UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Course Code: UNDSELF

Prepared By:

MR. EDISON A. SIBAL JR.

SOCSCI INSTRUCTOR

Reviewed By:

MS. ISABELITA A. CARTER

PROGRAM CHAIR, GENED

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MODULAR INSTRUCTIONS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

COURSE CODE: UNDSELF

COURSE TITLE: UNDERSTANDING THE SELF COURSE
DESCRIPTION:
The course deals with the nature of identity, as well as the factors and forces that
affect the development and maintenance of personal identity.

The directive to Know Oneself has inspired countless and varied ways to comply.
Among the questions that everyone has had to grapple with at one time or another is
“Who am I?” At no other period is this question asked more urgently than in
adolescence traditionally believed to be a time vulnerability and great possibilities.
Issues of self and identity are among the most critical for the young.

This course is intended to facilitate the exploration of the issues and concerns
regarding self and identity to arrive at a better understanding of one’s self. It strives to
meet this goal by stressing the integration of the personal with the academic
contextualizing a new appreciation for the learning process and developing a more
critical and reflective attitude while enabling them to manage and improve themselves
to attain a better quality of life.

The course is divided into three major parts: The first part seeks to understand
the construct of the self from various disciplinary perspective: philosophy, sociology,
anthropology, and psychology – as well as the more traditional division between the
East and the West – each seeking to provide answers to the difficult but essential
question of “What is the self?” And raising, among others, the questions: “Is there even
such a construct as the self?”. The second part explores some of the various aspects
that make up the self, such as the biological and material up to and including the more
recent Digital Self. The third and final part identifies three areas of concern for young
students: learning, goal setting, and managing stress. It also provides for the more
practical application of the concepts discussed in this course and enables them the
hands-on experiences of developing self-help plans for self-regulated learning, goal
setting, and self-care.

COURSE OUTLINE
Preliminary
Week 1-2: The Self from Various Philosophical Perspective
Week 3: The Self, Society, and Culture
Week 4: The Self as Cognitive Construct
Week 5: The Self in Western and Eastern Thoughts

ASSESSMENT:

• 70% Performance Task: Quiz, Assignments, Outputs

• 30% Term Assessment
Week 1-2: The Self from Various Philosophical Perspective

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Specific 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
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Introduction:

Before we even had to be in any formal institution of learning, among the many
things that we were first taught as kids is 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. Should we be named after a famous celebrity,
a respected politician or historical personality, or even a saint? Were you named after
one? Our names represent who we are. It has not been a custom to just randomly pick
a combination of letters and number (or even punctuation marks) like zhjk756!! to
denote our being. Human beings attach names that are meaningful to birthed progenies
because names are supposed to designate us in the world. Thus, some people get
baptized with names such as "precious," "beauty," or "lovely." Likewise, when our
parents call our names, we were taught to respond to them because our names
represent who we are. As a student, we are told to always write our names on our
papers, projects, or any output for that matter. Our names signify us. Death cannot
even stop this bond between the person and her name. Names are inscribed even into
one's gravestone.

A name is not the person itself no matter how intimately bound it is with the
bearer. It is only a signifier. A person who was named after a saint most probably will
not become an actual saint. He may not even turn out to be saintly! The self is thought
to be something else than the name. The self is something that a person perennially
molds, shapes, and develops. The self is not a static thing that one is simply born with
like a mole on one's face or is just assigned by one's parents just like a name. Everyone
is tasked to discover one's self.

Discussion Proper:

The history of philosophy is replete with men and women who inquired into the
fundamental nature of the self. Along with the question of the primary substratum that
defines the multiplicity of things in the world, the inquiry on the self has preoccupied
the earliest thinkers in the history of philosophy: the Greeks. The Greeks were the ones
who seriously questioned myths and moved away from them in attempting to
understand reality and respond to perennial questions of curiosity, including the
question of the self. The different perspectives and views on the self can be best seen
and understood by revisiting its prime movers and identify the most important
conjectures made by philosophers from the ancient times to the contemporary period.

SOCRATES – While Greek thinkers/Pre-Socratics were concerned with explaining what

the world is really made up of, why the world is so, and what explains the changes that
observed around them, Socrates is the first philosopher who ever engaged in a
systematic questioning about the self. This is his life-long mission, the true task of the
philosopher is to know oneself.

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For Socrates, every man is composed of body and soul (dualistic). All individuals have
an imperfect, impermanent aspect to him, and the body, while maintaining that is also
a sould that is perfect and permanent.

