinctive goals,
training, and practices, but some psychologists integrate the two.
 Everything that concerns the human being is a concern of psychology.
 The basic working of the human brain to consciousness, memory, reasoning and language, to
personality and mental health, and everything about experience.
 Psychology will scrutinize it so that you as a human being will understand how it is to be “You”.
 Also define as a term cognitive as “of, relating to, being, or involving conscious intellectual activity,
such as thinking, reasoning, or remember”
 Self-theorist argue that it is natural for humans to form theories about themselves, both as a single
entity and as a group, to make meaning of one’s existence and experience.
Psy chologist
JEAN
PIAGET
- was a Swiss
clinical

psychologist
known for his pioneering work in child development.
o Pioneered the “theory of cognitive development,” a comprehensive theory about the development of
human intelligence.
o It dealt with the nature of knowledge itself; and how humans gradually come to acquire, construct and
use it.
o Cognitive development is a progressive reorganization of mental processes resulting from biological
maturation and environmental experience.
o He believes that children construct an understanding of the world around them, experience
inconsistencies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment
o Piaget claims that cognitive development is at the center of human organism
 Example: language is dependent on knowledge and understanding, and the capacity to speak and
express oneself through language can only be acquired through the development of intelligence,
conscious thought, and problem-solving ability that begins in infancy (Baldwin, 2005)
Three basic components to Piaget’s Cognitive theory
1. Schemas/schemes- building blocks of knowledge. Schemes are mental organizations that individuals
use to understand their environments and designate action.
2. Adaptation- involves the child’s learning processes to meet situational demands.
3. Stages of Cognitive Development- they reflect the increasing sophistication of the child’s thought
process.
Assimilation- is the application of previous concepts to new concepts
Example: a child who was just learned the word “fish,” shouts “fish!” upon seeing one.
Accommodation- happens when people encounter completely new information or when existing ideas
are challenged.
Example: a child knows dogs and cats. At school, he/she learns the word “animals.”
The child will them adjust her understanding that dogs and cats are both animals.

STAGE AGE CHARACTERISTICS OF STAGE

Sensorimotor 0-2 The child learns by doing: looking, touching, sucking. The child also has a primitive
understanding of cause-and –effect relationship. Object permanence appears around 9 months.
Preoperational 2-7 The child use language and symbols, including letters and numbers. Egocentrism is
also evident. Conservation marks the end of the preoperational stage and the beginning of concrete
operations.
Concrete operations 7-11 The child demonstrates conservation, reversibility, serial ordering, and a
mature understanding of cause-effect effect relationship. Thinking at this stage is still concrete.
Formal Operations 12+ The individual demonstrations abstract
thinking at this stage is still concrete.

HARTER’S SELF-DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT

Dr. Susan Harter detailed the emergence of self-concept and asserted that the broad develop mental
changes observe across early childhood, later childhood, and adolescence could be interpreted within a
Piagetian framework
Self-concept is a construct that refers to an individual’s perception of "self" that remains
relatively consistent and stable over time, contexts and developmental phases.
 EARLY CHILDHOOD It describes the “self” in terms of concrete, observable characteristics, such as
physical attributes, materials possessions, behaviors, and preferences.
o Deals with characteristic such as physical attributes (“I’m pretty/ugly/strong”), materials possessions (“I
have lots of toys”), behaviors (“I love praying with my toys,”), and preferences (“I like candies”).
 MIDDLE TO LATER CHILDHOOD
o It describes the “self” in terms of trait-like constructs that would require the type of hierarchical
organizational skills characteristic of logical thought development.
 ADOLESCENCE
o the emergence of more abstract self-definitions, such as the inner thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and
motives.
o Example: 15 years old girl in a study on self-conceptions described herself as follows: “what am I like
as a person? Complicated!
 EMERGING ADULTS
o The marked characteristics of “self” for emerging adults in having a vision of a “possible self” it is the
“age of possibilities” (Amett, 2004) In one Australian study (Whitty, 2002), early emerging adulthood
(age 17-22) was found to be time of “grand dreams,” of being wealthy and having a glamorous
occupation, but beyond emerging adulthood (age 28-33) the visions of a possible self-became more
realistic, it still optimistic.
William James and The Me-Self; I-Self
I-Self is the pure ego. It is the subjective self. It is the “self” that is aware of its own actions. The I-Self
characteristically has four features. These are…

4 features characteristics of I-SELF.

