Module 1: Philosophical Perspective of the Self ➢ The world of Sense

▪ 3 Basic Elements of the Soul

3 ways to view self:
➢ Reason
• Self is innate. ➢ Spirit (Passion)
❖ The self is an important quality ➢ Appetite (Desire)
of humans that is present upon • Aristotle (Greek Philosopher)
birth and that self-awareness is ▪ Student of Plato
natural. ▪ He suggests that anything with
❖ This view of self includes the life has a soul.
philosophies of Socrates, Plato, ▪ Threefold nature of man:
Augustine, and Rene Descartes. ➢ Vegetative (physical
• Self is emergent. body)
❖ The self is an outcome of ➢ Sentient (sensation &
interaction with the physical as emotion)
well as the social world. ➢ Rational (intellect)
❖ The empiricist perspectives of • Augustine (Early Christian Philosopher)
Aristotle, John Locke, and David ▪ Regarded as a saint in the
Hume belong to this view of self. Catholic Church
• Self is integrated and developing. ▪ Integrated the ideas of Plato and
❖ The self has various components the teachings of the Catholic
that undergoes change through Church
time. ▪ Contemplated that the soul is an
❖ Immanuel Kant, Gilbert Ryle, essential element which governs
and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s and defines the human person.
The Phenomenology of ▪ “Knowledge can only come by
Perception may fall under this seeing the truth that dwells
view of self. within us.”
• Rene Descartes (French Philosopher)
Different Philosophical Views of the Self: ▪ Father of Modern Philosophy
• Socrates (Greek Philosopher) ▪ Considered as a Rationalist
▪ He inspired the youth of Athens ▪ Mind-Body Dualism
to “know thyself” and discover ➢ Mind and body are
the importance of their souls by distinct entities and co-
continuous questioning called as existent
the Socratic Method. ▪ Cogito ergo sum (I think,
▪ He equates knowledge with therefore, I am.)
virtue and ignorance with vice. • John Locke (English Philosopher)
▪ For him, “an unexamined life is ▪ He postulated that the human
not worth living.” mind at birth is a blank slate or
• Plato (Greek Philosopher) tabula rasa.
▪ Student of Socrates ▪ Sensory experience is the source
▪ Theory of Forms: of all knowledge.
➢ The world of Forms
(nonphysical ideas)
▪ Personal identity is made ▪ The Concept of Mind
possible by being aware of the ➢ The mind and body are
world that our senses perceived. intrinsically linked;
• David Hume (Scottish Philosopher) mental states and bodily
▪ Bundle Theory (Lack of Self) actions are one and the
➢ The self is nothing but a same.
bundle or collection of ▪ “I act, therefore, I am.”
interconnected and ➢ It is through one’s
continually changing behavior that the self is
sense impressions of revealed.”
what a human person is • Paul Churchland (Canadian Philosopher)
all about. ▪ Proponent of Eliminative
▪ Self-knowledge depends on Materialism
one’s conscious experience and ➢ Materialism maintains
perception. that the self is
• Immanuel Kant (German Philosopher) inseparable from the
▪ He harmonized the contradicting brain and the physiology
ideas of rationalists and of the body.
empiricists. ▪ The self is the brain.
➢ Knowledge can be ➢ The physical brain and
drawn from the not the imaginary mind,
integration of sensory gives us our sense of
experience and self.
conceptual • Maurice Merleau-Ponty (French
understanding. Phenomenological Philosopher)
▪ The human mind is an active ▪ The Phenomenology of
shaper of experience. Perception
▪ The self transcends experience. ➢ The consciousness, the
• Sigmund Freud (Austrian Psychoanalyst) world, and the human
▪ The self is multilayered: body are intricately
➢ Conscious intertwined in
➢ Preconscious perceiving the world.
➢ Unconscious ▪ The self is embodied
❖ Contains subjectivity.
repressed ➢ Perception is not merely
memories and a consequence of
emotions, and sensory experience;
instinctual rather, it is a conscious
drives experience.
▪ The goal of psychoanalysis is to
release repressed emotions and
experiences to overcome self- Module 2: Sociological Perspective: The Self as
defeating behavior. a Product of Society
• Gilbert Ryle (British Philosopher)
• Sociological perspective of the self is ➢ Whereas the “me” is the
based on the assumption that human objective element of the self. It
behavior is influenced by group life. A represents the internalized
particular view of oneself is formed attitudes and demands of
through interactions with other other people and the
people, groups, or social institutions. individual’s awareness of those
demands.
• Sociology as a scientific study of social
groups and human relationships, ➢ The full development of the
generates new insights to the self is attained when the “I” and
interconnectedness between ourselves the “me” are united.
and other people. Hence, sociologists
➢ According to Mead, the self is
offer theories to explain how the self
not present at birth.
emerges as a product of social
experience. ➢ It develops only with social
experience wherein language,
The principles and concepts of well-known
gestures, and objects are used to
sociologists:
communicate meaningfully.
• Charles Horton Cooley introduced the
➢ Since there is meaning in human
phrase looking-glass self to highlight
actions, we infer people’s
that the people whom we interact
intention or direction of action,
become a mirror in which we view
which may lead us to
ourselves.
understand the world from
➢ Our self-identity or self-image others’ point of view – a process
is achieved through a threefold that Mead labeled as role-
event: taking.