PLATO – Student of socrates. Claimed that unexamined life is not worth living. He
supported the idea that man is dua nature of body and soul.

In addition to what Socrates earlier espoused, Plato added that there are three
components of the soul: the rational soul, the spirited soul, and the appetitive soul. In
his magnum opus, "The Republic" (Plato 2000), Plato emphasizes that justice in the
human person can only be attained if the three parts of the soul are working
harmoniously with one another. The rational soul forged by reason and intellect has to
govern the affairs of the human person, the spirited part which is in charge of emotions
should be kept at bay, and the appetitive soul in charge of base desires like eating,
drinking, sleeping, and having sex are controlled as well. When this ideal state is
attained, then the human person's soul becomes just and virtuous.

AUGUSTINE – He agreed that man is of a bifurcated nature. An aspect of man dwells

in the world and is imperfect and continuously yearns to be with the Divine and the
other is capable of reaching immortality.

The body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in a realm
of spiritual bliss in communion with God. The goal of every human person is to attain
this communing and bliss with the Divine by living his life on earth in virtue.

He dedicated his Christian life to the pursuit of contemplative ideals. He practiced

extreme self-denial and self-mortification.

He was not afraid to accept to himself and tell the people about his sinfulness.

Thus his journey toward the understanding of the self was centered on his religious
convictions and beliefs.

THOMAS AQUINAS - Thomas Aquinas, the most eminent thirteenth century scholar
and stalwart of the medieval philosophy, appended something to this Christian view.
Adapting some ideas from Aristotle, Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two
parts: matter and form. Matter, or hyle in Greek, refers to the “common stuff that
makes up everything in the universe." Man's body is part of this matter. Form on the
other hand, or morphe in Greek refers to the "essence of a substance or thing." It is
what makes it what it is. In the case of the human person, the body of the human
person is something that he shares even with animals. The cells in man's body are
more or less similar to the cells of any other living, organic being in the world.
However, what makes a human person a human person and not a dog, or a tiger is his
soul, his essence. To Aquinas, just as in Aristotle, the soul is what animates the body; it
is what makes us humans.

RENE DESCARTES– Father of Modern Philosophy, conceived of the human person as

having a body and a mind. He claimed that we cannot really rely on our senses because
our sense perceptions can often deceive us.

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-Descartes started to doubt whether the events he experiences at the moment are only
products of his dreams and therefore illusions.
- “Cogito, ergo Sum” This is translated as “I think therefore I am” or “I doubt therefore
I exist." Only after the certitude of the “doubting I” can all the other existence (e.g.
God, the universe, things, events, etc.) become certain.

-In his view, self is a combination of two the distinct entities, the cogito, the things that
thinks, which is the mind and the extenza or extension of the mind, which is the body.
The body is nothing else but a machine that is attached to the mind. The human person
has it but it is not what makes man a man.

DAVID HUME – a Scottish philosopher, has a very way of looking at man. Humes
argues that the self is nothing like what his predecessors thought of it. The self is
nothing else but a bundle of impressions.

IMMANUEL KANT – For him, there is necessarily a mind that organizes the
impressions that men get from the external world. Time and space. For example, are
ideas that one cannot find in the world. Kant calls these apparatuses of the Mind. He
also suggests that it is an actively engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes all
knowledge and experience.

GILBERT RYLE – What truly matter is the behavior that a person manifests in his
dayto-day life. Self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the
convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people make.

MERLEAU-PONTY – A phenomenologist who asserts mind-body bifurcation that has

been going on for long time is a futile endeavor and an invalid problem. He stated that
the mind and body are so intertwined that they cannot be separated from one another.
One cannot find experience that is not embodied experience. The living body, his
thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one.

-What Marleau-Ponty proposes is treating perception as a casual process. It simply

means that our perceptions are caused by the intricate experiences of the self and
processed intellectually while distinguishing truthful perceptions from illusory.

PERFORMANCE TASK # 1.1

Answer the following questions about your self as fully and precisely as you can.

1. What makes you stand out from the rest? What makes yourself special?

2. How is your self related to other selves?

3. How has your self transformed itself?

4. What will happen to yourself after you die?

5. Among the 4 prior questions, which question/s did you find the easiest to answer?
Which one/s are difficult? Why?

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PERFORMANCE TASK # 1.2

Among the Philosophers, choose, at least, two whose concept of the “self” you can most
relate to.

