PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW OF THE SELF
communion with God.
Ancient Greeks Philosophers
Philosophy means “Love of Wisdom”
Philosophy
“employs the mind to discover the ultimate
causes, reasons, and principles of
everything”.
“It goes beyond scientific investigation of
exploring all areas of knowledge”
Socrates
 " An unexamined life is not worth living "
 Was the first philosopher to engage in a
systematic questioning about the self and
took it upon to himself to serve as a “gadfly”
who disturbed Athenian men from their
slumber and shook them off in order to reach
the truth and wisdom.
 Socrates was the first one to focus on the
self, who we are, who we should be and who
we will become in which he believes that
every human has an immortal soul aside
from the physical body. He believes that an
individual’s reality is divided by two parts.
The physical realm and the ideal realm.
The physical realm
o consists of the world that we are living
in. It is the world that changes and
temporary.
The ideal realm
o contains concepts about the universe,
truth, goodness and beauty. These are
the things that does not undergo
changes and are ever-lasting.
Plato
 "The soul is synonymous with the self"
 Soul, according to Plato was synonymous
with the self. The only difference was that
the self is in the physical form and the soul is
in the ideal form. Self is something
temporary and the soul is eternal. He
supported Socrates’ idea that a man is a dual
nature of body and soul
 Three Components of Soul
o Rational Soul
o Spirited Soul
o Appetitive Soul
St. Augustine
 "Take care of your body as if you were going
to live forever; and take care of your soul as
if you were going to die tomorrow"
 St. Augustine believes that there is an aspect
of man, which dwells in the worlds, that is
imperfect and continuously years to be with
the divine while the other is capable of
reaching immortality.
 There is this body that is bound to die on
earth and the soul that is anticipated to live
eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss in
Rene Descartes
 " I think, therefore I am "
 But in the end, Descartes, thought that the
only thing that one cannot doubt is the
existence of the self. For even if one doubts
oneself, that only proves that there is a
doubting self, a thing that thinks and
therefore, that cannot be doubted.
 The self is then for Descartes is also a
combination of two distinct entities, the
“cogito” or the thing that thinks and the
“extenza” or the extension of the mind (the
body).
David Hume
 "There is no self."
 The key contribution and a concept against
the previous philosophers by David Hume
was when he said that the self doesn’t exist.
 The self is just a collection or combination of
all the perceptions of a particular person. He
finds that they can all be categorized into
two: impressions and ideas.
 Impressions are the basic object of our
experience or sensation. They form the core
of our thoughts. When one touches an ice
cube, the cold sensation is an impression.
Impressions are vivid because they are the
product of our direct experience with the
world.
 Ideas are copies of impressions. They are not
as lively and vivid as our impression because
we do not experience it yet in the real world.
When one imagines the feeling of being in
love for the first time, that still is an idea.
Immanuel Kant
 " All our knowledge begins with the senses,
proceeds then to the understanding, and ends
with reason. There is nothing higher than
reason. "
 Thinking of the self as mere combination of
impressions was problematic for Immanuel
Kant. He thinks that there is an organizing
principle that regulates the relationships of
all the perceptions and sensation of
impressions.
 He said that the mind organizes the
impressions that men get from the external
world.
 For Kant, we are the ones who create our
reality in which we are familiar and
comfortable. Another was his concept of the
“Apparatus of the Mind” which consists of
ideas that cannot be found in the world but is
 only built in our minds (e.g. time and
space).
Gilbert Ryle
 "I act, therefore I am"
 For Gilbert Ryle, our behaviors or what we
do in our day-to-day lives were the ones that
makes us a person.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
 "The mind and the body are so intertwined
that they cannot be separated from one
another"
 We cannot separate the mind and the body
and these two works as one for us to know
ourselves. According to Merleau-Ponty, the
mind and the body are so intertwined that
they cannot be separated from one another.
One cannot find any experience that is not
embodied experience. All experience is
embodied. One’s body is his opening toward
his existence to the world.
SOCIOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE SELF
Sociology a science, study social groups and
human relationships which help
shed new insight into the
interconnectedness between the self
and other people. Hence,
sociologists offer theories to explain
how the self emerges as a product of
social experience.
The Self in the External World
 Feral child or Wild child is a human child
who has lived isolated from human contact
from a young age with little no experience of
human care, behavior, or human language.
