GEC 1

Understanding the Self

LILIBETH T. PIRAMIDE
MA Psychology
Social Science Department
College of Arts & Sciences
PSYCHOLOGY
- the scientific study of human behavior
and mental processes.

Behavior- anything that can be observed

directly
Mental Processes – anything that we
privately experiences but can’t be directly
observed.
Sociology
- refers to social behavior, society, patterns
of social relationships, social interactions,
culture that surrounds everyday life.

Anthropology ( Social & Cultural)

- studies patterns of behaviors and cultural
meaning including norms and values.
Philosophy ( the love of wisdom)
- is the study of general & fundamental
questions about existence, knowledge,
values, reason, mind, and language.
Classic philosophical questions include the
following:

1. Do we have a soul?
2. Is there life after death?
3. How can we attain happiness?
4. Do humans have free will?
5. CAN WE TRULY KNOW OUR SELF?
 CHAPTER I
DEFINING THE SELF: Personal and Developmental
Perspectives on Self and Identity
Some important ideas to ponder…………

● As kids, we were thought to articulate and

write our names.

● Growing up, we were told to refer back to

this name when talking about ourselves.

● Our parents painstakingly thought about

our names.
● As a student, we were told to always write
our names. Our names signify us.

● Death cannot even stop between the person

and her name. Names are inscribed even into
our tombstone.

However……….
● A name is not the person itself no matter how
intimately bound it is with the bearer. IT IS
ONLY A SIGNIFIER.

● The self is thought to be something else than

the name.
THE SELF……..

● Is something that a person perennially molds,

shapes, and develops.

● Is not a static thing that one is simply born

with or assigned by one’s parents just like
a name
EVERYONE is tasked to discover
ONE’S SELF.

Have you truly discovered

YOURS?
LESSON 1 : THE SELF FROM PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES
Lesson Objectives:

1. Explain why it is essential to understand the self.

2. Describe and discuss the different notions of the self from the points
of view of the various philosophers across time and place.

3. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented in different
philosophical schools

4. Examine one’s self against the different views of the self.

1. SOCRATES
 Man is composed of BODY & SOUL
 The body is imperfect and impermanent
 The soul is perfect and permanent.
 Knowing thyself is important to preserve our
souls for afterlife. Without it people may have
lived but died inside
2. PLATO
 A student of Socrates
 In addition to what Socrates espoused , he added 3
Components of the Soul:
 Rational Soul – reasoning and intellect
 Spirited Soul – in charge of our emotions
 Appetitive Soul – in charge of our base desires

 Justice in the human person can only be attained if three parts

of the soul are working harmoniously with one another.
3. ST. AUGUSTINE
 Agreed that man is of bifurcated nature.

 The body is imperfect and is bound to die.

 The soul anticipating to live eternally in

communion with GOD.

 The goal of every human person is to attain this

communication with the Divine by living his
life on earth in virtue.
4. ST. THOMAS
AQUINAS
● Man is composed of two parts: Matter and Form.

● MATTER refers to the common stuff that makes up everything

in the universe like a human body…..something he shares
even with animals.
● FORM refers to the ‘essence of a substance or thing”. It is what makes it
what it is.
● Argued that makes a human person is his soul. His essence. The soul is what
animates the body, it is what makes us humans.
5. RENE DESCARTES
● The Father of Modern Philosophy
● The self is a combination of two distinct entities: MIND that
thinks and the BODY which is nothing else but a machine
that is attached to the mind.

● What makes a man is the mind. A thing that doubts, affirms,

understands, denies, wills, refuses, that imagines and
perceives.

● Thus, “I THINK, therefore, I AM”.

6. DAVID HUME
● A Scottish philosopher

● According to him, experiences can be categorized two:

1. IMPRESSION which are the basic objects of our experience

and sensation. Therefore, the core of our thoughts.

2. IDEAS which are copies of impression and not vivid and lively
lively as our impressions.
● For Hume, the SELF is simply a combination of all experiences
with a particular person.
7. IMMANUEL KANT
● A German philosopher
 The Self:
1. organizes the different impressions in relation to its
own existence.
2. an actively engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes
all knowledge and experiences.
3. A seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons.
 The self as one of the apparatuses of the mind. Without the
self, one cannot organize the different impressions that
one gets in relation to his own existence.
8. GILBERT RYLE
• Denies the internal and non-physical self

 Suggests that the “self” is not an entity one can

locate and analyze but simply the convenient name
that people use to refer to all behaviors that people
make.

 Argued that what truly matters is the behavior that a

person manifests in his day-to-day life.
9. MAURICE MERLEAU PONTY

• French philosopher

 Mind and body are so intertwined that

they cannot be separated from one
another.

 The living body, his thoughts, emotions and experiences

are ALL ONE.
THE END