1. We conceive an idea of how ➢ Then we create our own roles

we present ourselves to others. and anticipate how others will
respond.
2. We analyze how others
perceive us. ➢ When we perform our own
particular role, we become self-
3. We create an image of
aware.
ourselves.
➢ The self continues to change
• George Herbert Mead Mead’s theory
along with our social
of the social self, explained that the self
experience.
has two divisions: the “I” and the “me”.
➢ the self in a three-stags detailed
➢ The “I” is the subjective
the development of age
element and the active side of
process:
the self. It represents the
spontaneous, and unique 1. the preparatory stage (0-3 years
traits of the individual. old)
• Children imitate the people around • This time, they can have a more
them especially family members sophisticated look of people and an
with whom they have daily ability to respond to numerous
interaction. But they copy behavior members of the social environment.
without understanding underlying
• During this stage, the self is now
intentions, and so at this stage, they
present.
have no sense of self.
• Jean Baudrillard posits that in the
• During this stage, children are just
postmodern society the self is found in
preparing for role-taking.
the prestige symbols of goods consumed
2. the play stage (3 to 5 years old) by man.

• Children start to view themselves in THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF MODERN

relation to others as they learn to AND POSTMODERN SOCIETIES:
communicate through language and
• in modern societies the attainment and
other symbols.
stability of self-identity is freely chosen.
• At this stage, role-taking is o It is no longer restricted by
exhibited, however, children do not customs and traditions.
perceive role-taking as something o While this newfound freedom
expected of them. offers infinite possibilities for
self-cultivation, problems such
• The self emerges as children pretend
as alienation and
to take the roles of specific people
dehumanization of the self also
or significant others, those
appear which hinder the full
individuals who are important
development of human
agents of socialization. In this stage,
potentials.
the self is developing.
o Hence, there is a need to
3. the game stage (begins in the discover the “authentic core” of
early school years; about 8 or 9 the self for the individual to
years old) freely work towards self-
realization.
• Children understand not only their • In postmodern societies, self-identity
own social position but also those of continuously changes due to the
others around them. demands of multitude of social contexts,
• At this stage children become new information technologies, and
concerned about and take into globalization.
account in their behavior the o Whereas the dissolution of
generalized others which refer to traditional values and
the attitudes, viewpoints, demands communities in modern society
and expectations of the society has led the individual to
which include cultural norms and construct a solid and stable self-
values we use as references in identity, the postmodern
evaluating ourselves. individual welcomes all
possibilities for self- addressing questions to the distant past
improvement. and the pressing present – perhaps with
• Jean Baudrillard exposes the negative implications for the future”.
consequences of postmodernity to • This definition of anthropology
individuals in the society emphasizes that it is an academic field
o The postmodern individuals for understanding the interconnections
achieve self-identity through and interdependence of biological and
prestige symbols that they cultural aspects of the human experience
consume. in all times and places.
o The cultural practices of
The Self as Embedded in Culture
advertising and mass media
greatly influence individuals to – Clifford Geertz (1973), an American
consume goods not for their anthropologist, offered a reformulation
primary value and utility but to of the concept of culture which favors a