They are typically portrayed at being raised
by animals
 Feral children challenged the long standing
notion of humans being special
 Marcos Rodriguez Pantoja
o A noted Feral Child who was sold to a
goatherder to become a serf.
o He later became the subject of the
film Entrelobos or Among Wolves
movie.
The different qualities of the self
 Separate – it means that it is distinct from
any other selves, the self is always unique
and has its own identity.
 Consistency – allows it to be studied,
described, and measured.
 The self is private, self-sorts out information,
feelings, emotions, and thought processes
within the self.
 Self is isolated from external world. Because
of this, the clash of self and external reality is
the reason for the self to have a clear
understanding on what it might be, what it
can be, what it will be.
 Self is unitary because it is the center of all
experiences and thoughts that run through a
certain person. Basically the command center
or an individual where all processes,
emotions, and thoughts converge.
The self should not be seen as static. Rather,
should be seen or something that is in unceasing
flux, in constant struggle with external reality and
is malleable in its dealings with society.
Marcel Mauss
 French sociologist, believes that the self has
two faces; the personne and moi
 Moi is person’s sense of who he is, his body,
basic identity, biological givenness.
 The Personne is a social concept of what it
means to be who he is. What it means to live
in a particular institution, family, religion,
nationality, or how to behave in given
expectations/influences
The Self and the Development of the Social
World
George Herbert Mead
 a philosopher, psychologist and sociologist,
supports the view that a person develops a
sense of self through social interaction.
o Me
 The or the social self, is what is
learned in interaction with others
and with the environment: other
people's attitudes, once
internalized in the self, all form
the Me.
 The "Me" disciplines the "I" by
holding it back from breaking the
law of the community
o “I”
 Is the response to the “me” and to
the attitude of others. This means
that the “I” is when the individual
identity and one’s unique trait is
stepping in on our personal
responses to what society thinks
The full development of the self is not present at
birth but develops only with social experience in
which language, gestures, and objects are used to
communicate meaningfully.
Theory of Self Development
 Preparatory Stage (0-3 years old)
 o Also called as the imitation stage. In
this stage, we see children
mimic/imitate those around them and
this is why parents of young children
do not want you to use foul language
around kids. They do not have any idea
or understanding of what they are
saying or doing
 Play Stage (3-6 years old)
o Children are believed to learn self-
development and interaction through
pretend play in this stage. Children also
start to play more formalized games
because they begin to understand the
perspective of others or the perspective
of their significant others.
 Game Stage (6-9 years old)
o At this stage, children become
concerned about and take into account
in their behavior the generalized others
or how they are viewed.
o In response, children become
influenced by the expectations or
perceptions of the society and they
become concerned about the reactions
of others by what they say or do.
However, they mainly focus on the
perceptions of “significant others”.
o The generalized others refers to the
viewpoint of the social group at large.
Is loosely Sigmund Freud’s concept,
Superego which is the ethical
component of the personality and
provides the moral standards by which
the ego operates. The superego’s
criticisms, prohibitions, and inhibitions
form a person’s conscience
o The Significant others are all of the
people who have important
relationships with the individual.
Parents, family, teachers, peers.
The Social Development Theory
Lev Vygotsky
 a Russian psychologist, argues that social
interaction comes before development;
consciousness and cognition are the end
product of socialization and social behavior.
 Social Interaction
o Social level l(Interpsychological) This
is where social learning takes place
because in this stage, they interact,
connect and reach out to other people
o Individual level(Intrapsychological),
after acquiring social learnings, the
functions will appear a second time
and, this time, more developed and
thus, leading to cognitive
development(self-reflection).
 Without learning, an individual won’t
function and develop fully but that does not
mean that people are born with absolutely
zero abilities.
 He claimed that infants are born with the
basic materials/abilities for intellectual
development that are called the elementary
mental functions.
 Elementary mental functions
o Sensation - hot, cold, sweet, or bitter
are delivered automatically to the brain
by the senses.
o Hunger - bodily processes. An infant
doesn’t need to be told that he is
hungry since hunger will manifest the
fact.
o Memory - Young children commit
things to memory in a natural manner.
