UNDERSTANDING

THE SELF
LET Review
The Self from Various Perspectives
(Philosophy)
Socrates
•Socrates questions for the reason he
knows nothing, and that he knows that
he knows nothing, and has nothing to
learn (“I Know that I Do Not Know”). And
by such, discovery knowledge about the
self may foster.
Socrates
•For Socrates, the true task of the
philosophers is to know oneself for
“An unexamined life is not worth
living.”
Plato
•Plato supported the idea of his teacher,
Socrates, but although being influenced
by his teacher, Plato did have a difficulty
viewing the “soul” as an immortal entity
that is unchanging.
Plato
•Thus, Plato added that there
indeed a tripartite soul: the
Appetitive, Spirited, and the
Mind (Nuos)
St. Augustine of Hippo
•As a converted Christian, St. Augustine adapted
the metaphysics of Christian belief to explain his
philosophy. If form Plato, the immortal soul
achieves eternal realm through intellectual
enlightenment, for St. Augustine, the immortal
soul strives to achieve God through faith and
reason and our physical world is a proving ground
for our eternal destinies.
Rene’ Descartes
•Father of modern philosophy
•With Descartes quest for true
knowledge, he became famous to his
principle “I Think Therefore, I Am”.
John Locke
•For him the self is comparable to an empty
space and such empty space will be provided
with sense data, through the encountered
experiences of an individual. The process of
reflection and analysis undergone by these
sense data will lead to what is known as
sense perception.
David Hume
•David Hume positioned that knowledge
can only be possible if it is sensed and
experienced. Our ideas regarding the self
are based on impressions that are
temporary, thus, for him, there is no
persisting self.
Immanuel Kant
•His philosophy regarding the
Transcendental Unity of Apperception
discussed that the self is also outside the
body and goes beyond the limit of what
we are experiencing.
Sigmund Freud
•regarded the self as the “I” that ordinarily
constitute both the mental and physical
actions
•Topographical Model
•Structural Model
Gilbert Ryle
•In the Concept of the Mind of Gilbert
Ryle, he postulated that one can never
find the thinking I since it is just “a ghost
in the machine” and the mind is never
separate from the body.
 Paul and Patricia Churchland
• Related to what Ryle positioned on his Concept of the
Mind, couples Paul and Patricia Churchland proposed
that to understand the self, one must consider studying
the neurological aspect of the self, “Eliminative
Materialism”, where activities happening with an
individual is explained through understanding the
existing condition of the brain and how it work. To do
this, one may opt to undergo MRI or CT scan.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
•The Phenomenology of Perception of
Maurice Merleau-Ponty has raised the
idea that the body and mind are
intertwined and cannot be separated
from each other as all experiences are
embodied.
The Self from Various Perspectives
(Sociology)
Mead’s Theory of the Self
•George Herbert Mead is known
for his theory of the social self
which stands on the point that
the self is not initially there at
birth.
•According to Mead’s theory, the self has
two sides of phases: the “I” and “me”.
The “I” represents the self as subject, and
the individual’s impulse, while the “me” is
considered to be the socialized
component of the individual that
represents the learned behaviors,
expectations and attitude of others
organized into a social self.
The Looking-Glass Self
•American sociologist Charles Horton Cooley
coined the concept “looking-glass self” as
pertaining to an individual’s development of
self-concept based on their observation of
how other people sees them. The social
interaction people have been used as
“mirror” to measure their own worth, values,
and behavior.
The Self from Various Perspectives
(Anthropology)
 •Anthropology is the study of all
aspects of the human condition. This
includes human history, the present
human condition and even future
possibilities.
Some Definitions
• Culture is derived from the Latin word “cultura” or
“cultus” meaning care or cultivation.
• Identity refers to “who the person is,” or the
qualities and traits of an individual that make
him/her different from others.
• Cultural Identity is self-identification, a sense of
belonging to a group that reaffirms itself.
There are two ways in which the concept
of self is viewed in the different societies.
•1. Egocentric View.
•The self is seen as an autonomous and
distant individual Each person is defined
as replica of all humanity but capable of
acting independently from others.
•2. Sociocentric view. The self is
contingent on a situation or social
setting.