1. A sense of being the agent or initiator of behavior- I believe my action have an impact; that I cause
an effect in my environment.
2. A sense of being unique- this is how different from everything in my environment; I perceive there
is only one Me.
3. A sense of continuity- I am same person from a day to day
4. A sense of awareness about being aware- I understand what is going on me and around me; and I
know understand it.
The me-self is the self that is the object. It is the “self” that you describe, such as your physical
characteristic, personalities, social role, or relationship, thoughts, feelings.
Empirical –defined as “based on, concerned with, or verified by observation or experience rather
than theory or pure logic.

The dimensions of the me-self include:

1. Materials- physical appearance and extension of it such as clothing, immediate family, and home;
2. Social –social skills and significant interpersonal relationships; and
3. Spiritual –personality, character, defining values.

Constituents of the “Me” Self-feelings Self-seeking

self
Materials The feelings and emotions Individual’s effort to
Social that are aroused in the preserve and better one’s
Spiritual individual by one’s self-knowledge and the
knowledge and appraisal resulting self-feeling
of one’s empirical
existence in the world

Carl Ransom Rogers was an American psychologist and among the founders of the
humanistic approach to psychology.
Humanistic psychology- is a psychological perspective that rose to prominence in the mid-20 th
century. This approach highlighted the individual’s innate drive toward self-actualization and the
process of realizing and expressing one’s own capabilities and creativity (Hansen, 2014).
Humanistic psychology emphasized the active role of the individual in shaping their internal
and external worlds. Rogers stressed that a person is an active, creative, experiencing being who
lives in the present and who thinks, feels, and respond to his or her environment. He coined the
term actualizing tendency, which refers to ma person’s basic instinct to succeed at his or her
highest possible capacity. Though person-centered counseling and scientific therapy research,
Rogers formed his theory of personality development, which highlighted free will and the great
reservoir of human potential for goodness (McLeod, S.A. 2014)

ideal self vs real self

The ideal self is the person that you would like to be; it is your concept of the “best me” who is
worthy of admiration, it is an idealizing image of the self that the individual has developed based
on what you have has learned and experienced.
Example: your parents are medical doctors who are respected and admired in your community.

The ideal self could include:

1. Notions influenced by your parents;
2. What you admire in others;
3. What the society sees an acceptable; and
4. What you think is in your best interest.
The real self is the person you actually are. It is how you behave right at the moment of a
situation. It is who you are in reality-how you think, feel, or act at present.
The important of alignment
Rogers accentuated the need to achieve consistency between the ideal self and the real self.
 Congruence- when your real self and ideal self are very similar you experience
o High congruence leads to a greater sense of self-worth and a healthy,
productive life.
Incongruence – when there is a great inconsistency between your ideal and real
selves or it the way you are is not aligned with what you want to be, then you
experienced a state.
o he added that incongruence could lead to maladjustment.
o Maladjustment is defined as the inability to react successfully and
satisfactory to the demands of one’s environment.
Multiple vs Unified Selves

William James (1890) said, “Properly speaking, a man has a many social selves as
there are individuals who recognized him and carry an image of him in their head”.

Roy Baumeister (2010) said, “But the concept of the self loses its meaning if a
person has multiple selves… the essence of self involves integration of diverse experience into a
unity. In short, unity is one of the defining features of selfhood and identity.
The Unity of Consciousness
The human experience is always that of unity.
Example: you dropped a hot pot because you forgot to use a potholder.

Immanuel Kant’s “unity of consciousness” that can be described as “I’m conscious not only
of single experience but a great many experience at the same time. The same is true of actions; I
can do and be conscious of doing a number of actions at the same time” (Brook, 2006)
One Self or Many Selves?
Contemporary psychological studies challenged the notion of single, distinct,” only one”
notion of self.
Allport’s Personality Theory

Gordon Allport (1961) proposed his “personality trait” theory asserting that every person
possesses “traits”.
According to him “trait” is your essential characteristic that never, ever changes
and sticks with you all your life.
These traits shape you are (how you think, feel, or behave, etc.) in any day.

