UTS  Tripartite Structure - reason (manages spirit and appetite),
→ Self-analyzation
PHILOSOPHY
→ Beginning is conflict between opinions; love for wisdom;
science that considers the self
• Wonder
- “All philosophy has its origins in wonder” —Plato
• A Dynamic Process
- “The beginning of philosophy is
. . . the conflict between opinions” —Epictitus
• Wisdom
- “Philosophy is simply the love of wisdom” —Cicero
• Truth
- “Philosophy is the science that considers the truth” —
Aristotle
SOCRATES
 Know thyself
 The unexamined life is not worth living; reflecting on one’s
life and self is the distinctly human ability
 Psyche - soul; one’s central identity makes one unique.
One’s thoughts and dreams are generated
 There is a need to know ourselves
 Socratic Method - seeks clarity and truth through argument
 Central is the psyche/soul - person’s authentic personality
 The soul is immortal and imperishable and continues even
after death
 Six happening of the soul
 For people to be happy there must be wants, who knows
that they want
 Goodness and wisdom are partners so knowledge and
wisdom is needed for the soul to be virtuous and excellent
PLATO
 Student of Socrates
 A person’s soul is the instrument from which individuals
comprehend form
 Form - an essential part of the thing
 Education is reminiscing - knowledge is within the self and
understanding is done by thoughtful introspection (self -
investigation)
 We need to reflect to rediscover the knowledge within
 Forms and a world of phenomena; form is permanent and
phenomena are changing and dies and withers
 Ex: chair comes in diff shapes but its form is independent,
real, and eternal.
 Its shape and color might change but the idea remains the
same
 Reinforces the examination of one’s own life, leads to a
better understanding
 Provides diff depictions of the structure of the soul/
describes the soul as unitary to emphasize its vital principle
spirit (highly manageable), and appetite (unruly; irrational
side of humans)
ARISTOTLE
 student of Plato
 Vitalistic Principle - makes psyche alive
 Having soul means having life
 All things that have life must have a soul
 Soul distinguishes the live and non-living but not the
thinking and non-thinking
 Argues that an object has a form that is inseparable from it
thus no form without matter
 Hylomorphism - composed of both matter and form of
phenomena and form but for Plato, it can be separated;
body and psyche cannot exist without the others
 Aristotle - form and phenomena are inseparable; no such
thing as immortal or lasting; all things that exist for Aristotle
would come to its end
 The function of Psyche can be divided into the nutritive
psyche (observe, nourishment, and recollections like
plants), sensitive (animals, locomotor, and perception),
rational psyche (humans only; logical, capacity for reason
and other functions, highest functions as well as the other
functions.)
PLOTINUS
 The soul is an important part of the
 The soul is but a prisoner of a body
 Even if the soul and body are together, they are not
combined
 They coexist
 Important that self is developed like values and virtues
 Between nourishment of the soul and demands of the flesh,
the soul prevails and is given importance over the body
 Soul has three activities - perception (directs
consciousness), reflection (conscious of ourselves),
contemplation (transcend the ever-changing and
impermanent and to enter into unchanging and eternal
ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
 Christian Catholic philosopher
 Highly influenced by Plotinus and Plato
 The soul is given primacy over the body
 Two cities of God: earthly city by love of God and heavenly
city which was made by the love of God (glorifies God)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
 Christian
 Employs Aristotelian thought
 A person is both body and soul
 Aristotle believed that body and soul cannot be separated
which is hylomorphism
 A person is both body and soul
 All living things possess a soul
 The human soul continues to exist even during death
 The human soul that is separated from its body is said to be
incomplete and finds its completion
 Body and soul will always go together, if the body dies, the
soul waits for its resurrection during the 2nd coming of
Christ
 A soul cannot be complete without a material body
 Does not adhere that the soul is imprisoned in a body as a
form of punishment
 The soul is not imprisoned but described as good and
natural
 The soul is enriched by the body; the union of body and soul
completes human nature
MODERN PHILOSOPHY
RENE DESCARTES
 Father of modern philosophy
 Gave emphasis to think and said that it is important to
doubt things even personal beliefs; being skeptical is not
wrong
 Resolve the doubt; I think therefore I am