Week 3: The Self, Society, and Culture

Specific Objective/s:
1. explain the relationship between and among the self, society, and culture;
2. describe and discuss the different ways by which society and culture shape the self;
3. compare and contrast how the self can be influenced by the different institutions
in the society; and
4. examine one’s self against the different views of self that were discussed in the class.

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INTRODUCTION

Social sciences found new ways and paradigms to reexamine the true nature of
the self. Given the new ways of knowing and the growth of the social sciences, it
became possible for new approaches to the examination of the self, if not the most
important axis of analysis is the relationship between the self and the external world.
What is the relationship between external reality and the self? In the famous
Tarzan story, the little boy named Tarzan was left in the middle of the forest. Growing
up, he never had an interaction with any other human being but apes and other
animals. Tarzan grew up acting strangely like apes and unlike human persons. Tarzan
became an animal, in effect. His sole interaction with them made him just like one of
them. Disappointedly, human persons will not develop as human persons without
intervention. This story, which was supposed to be based on real life, challenges the
long-standing notion of human persons being special and being a particular kind of
being in the spectrum of living entities. After all, our selves are not special because of
the soul infused into us. We may be gifted with intellect and the capacity to rationalize
things but at the end of the day, our growth and development and consequentially, our
selves are truly products of our interaction with external reality.

What is the Self? The self, in contemporary literature and even common sense,
defined by the following characteristics: "separate, self-contained, independent,
consistent, unitary, and private" (Stevens 1996).

Separate -it is meant that the self is distinct from other selves. The self is always
unique and has its own identity. One cannot be another person. Even twins are distinct
from each other.

Self-contained and independent because in itself it can exist. Its distinctness allows
it to be self-contained with its own thoughts, characteristics, and volition. It does not
require any other self for it to exist.

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Consistent- it has a personality that is enduring and therefore can be expected to
persist for quite some time. Its consistency allows it to be studied, described, and
measured. Consistency also means that a particular self's traits, characteristics,
tendencies, and potentialities are more or less the same.

Unitary- the center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a certain person.
It is like the chief Understanding the Self command post in an individual where all
processes, emotions, and thoughts converge.

Private- each person sorts out information, feelings and emotions, and thought
processes within the self. This whole process is never accessible to anyone but the self.
This last characteristic of the self being private suggests that the self is isolated from
the external world. It lives within its own world.

However, we also see that this potential clash between the self and the external
reality is the reason for the self to have a clear understanding of what it might be, what
it can be, and what it will be. From this perspective then, one can see that the self is
always at the mercy of external circumstances that bump and collide with it. It is
everchanging and dynamic, allowing external influences to take part in its shaping.
The concern then of this lesson is in understanding the vibrant relationship
between the self and external reality. This perspective is known as the social
constructionist perspective.
“Social constructionists argue for a merged view of the person' and 'their social
context where the boundaries of one cannot easily be separated from the boundaries of
the other" (Stevens 1996).

Social constructivists argue that the self should not be seen as a static entity that
stays constant through and through. The self is always in participation with social life
and its identity subjected to influences here and there. Having these perspectives
considered should draw one into concluding that the self is truly multifaceted.

The Self and Culture

According to French Anthropologist Marcel Mauss, every self has two faces:
personne and moi.

Moi refers to a person's sense of who he is, his body, and his basic identity, his
biological givenness. Moi is a person's basic identity.

Personne, on the other hand, is composed of the social concepts of what it

means to be who he is. Personne has much to do with what it means to live in a
particular institution, a particular family, a particular religion, a particular nationality,
and how to behave given expectations and influences from others. In the story above,
Jon might have a moi but certainly, he has to shift personne from time to time to adapt
to his social situation. He knows who he is and more or less, he is confident that he has

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a unified, coherent self. However, at some point, he has to sport his stern professorial
look. Another day, he has to be the doting but strict father that he is. Inside his
bedroom, he can play goofy with his wife, Joan. In all this and more, Jon retains who he
is, his being Jon—his moi-that part of him that is stable and static all throughout.

This dynamics and capacity for different personne can be illustrated better
cross-culturally. An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) adjusting to life in another country
is a very good case study.

In the Philippines, many people unabashedly violate jaywalking rules. A common

Filipino treats road, even national ones, as basically his and so he just merely crosses
whenever and wherever. When the same Filipino visits another country with strict traffic
rules, say Singapore, notice how suddenly law-abiding the said Filipino becomes. A lot
of Filipinos anecdotally confirmed this observation.