MODULE 4
 Western Concept of Self:
- Psychiatrist and professor, Frank Johnson (1985), outlined four (4) categories on how
the term “self” is used in contemporary western discussion.
1. Analytical – this is the tendency to see reality as an aggregate part. That
means the “self” is an observer separate and distinct from external objects.
2. Monotheistic- it involves the tendency toward unitary explanations of
phenomena and a closed-system view of “self” as modeled after a unitary,
omnipotent power (“Man was created by God, in His image).
3. Individualistic- it is a quality of western thinking where self-expression and
self-actualization are important ways of establishing who one is, as well as in
finding satisfaction in the world.
4. Materialistic/Rationalistic- that means the western thinking tends to
discredit explanations that do not use analytic-deductive modes of thinking.
 Eastern Concept of Self:
- The earliest religious writings in the East are the “Vedas.” It formed the Hindu
philosophy and dharma (principle of cosmic order).
- The chants and hymns in the Vedas illustrate the eastern mindset of a nondual universe
but rather a creation that is completely unified with the creator, with no distinction
- According to these sacred Hindu texts, the true nature of humans is described as
“Brahman”-is the divine universal consciousness encompassing the universe. Brahman
is the self that is all within us.
- One of the main points of Hinduism is “change your perception of the world to perceive
the Brahman in oneself and in others”
- Buddhism is composed of the teachings of Buddha. In Buddhist traditions, the “self” is
not entity, a substance or essence. Rather, the “self” is a dynamic process.
- The Buddha taught a doctrine called annatta, which is defined as “no-self or no-soul”
Annatta is a concept that the sense of being a permanent, autonomous “self” is an
illusion. It is the teaching that there is no eternal, unchanging “self/soul” inhabiting our
bodies or living our lives.
- In Confucianism, the quest for the “self” in terms of substance, of spirit, of body or of
essence does not exist. The concept of self is that of personality. The qualities that form
a person’s character are not something that exists inherently. But, it is something that is
formed through upbringing and the environment.
- Confucian philosophy presented the idea that every person is born with four
beginnings.
- The Four (4) beginnings:
1. Heart of compassion that leads to Jen
2. Heart of righteousness that leads to Yi
3. Heart of propriety that leads to Li
4. Heart of wisdom that leads to Chih
- Jen, Yi, Li and Chih are the perfection of the virtues that at the start were mere
potentials.
- Jen means goodwill, sympathy toward others, politeness and generosity.
- Yi means rightness and the respect of duty (you must respect your position as a guardian
toward nature and humanity).
- Li means having the right to practice propriety in all that you do. Propriety involves not
demonstrating your inner attitude in your outer expression.
- Chih means wisdom, this wisdom is expressed by putting jen, yi and li into practice.
- Personality in the Confucian perception is an achieved state of moral excellence rather
a given human condition. The Confucian concept of self is deeply embedded within the
family and society and it is only in that context that the self comes to be what it is.
- Taoism does not regard the “self” as an extension of social relationships. The self is
one of the countless manifestations of the Tao. It is an extension of the cosmos (or the
universe seen as a well-ordered whole).
- Chuang-tzu is regarded as a mystic of unmatched brilliance in China, gave an explicit
negation of the centrality of the “self’
- According to Chuang-tzu, the perfect man has no self, the spiritual man has no
achievement, the true sage has no name. The ideal is selflessness- it means selfhood
entails conscious self-transformation leading to the attributes of a balanced life in
harmony with both nature and society.
- The Arabic word for the word “self” is Nafs written in the Holy Qur’an. It pertains to the
psyche
(totality of the conscious and unconscious human mind) or the soul. The Quran does not
ascribe any property of goodness or evil to the “nafs/self” instead, it is something which
has to be nurtured and self-regulated so that it can progress into becoming good through
its thoughts and actions.
- The self in Islamic tradition is used both in the individualistic and collective sense.

Features of Individualism Features of Collectivism

 “I” identity
 Promotes individual goals, initiative and
achievement.
 Individual rights are seen as being the most
important. Rules attempt to ensure self-
importance and individualism.
 Independence is valued, there’s much less of
a drive to help other citizens or
communities.
 Relying or being dependent on others is
frequently seen as shameful.
 People are encouraged to do things on their
own, rely on themselves.
 People strive for their own successes.
 Each person is encouraged to be an
active player in society, to do what
is best for society as a whole rather
than themselves.
 The rights of families, communities
and the collective supersede those
of the individual.
 Rules promote unity, brotherhood
and selflessness.
 Working with others and
cooperating is the norm, everyone
supports each other.
 As a community, family or nation
more than as an individual.
- Our understanding of the self therefore, must not only be limited to the dividing
differences between east and west.