 Being conscious of self is key to the understanding of
personal identity and self
 Mind instead of soul
 A person can have a clear and distinct concept of thinking
self in the body
 A person that thinks is soul for the mind
 The soul is an immortal and conscious entity and not subject
to natural
 The body is subject to the law of nature and is a mortal
entity
 Body (physical self) is governed by the law of nature while
the mind is spiritual and eternal
 Acknowledge both the relationship of body and mind
JOHN LOCKE
 Empiricist
 Primary of sense experience in acquiring knowledge
 Only through a careful focus on our sense experience, we
can judge the accuracy of our conclusion
 When a child is born is an empty vessel
 Sensory is important to acquire knowledge
 Self is founded on consciousness
DAVID HUME
 There is no self
 An empiricist
 After a person examines self/ sense experience, the
individual will conclude of the absence of the self since
impressions are the basic constitutes of experience where
ideas arrive
 No impression persists for they are in constant motion and
flux. This means one cannot find a sensation (impression) of
a constant self that makes up the identity of the person
simply because impressions are fleeting
 No self since sensations are basic constituents of our
experience
 Self does not exist
IMMANUEL KANT
 One of the greatest thinkers in modern philosophy
 Experience and reason are connected
 He acknowledges the role that sensory experience plays in
knowing about the world, as argued by Hume. However,
instead of maintaining Hume’s position that the experiences
are disjoint fleeting sensations, Kant argues that the
organized and connected experiences of the world are fairly
stable
 All are interrelated experiences
 Empirical experience is important but not all knowledge
comes from experience alone (sensation and impressions)
 Knowledge may come from apriori (derived by logic in
coming up with a conclusion) which blends with sensory
impressions
 Mind is constantly at work in organizing and putting order
and coherent meaning to information that the person
receives from the senses
 Even if we have fleeting sensations, and changing
impressions, it does not mean we do not have a self since it
is connected and given meaning by the self
 There is the existence of the self
ANTHROPOLOGICAL SELF
→ George Herbert Mead – identity is how an individual sees
him/herself in relation to his/her interaction experiences
with the society
→ Self reflects how human adaptations with our social
environment increase our chances of survival. This involves
how we establish our identity
→ Culture – capacity towards using human social interactions
as tool for adaptation and survival
→ Culture - to survive we take advantage of culture to put
forward our interest; an evolved capacity
→ Culture - way of life
o Shared beliefs
o Values
o Customs
o behaviors
o artifacts
→ Both tangent in non-tangent things
→ Transmitted through learning
5 Key Qualities
 o Learned
o Shared
o Symbolic - Sto. Niño; common for Cebuanos, Sinulog
o Integrated - way of life is not static but dynamic
o Adapted
→ When we were born, our community starts to welcome us,
and by doing such, stars share culture with the newborn
child, and the child cannot do anything since they are
vulnerable creations when born
Ex: Chick, when it has hatched, it can take cared but for humans,
it must be taken care of
→ Enculturation - things told to children will be absorbed in
their mind and practices
- Learns culture within
→ Acculturation - we learn about other cultures outside of
ours
→ We learn not only with our own culture but also with
others, especially with internet’s involvement
→ Culture is complex - language, manners of interacting,
thoughts, values, expected behaviors, practices,
relationships
→ Cultural experiences in our family and in our religion
integrate and serve the function of maintaining a Filipino
identity
→ Culture is a constantly evolving process. It adapts to the
social and environmental pressure through time and
ensures its transmission to succeeding generations
→ We are a multifaceted
→ Our self-identity is not entirely shaped by who we are but
by what was transmitted to us and learned in a present
social environment
→ The more we immerse ourselves in our social environment,
the more we are influenced
The SELF in the Sociological Process
→ Aside from the influence of culture in our self-identity, our
experiences in social interaction with others and in society
also play important roles
→ The self as a two-way feedback
Looking-Glass Self by Charles Horton Cooley
- Individuals see themselves through their interaction with
others. Thus, one sees oneself in the feeling, thoughts, and
actions of others.