give them a feeling of goodness symbolic interpretative model of culture.
and power when compared with
others. – He defines culture as “a system of
o The self may be a never-ending inherited conceptions expressed in
search for prestige in the symbolic forms by means of which men
postmodern society. communicate, perpetuate, and develop
their knowledge about and attitudes
Module 3: An Anthropological toward life.”
Conceptualization of the Self: The Self
Embedded in Culture The concept of culture has its impact on the
concept of man.
Anthropology holds a holistic view of human
nature. – Geertz agrees with Max Weber, that
“man is an animal suspended in webs of
• It is concerned with how cultural and significance he himself has spun,”
biological processes interact to shape wherein those webs were taken as
human experience. Contemporary symbols of culture.
anthropologists believe that culture and
self are complementary concepts that are – Man is defined by his genetic potentials
to be understood in relation to one shaped into actual accomplishments
another. Anthropology compared with which is made possible by culture.
other disciplines possesses a holistic and - Geertz emphasized that human nature is
integrated approach to examine human interdependent with culture: “Without
nature. men, no culture, certainly; but equally,
James L. Peacock - a distinguished and more significantly, without culture,
anthropology professor no men.”

• “anthropology encroaches on the Social Identities

territory of the sciences as well as the
– People have their own and others’
humanities, and transcends the
positions in society.
conventional boundaries of both while
– Individuals seek confirmation from • The "I-Self" refers to the self that knows
others that they occupy the positions on who he or she is and what he or she has
the social landscape that they claim to done in his or her life.
occupy. • The "Me-Self" is the empirical self. It
refers to describing the person’s
How do societies distinguish individuals from
personal experiences and further divided
one another?
into sub-categories: material self, social
– By using criteria such as age, gender, self, and spiritual self.
kinship, ethnicity, and language. • The material self consists of things that
belong to a person.
– Differences and similarities in • The social self refers to whom and how
characteristics among individuals are a person acts on social situations.
used to construct social landscapes on • The spiritual self refers to the most
which each person’s place or identity is intimate and important part of the self.
indicated. James believed that the path to
Identity Toolbox understanding the spiritual self is
through self-introspection.
– Features of a person’s identity (such as
gender, age, or personal appearance) that CARL ROGERS’ SELF THEORY:
he or she chooses to emphasize in REAL AND IDEAL SELF
constructing a social self. • Anotheraspectofself
Identity Struggles understanding is self-concept. Self-
concept refers to the image of oneself.
– A termed coined by Anthony F.C. • Rogers suggests that there are two
Wallace and Raymond Fogelson components of self-concept: real self
– Characterized the interaction in which and ideal self.
there is a discrepancy between the • The real self consists of all the ideas,
identity a person claims to possess and including the awareness of ‘what I am’
the identity attributed to that person by and ‘what I can do’.
others. • The ideal self is the person’s conception
of what one should be or wanted to be
– Individuals must be able to defend their that includes one’s goals and ambitions
identities if they are threatened. in life.
• The closer (congruent) the ideal self is
Module 4: The Psychological Perspective
to the real self, the more fulfilled and
of the Self
happier the individual becomes. The
WILLIAM JAMES' CONCEPT OF farther (incongruent) the ideal self is to
SELF: THE I-SELF AND THE ME- the real self leads to unhappy and
SELF dissatisfied person.