Properties of Cultural Identity
•1. Avowal and Ascription
•Avowal is how one articulates or
expresses his/her views about group
identity
•. Ascription is how others perceive an
individual. It is how one refers to others.
•2. Modes of Expression
•The use of core symbols (expressions of a
group’s cultural beliefs and theories about the
world around them), names, labels and norms
(expected standard of behavior) that a
cultural community share and follow in order
to show that they belong to a particular
group, demonstrates shared identity.
• 3. Individual, Relational and Communal Identity
• Individual refers to how an individual interprets
his cultural identity based on his experiences.
• Relational refers to how individuals interact with
one and another (what is the appropriate
behavior)
• Communal identity is the use of communication
in the creation, affirmation and negotiation of
shared identity
•4. Enduring and Changing Aspects of
Identity.
•5. Affective, Cognitive and Behavioral
Aspects of Identity.
•6. Content and Relationship Levels .
•7. Salience or Prominence
The Self from Various Perspectives
(Psychology)
William James and the Me-Self, I-Self
•Me-self - corresponds to the self as
an object of experience (self as
object) or the self as known
•I-self - refers to the self as a subject of
experience (self as subject) or the self as
knower that is considered to be pure ego
and the consciousness itself
•The material self as according to James,
is the component of “Me” that we tend
to be most affected with, as we invest
ourselves within these things such as
clothes, family, and home.
•Man’s social self is assembled based on
our interactions with the society and the
reactions of others that are analyzed in
order to contribute to our idea of a social
self.
•The spiritual self is said by James to be
the most intimate self.
 •Karen Horney believed that people
experience anxiety, and by such
experience that they develop strategies
to be able to reduce and cope with the
anxiety.
 •Donald W. Winnicott explained his
theory about the True Self (the unshaped
you) and the False Self in the paper he
wrote in 1960.
The Self from Various Perspectives
(THE SELF IN WESTERN AND ORIENTAL / EASTERN
THOUGHTS)
 •Buddhism philosophy believes that the
religion is a way of life and to live a moral life,
to be mindful and aware of thoughts and
actions, and to develop wisdom and
understanding is its main teaching.
•Confucius philosophy of life stand with
the idea that life is a living reality, a
blessing, a natural priceless right and
opportunity to be with others to work
together for common good to attain
happiness.
UNPACKING THE SELF
• THE PHYSICAL SELF
• THE SEXUAL SELF
• THE MATERIAL/ECONOMIC SELF
• THE SPIRITUAL SELF
• THE POLITICAL SELF
• THE DIGITAL SELF
THE PHYSICAL SELF
•Physical Self refers to the body, this
marvelous container and complex, finely
tuned, machine with which we interface
with our environment and fellow beings.
•Self-esteem is all about how much
you feel you are worth — and how
much you feel other people value
you.
 •Body image is how you view your
physical self — including whether you
feel you are attractive and whether
others like your looks.
THE SEXUAL SELF
•Primary sexual characteristics refer to the
reproductive organs themselves; e.g., the
ovaries and testes. Secondary sexual
characteristics refer to other characteristic
indicators of adult male and female bodies
(e.g., body hair).
THE SEXUAL SELF
•Secondary characteristics are the
result of hormonal changes in the
body during puberty. These changes
are faster in girls than in boys.
THE SEXUAL RESPONSE CYCLE
•1. Excitement Phase
•2. Plateau Phase
•3. Orgasm Phase
•4. Resolution Phase
•According to a team of scientists led by
Dr. Helen Fisher at Rutgers, romantic
love can be broken down into three
categories: lust, attraction, and
attachment
•1. Lust is driven by the desire for sexual
gratification.
•2. Attraction seems to be a distinct, though
closely related, phenomenon.
•3. Attachment involves wanting to make a
more lasting commitment to your loved one.
THE MATERIAL/ECONOMIC SELF
•The Bodily Self. The components of this is
composed of the intimate parts of the
person, it includes our body’s aspects such as
physical (arms head, legs etc), emotional
(feelings, desires etc), psychological
(intelligence, cognition etc) and moral
(values, beliefs etc).
•The Extracorporeal Self. Also known as the
extended self. It includes the people of great
significance to us (family), possessions
(house, car, clothes), places that matter to
us, products of our labor (job, handworks
etc).