Chapter 1: The Self from Various Perspectives

Lesson 1: Philosophical Perspectives of the Self

What is Philosophy?
Philosophy originates from the Greek word (“Philos” means beloved, and “Sophia” means wisdom), meaning “love of
wisdom.”
Philosophy is a way of thinking about anything in the world, the universe.
Philosophy works by asking very basic questions about the nature of human thought, the nature of the universe, and the
connections between them.

Socrates: The Soul Is Immortal.

Socrates – Father of Western Philosophy.
*Self – physical body and soul. *Physical body- tangible aspect, mortal (it dies), constantly changing, imperfect,
transforming, disappearing.
*Soul – immortal, eternal, unchanging, perfect, ideal
Socrates
*There was a soul first before a man's body. * The soul has all the knowledge that is stored in his mind.
*Once came to material world, man forgot most of what he knew.
*Knowledge can be restored through the process of dialectic method or Socratic method - an exchange of question and
answer that ultimately aims to make a person remember all the knowledge that he has forgotten, including his former
all-knowing self.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” - Socrates. Our true self is our soul.

Plato: The Soul Is Immortal. “The first and the best victory is to conquer self.” -Plato
*Immaterial mind (soul) and a material body, and it is the soul that represents the self.
*Soul exists before birth and after death. One should care about his soul rather than his body.
*The self is the soul
*The soul(mind) has 3 parts. *Reason- enables us to think deeply
*Physical Appetite – our basic biological needs *Will or Spirit – our basic emotion or passion.
True and genuine happiness could only be achieved if we consistently make sure that our reason is in control of our
Spirits and Appetites. -Plato

St. Augustine: Christianity. “Accepting God is the path to know thyself.” -St. Augustine
*Man is created in the image and likeness of God and a soul whose goal is to be with God.
*Sense of self is his relation to God. Both in his recognition of God's love, and his response to it
*One could not achieve inner peace without finding God's love and through faith and reason, our self seeks to be united
with God.
*God is transcendent, and everything created by God, who is all good, is good.

Rene Descartes: A Modern Perspective on the Self. "Founder of modern philosophy."

*Cogito ergo sum (latin) “I think; therefore I am.”
*The essence of self—you are a "thinking thing" (I exist because I think: I think, therefore I exist).
*Physical body is secondary to our personal identity.
*Thinking self(soul) – non-material, immortal, conscious being, independent
*Physical body – mortal, non-thinking material.
*Soul and body are independent of one another. Each one can exist and function without the other. This, in a way,
echoes the dualism of Plato.

John Locke: The Self Is Consciousness

*” tabula rasa” – the mind is a blank slate
*Born without thoughts, mind was empty, and knowledge is determined only by experience.
*Memory plays a key role in the definition of the self.
*Theorized that we are the same person as we are in the past as long as we can retain the memories from the past.
*Conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys to understanding the self
*Our consciousness that makes possible our belief that we are the same identity at different times and different places.
David Hume: There Is No “Self”
*Source of all genuine knowledge is our direct sense experience.
*Existence of the mind, and what’s inside the mind is divided into two: impressions and ideas
*Impressions - perceive through our senses as we experience them
*Ideas - things that we create in our minds even though we are no longer experiencing them
*Whenever we think of simple ideas, it must have as a basis a simple impression.
*A stream of impressions and ideas, but no impression that corresponds to a self that endures through time
*Self keeps on changing. Like how one looks, one feels, one thinks they constantly change.
*There is no permanent and unchanging self
*"I" will constantly be changing because the different experiences one has for every constant change will affect and re-
shape that person.
*Thus, we cannot observe any permanent self because we continuously undergo change
*In conclusion, there is no self.

Immanuel Kant: We Construct the Self

*Kant refutes Hume’s theory that there is no “self” an argues that it is possible to find the essence of the self.
*Man is a free agent, capable of making a decision for himself
*Man is a free agent, for he is gifted with reason and free will to enable him to organize the data gathered by the senses.
*We can build an idea of who we are. Hence, the self is very present.

Sigmund Freud: There Are Two Selves, One Conscious, One Unconscious
*Freud is not a philosopher
*Two levels of human functioning: the conscious and the unconscious.
*Conscious refers to all mental processes of which we are aware. The unconscious refers to mental processes that are
not easily accessible to our awareness
*Conscious self plays an important role in our lives, but unconscious self that has the dominant influence on our
personalities.
*Unconscious contains basic instinctual drives that include aggressiveness, sexuality, and self-destruction; traumatic
memories; childhood fantasies and unfulfilled wishes
*Conscious self is governed by the “reality principle.”
*Three levels of the Mind: Conscious – all mental processes of which we are aware. Preconscious – “available memory”.
Unconscious – mental processes that are not easily accessible to our awareness.
*Primary source of human behavior

Gilbert Ryle: The Self Is How You Behave

*No more inner selves, immortal soul, states of consciousness, or unconscious self: instead, self is best understood as a
pattern of behavior.