• The self is divided into two categories: MULTIPLE VERSUS UNIFIED SELF
the "I-Self" and the "MeSelf".
• Self-understanding in adolescents also
includes conceptualizing the self as
multiple or unified and true or false.
• The construction of multiple selves • Central to Jung’s theory of the self is the
varies across different roles and concept of archetype. The archetype
relationships. represents the hidden potentialities of
• Coping with different aspects of the the psyche. There are four major
self-constitutes a difficult task among archetypes: persona, shadow,
adolescents. Thus, this contributes animus/anima, and self.
heavily to the young person’s struggle • SIGMUND FREUD’S
for a unified self. CONSTRUCTION OF SELF AND
PERSONALITY
TRUE VERSUS FALSE SELF
• According to Sigmund Freud, there are
• Winnicott suggests that the self is three structures of personality: id, ego,
composed of the true self and the false and superego which are often in conflict
self. with each other. If this constant state of
• The function of the false self is to hide conflict is unresolved, personality
and protect the true self. problems may arise.
• People tend to display a false self to • The id, ego, and superego develop in a
impress others. The self tends to change series of stages. Freud called these the
depending on situations. psychosexual stages of development
which progress through five stages: oral,
THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
AGENTIC
ERIK ERIKSON’S THEORY IN
• Albert Bandura suggests that humans UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
have the ability to act and make things
happen. • Another important aspect of self-
• In his theory of the self, people are understanding involves views of identity
viewed as proactive agents of development of the self.
experiences. • In Erik Erikson’s theory, adolescence
• Efficacy beliefs are the foundation of stage is a period of identity
human agency. development.
• Self-efficacy refers to the individual’s • Identity formation is usually viewed as a
belief that he or she is capable to process that requires adolescents to
perform a task. distance themselves from the strong
expectations imposed by parents and
THE SELF AS THE CENTRAL other family members.
ARCHETYPE • Erikson proposes that individuals go
• According to Jung, the psyche continues through eight psychosocial stages of
to develop throughout life, but the development.
psyche starts to show a definite form Psychosocial Stages of Development
during adolescence.
• Jung conceived the structure of
personality (psyche) as a complex
network of interacting systems that
strive toward harmony.
Module 5: The Western and Eastern Concepts superstitious explanation of
of Self immaterial “things”.