- Some of our feelings are from other people
- If people are laughing, we would laugh with them regardless
of the reason
- Mass Hysteria -actions of other people are manifested in us
but doesn't mean that they control, we can decide on it
The Self is Social
→ The social self is learned by acquiring ideas on what are the
behaviors the society wants to form the self and the entire
members of the society. These expected behaviors are then
followed by all the members as if the theory is playing their
roles in the society
→ We are dictated by society otherwise we won’t belong in
the society
→ Norms - what and what should not be done in different
social situations
4 Types
 Folkways - day to day behaviors that people follow in social
situations (pray before meals)
 Mores - when violated results to social sanctions; pertains
to morality
 Taboos - stringent than mores, ilicit an extremely negative
reaction from others in the society
 Laws - how an individual should behave in social situations.
Enforced by an authority (police, courts) in the society
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF
Psychology
→ Applied science
→ Study of the mind;
→ Knowing what’s going on in the mind
→ There is something to be done to study the mind
→ Study of mind or mental processes and behavior of both
humans and other organisms such as monkeys, and other
forms of animals
→ The self is a product of thinking mental process and
recognizing the relationship both cognitively and socially
constructive
→ Study of mind is related to cognitive construction of the self
→ How you look at yourself
→ The self is composed of soul or psyche
→ The self/essential core of the self is the form/the soul
→ For Descartes, the self is the one that makes you think
→ You have become a self if you are capable of continuously
thinking
→ For John Locke, self is consciousness which is enriched by
stimuli/stimulus
→ For Immanuel Kant, the self unites the impressions/sensory
experiences
→ Socially Constructive - yourself is a product with your
environment
→ Self is both composed of cognitive and social construct
→ The self is thinking that he is a thinking being and at the
same time, has a relationship in his environment that
affects his/herself
→ Hobbies and Interests are a social constructs and are
relational
NATURE OF SELF
→ William James - self has a dual structure and is composed of → Multiple selves are different to multiple personalities
the I and the Me → Multiple selves - we are into different aspects; capable of
→ I - Part of the self that processes things since it perceives doing many things and dealing with different persons
and thinks
- The self and I aspect of the self-organized that sensory The Self in Eastern and Western Thought
experiences
- The subjective part of the self since it perceives
→ Me - self that is perceived or the object of one’s attention,
thought and perception
- The Me can be described by the I
- The objective part of the self since it is the one being
perceived
- Has three components - material, social, and spiritual
- Material - the physical part, and extension of the
material self like possessions (clothing, significant
persons in our self)
- Social - relationship with people, animals, plants, and
the environment;
- Spiritual - inner thought, internal frame; principles,
convictions, and beliefs like religious beliefs
Real Self vs. Ideal Self
Real Self
→ How the person perceives their self to be or who they
actually are
→ is what you are now
- Status (student, child of our parents, single, living in the
Philippines)
Ideal Self - future self
→ Idealized version of the self created out of experiences that
include what we admire in others, what society expects,
and even expectations from significant others.
→ Difference between what one is (actual) and what one
wants to be
- vision/personal vision
- What you would like to become
- what your parents or friends expect you to become
→ Carl Rogers – people can have an idea of who they are, yet
can think of a self which is idea, who they aspire to be. This
is what they refer as the real self and ideal self respectively.
Real Selves vs. Possible Selves
→ Ideal Selves - more on what you would like to achieve; part
of your possible self
→ Possible Selves - both bad and good future of self; border
than the ideal self
- Includes those that one doesn’t wish to become
Multiple Selves vs. Unified Selves
→ Not just a person with single characteristics
→ Have many relationships which creates multiple selves
→ Even if you have multiple selves, these selves are in
different aspects and are integrated
→ The child of you parents is also a student of USC and a
friends of someone; these is some consistency and unity
within the self since without it, there is multiple
personalities