Paul Churchland: The Self Is the Brain

*It is the physical brain that gives us our sense of self.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty: The Self is Embodied Subjectivity

*There is unity in our mental, physical, and emotional disposition, and they all affect how we experience ourselves.
*The self is embodied subjectivity.
*Self is all about one’s perception of one’s experience and the interpretation of those experiences.

1.Socrates – The self as body and soul

2.Plato – Balancing Reason, Appetite, and Spirit
3.St. Augustine – Accepting God is the path to know thyself
4.Rene Descartes – Self as a “thinking thing”
5.John Locke – The self is consciousness
6.David Hume – There is no self
7.Immanuel Kant – We construct the self
8.Sigmund Freud – Two selves: The Conscious and the Unconscious
9.Gilbert Ryle – The self is how you behave
10. Paul Churchland – The self is the brain
11. Maurice Merleau-Ponty – The self is Embodied Subjectivity
 Lesson 2: The Sociological Perspective of the Self
What is Sociology?
Sociology is the study of the role of society in shaping behavior.

The self as a social construction

Socialization - is the process of learning one’s culture and how to live within it.
*It is the process whereby an individual learns to adjust to a group and behave in a way that is approved by the group.
*Through socialization, we develop our personalities and potentialities with the influence of our culture and society.
*With socialization in general, we are not passive participants in this process but rather, have a powerful influence over
how this process develops and its circumstances.
*The person can also be an agent of socialization
*The self is constructed based on social roles through socialization agents (family, school, community, etc.)

Agents of socialization
Socialization is believed to be a life-long process, and it begins in our families.
*Family is the source of what is known as primary socialization -your first experiences with language, beliefs and values,
behaviors, and norms of your society.
*Outside the home - secondary socialization takes place
*School – learn to interact with different kinds of people
*Peer group - one of the most influential agents
*Media – great impact on the development of the self

Charles Horton Cooley

The Looking Glass Self
-social interaction as a type of “mirror”

*Use the judgments they receive from others to measure their own worth, values, and behavior.

George Herbert Mead and The Social Self

Theory of the social self
*The self emerges from social interactions, such as observing and interacting with others, responding about others’
opinions about oneself, and internalizing them together with ones’ feelings about oneself
Three different stages:
*Preparatory stage – children interact with others through imitation
*Play stage – children start to become more aware of the importance of social relationships
*Game stage – children’s understanding of social interactions become even more developed
 Lesson 3: Anthropological Perspective of the Self
Anthropology
*”Anthropos” – human being; “logia” – to study
*the study of humanity
*everything and anything that makes us human
*the study of people and cultures in the past and today
*a discipline that helps in the understanding of one’s culture
*will always be relevant
4 branches of Anthropology
1.Archaeology – focuses on the material past- the tools, food, pottery, art, shelters, seeds, and other objects left behind
by people.
2. Biological Anthropology – study of human biology, including how people adapt to where they live and how bodies
changed over time (human evolution). – study non-human primates
3.Linguistic Anthropology – the study of the many ways people communicate across the globe. – spoken, written,
gestures and other symbols
4.Cultural Anthropology – the study of how people live their lives in the present and how our ancestors may have lived
in the past. – immersive fieldwork. – cultural anthropologists suspend their own sense of what is “normal” in order to
understand other people’s perspectives.
Culture
-everything that makes up the way a group of people lives.
-knowledge, beliefs, values, morals, law, customs, traditions, arts and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a
human as a member of society

2 Components of Culture:
1.Material Culture.
-human technology. -all the things that people make and use. – physical manifestations of culture.
-very dynamic. *man’s distinct ability to create, transform , and re-create culture. *technological advances. *cultural
exchanges.
2.Non-material culture
-intangible human creations like beliefs, values, norms, morals, rules, language, and organizations.
2 sides of identity found in people in every culture:
1. Egocentric self
-autonomous and distinct individual. -disregards the feelings and desires of others = self-centered
2.Sociocentric self
-contingent on a situation or social setting. -more dependent on others. -socially oriented
2 Types of Cultural traits