Aspects of the Western Self The Self in Four Great Systems of Eastern
Thought:
• Western Self as Analytic
• Western way of thinking is • Hinduism
analytic-deductive with
emphasis on the causal links • The Hindus concept of self is
(part-to-whole relationships). expounded in Vedanta, a major school
The whole is understood when of Indian thought, and is based on
differentiated into parts. One Upanishads, the classical Indian
must categorize and make philosophical treatises. It has been
distinctions to pursue cause. stated that Brahman is an Absolute
• Western Self as Monotheistic Reality, and Atman (soul or spirit), the
• The belief in one Supreme true knowledge of self, is identical to
Being coexisting with the Brahman.
universe condensed the • Vedanta characterizes human suffering
supernatural and human as result of failure to realize the
capabilities into bipolarity of distinction between the true self
both qualities of existence (e.g. (permanent and unchanging) and the
beautiful/ugly, kind/cruel, nontrue self (impermanent and changes
sacred/profane, strong/weak, continually).
etc.) and categories of identity • The goal of man is to have a knowledge
or experience (e.g., God/Satan, of the true reality – Brahman.
body/soul, love/lust, • Self-realization is being united to all-
sinner/saint, etc.) embracing Brahman. But the realization
• Western Self as Individualistic of the true selfhood will result to a
• Western individualism exhibits complete dissolution of individual
the coexistence of favorable and identity.
unfavorable conditions inherent
• Buddhism
in personal freedom. Although
the right for individual freedom ➢ Siddharta Gautama – Buddha
provides opportunities for self- “The Awakened One”
fulfillment, it also increases the
• Nothing exists independently of
likelihood to experience
anything else.
alienation and frustration.
• Western Self as Materialistic and • The self is the center of relationships.
Rationalistic
• The self as a dynamic process of
• Western way of thinking is spiritual development.
focused on material
• Man is just a title for the summation of
“things” and favors a
the five parts (matter, sensation,
rational-empirical approach
perception, mental constructs, and
over magical and
consciousness) that compose the
individual, however each of the parts wife, between brothers, and between
distinctly is not man. friends.
• Hence, the self is known as a relational
• Man has no self (or no-soul). There is
self.
only nothing and all else is an illusion.
• Another important feature in Confucian
There is nothing permanent, but change.
thought is the individual’s greatest
The ignorance of the impermanence of
mission of attaining self-realization
everything may lead to an illusion of
wherein self-cultivation is instrumental.
selfhood. This primal ignorance is the
Self-cultivation could be accomplished
cause of life’s misery, births and rebirths
by knowing one’s role in the society and
• The ideal is to experience Nirvana act accordingly.
(literally, “blowing out,” as of a lamp), a
The self is a subdued self:
state of transcendence devoid of self-
reference. This state of transcendence • Moral character is perfected through
can be achieved through meditation. continuously taking every opportunity to
improve oneself in thought and action.
• Confucianism
There will be harmonious relationship
Confucius is believed to have lived from when individuals follow the rules of
c. 551 to c. 479 BCE in the state of Lu. proper social behavior. The individual
is set to respond to what is socially
Chief among his philosophical ideas is the required rather than to one’s personal
importance of a virtuous life, filial piety and needs and goals.
ancestor worship. Also emphasized is the
necessity for benevolent and frugal rulers, • Taoism
the importance of inner moral harmony and
The Tao Chi (Yin-Yang diagram) is an
its direct connection with harmony in the
example of the value of harmony with the
physical world and that rulers and teachers
environment.
are important role models for wider society.
It is also applied to the concept of health for
• Confucian doctrines are found in the
energy (qi/chi), balance for disease
Analects (Conversations of Confucius).
prevention, healing, and the development of
• The core of Confucian thought is the human potential.
Golden Rule or the principle of
• Taoism is a Chinese counterculture.
reciprocity: “Do not do to others what
Taoists rejects the Confucian idea of a
you would not want others to do to
relational self. To them, the self is an
you”.
extension of the cosmos, not of social
• The basic virtue or proper conduct is relationships.
knowing how to act in relation to others.
• The self is described as one of the
• The most important of relationships are limitless forms of the Tao.
the Five Cardinal Relationships:
• The Tao is commonly regarded as
between ruler and minster, between
Nature that is the foundation of all that
father and son, between husband and
exists.
• It is not bounded by time and space.
The ideal is to identify with the Tao.
• Individualism • Collectivism
The perfect man has no self.

• Selflessness is attained when the

Individualism
distinction between “I” and “other”
dissolves. • The self is a distinct and autonomous
• Consequently, the individual may entity; it is an independent part of the
behave spontaneously, just going with universe and the society.
the flow of the Tao.
• The selfless person leads to a balanced • Independence and self-reliance are core
life, in harmony with both nature and values.
society. • Prioritize personal goals over group
• There is oneness of the Tao. goals.
• Taoists believe that simplicity,
spontaneity, and harmony with nature • Characterized by exchange relationship
should govern one’s life. Individuals • Uniqueness, sense of direction, purpose
must seek to understand and act in and volition are the acknowledged
accordance with the natural order. There features of self.
should be unity and harmony among
opposing elements: the Yin and Yang. • Personal success is important.

Comparison: Western and Eastern Concepts Collectivism

of Self
• The self is an integrated part of the
Western Thought Eastern Thought universe and the society.
• There is a separation • Religion and • Interdependence and connectedness are
between philosophy philosophy are core values.
and intertwined.
• No distinctions between personal and
religion/spirituality.
group goals, or if there is a distinction,
the personal goals are subordinate to the
• Has made use of • Has trusted
group goals.
reason rather than intuition and is
faith to pursue often associated • Characterized by communal relationship
wisdom. with religious • Conformity and obedience are essential
beliefs. social behaviors.
• Distinctions and • Commonalities
oppositions and harmonies • Duty towards all others is important.
• Linear • Circular
• Egocentric • Sociocentric
• Self-actualization • To achieve a
through personal balanced life and
growth find one’s role in
• society.