 Higher mental functions
o Language - As we grow older and
undergo a multitude of other social
processes, language learning will also
advance, as well as our thought
processes.
o Memory - Memory can be cultivated
and controlled by this time and they
know how to make relevant
associations and memorized stuff they
think is necessary.
o Attention –They are now able to decide
which objects, actions or thoughts to
focus on.
o Perception – Social interactions help
the child’s level of perception,
increasing his awareness and capacity
to understand why things are as they
are.
 The More Knowledgeable other (MKO)
o Anyone who has a better understanding
considerably higher or superior level of
ability, skill or knowledge about a
particular subject, task or process, than
the person who is attempting to learn.
Normally thought of as being a teacher,
coach, or older adult, but could also be
peers, a younger person, and even a
computer.
 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
o This is where the child will be given a
lot of encouragement but just the right
amount of guidance to allow the child
to develop his skills.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE SELF
Anthropology
 is the study of what makes us human.
 concerned with how cultural and biological
processes interact to shape the self
 Anthropology considers human experience
as an interplay of “nature” referring to
genetic inheritance which sets the
individual’s potentials and “nurture” which
refers to sociocultural environment. Both
biological and cultural factors have
significant influence in the development of
self.
Nature VS Nurture
 Nature refers to what we are born with and
includes our biology, genetics, and similar
characteristics.
 In contrast, nurture refers to what is learned,
through our cultural community and other
individuals.
In the Anthropological perspective, there are
two ways in which the concept of self is viewed in
different societies:
 Egocentric
o are individuals with personalities
formed from within themselves and do
not vary, not matter the social
atmosphere.
 Sociocentric
o a personality dependent on the social
atmosphere.
From the similarities and differences in
characteristics among individuals, people construct
their social identities.
 Identity Toolbox - An identity toolbox
features a person’s identity that he or she
chooses to emphasize in constructing a social
self. Identity is assumed to exist within
individuals. Though anthropologist typically
study culture and relationships, identity has
helped to connect understanding with
cultures. Identity can be associated with
many different things including: kinship,
gender, occupation, race, religion, and
language.
 Self-Identification
o may be attained by: kinship, family
membership, gender, age, language,
religion, ethnicity, personal
appearance, and socioeconomic status.
Some characteristics such as kinship,
gender, and age are almost universally
used to differentiate people.
 Family membership
o the most significant feature to
determine the person’s social identity
 Language and Religious Affiliation
o Another important identity determinant
that is often viewed as essential for the
maintenance of a group identity is
language. In other societies, religious
affiliation is an important marker of
group identity. In Mindanao, being a
Christian or a Muslim is possibly the
most important defining feature of
social identity.
 Personal Naming
o Name is an important device to
individualize a person and to have an
identity. One’s identity is not inborn. It
is something people continuously
develop in life. Changes in one’s
identity usually involve rites of passage
that prepares individuals for new roles
from one stage of life to another.
o A name is an important device to
individualize a person and to have an
identity. One’s identity is not inborn. It
is something people continuously
develop in life. Changes in one’s
identity usually involve rites of passage
that prepares individuals for new r oles
from one stage of life to another
Arnold Van Gennep
 Three-phased rite of passage
o Separation Phase - People detach from
their former identity to another.
o Liminality Phase – A person transitions
from one identity to another.
o Corporation Phase - The change in
one’s status is officially incorporated.
Self as Imbedded Culture
Clifford Geertz
 an American anthropologist, offers a
reformation of the concept of culture which
favors a symbolic interpretative model of
culture.
 He defines culture as a system of inherited
conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by
means of which people communicate,
perpetuate and develop their knowledge
about and attitude toward life
 Geertz suggests two important ideas:
o culture should not be perceived only as
“complexes of concrete behavior
patterns – customs, usages, traditions,
habit clusters – as has, by and large,
been the case up to now, but as a set of
control mechanisms – plans, recipes,
rules, instructions – for the governing
behavior, and
o man is precisely the animal most
desperately dependent upon such
extragenetic, outside-the-skin control
 mechanisms, such cultural programs,
for ordering his behavior.

o Therefore, man is defined by his

genetics potentials shaped into actual
accomplishments which is made
possible by culture. Also, he
emphasizes that human nature is
interdependent with culture; “Without
men, no culture, certainly, but equally,
and more significantly, without culture,
no men”.