Language is another interesting aspect of this social constructivism. The word,

mahal. In Filipino, the word can mean both "love" and "expensive." In our language,
love is intimately bound with value, with being expensive, being precious. Something
expensive is valuable. Someone whom we love is valuable to us. The Sanskrit origin of
the word love is "lubh," which means desire. Technically, love is a desire. The Filipino
word for it has another intonation apart from mere desire, valuable.

Another interesting facet of our language is its being gender-neutral. In English,

Spanish, and other languages, the distinction is clear between a third person male and
third person female pronoun. He and she; el and ella. In Filipino, it is plain, “siya.”
There is no specification of gender. Our language does not specify between male and
female. We both call it "siya."

Language has something to do with culture. It has an effect of shaping the self.
It gives us distinction.

Self in Families

The impact of one’s family is still deemed as a given in understanding the self.
The kind of family that we are born in, the resources available to us (human, spiritual,
economic), and the kind of development that we will have certainly affect us as we go
through life.

Human persons learn the ways of living and therefore their selfhood by being in
a family. It is what a family initiates a person to become that serves as the basis for
this person's progress. Babies internalize ways and styles that they observe from their
family. By imitating, for example, the language of its primary agents of rearing its
family, babies learn the language. The same is true for ways of behaving. Notice how
kids reared in a respectful environment becomes respectful as well and the converse if
raised in a converse family. Internalizing behavior may either be conscious or
unconscious. Table manners or ways of speaking to elders are things that are possible

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teach and therefore, are consciously learned by kids. Some behaviors and attitudes, on
the other hand, may be indirectly taught through rewards and punishments. Others,
such as sexual behavior or how to confront emotions, are learned through subtle
means, like the tone of the voice or intonation of the models. It is then clear at this
point that those who develop and eventually grow to become adult who still did not
learn simple matters like basic manners of conduct failed in internalizing due to parental
or familial failure to initiate them into the world. Without a family, biologically and
sociologically, a person may not even survive or become a human person.

Gender and the Self

Our gender partly determines how we see ourselves in the world. Oftentimes,
society forces a particular identity unto us depending on our sex and/or gender. In the
Philippines, husbands for the most part are expected to provide for the family. The
eldest man in a family is expected to head the family and hold it in. Slight modifications
have been on the way due to feminism but for the most part, patriarchy has remained
to be at work.

Nancy Chodorow, a feminist, argues that because mothers take the role of taking
care of children, there is a tendency for girls to imitate the same and reproduce the
same kind of mentality of women as care providers in the family. The way that little
girls are given dolls instead of guns or any other toys or are encouraged to play with
makeshift kitchen also reinforces the notion of what roles they should take and the
selves they should develop. In boarding schools for girls, young women are encouraged
to act like fine ladies, are trained to behave in a fashion that befits their status as
women in society. Men on the other hand, in the periphery of their own family, are
taught early on how to behave like a man. This normally includes holding in one's
emotion, being tough, fatalistic, not to worry about danger, and admiration for hard
physical labor. Masculinity is learned by integrating a young boy in a society. In the
Philippines, young boys had to undergo circumcision not just for the original, clinical
purpose of hygiene but also to assert their manliness in the society. Circumcision plays
another social role by initiating young boys into manhood.

The gendered self is then shaped within a particular context of time and space.
The sense of self that is being taught makes sure than an individual fits in a particuar
environment. This is dangerous and detrimental in the goal of truly finding one’s self,
self-determination, and growth of the self. Gender has to be personally discovered and
asserted and not dictated by culture and the society.

PERFORMANCE TASK # 3.1

Answer the following questions honestly.
1. How would you describe yourself?
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2. What are the influences of family in your development as an individual?

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3. What social pressures help shape yourself?

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4. What aspects of yourself do you think may be changed or you would like to change?
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Week 4: The Self as Cognitive Construct Specific

Objective/s:
1. identify the different ideas in psychology about the “self”.
2. analyze the effects of various factors identified in psychology in the formation of the
“self”

DISCUSSION PROPER

Self is the sense of personal identity and of who we are as individuals (Jhangiani
and Tarry 2014)

William James (1890) was one of the earliest psychologists to study the self and
conceptualized the self as having two aspects--the “l" and the “me.” The “l" is the

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thinking, acting, and feeling self (Gleitman, Gross, and Reisberg 2011; Hogg and
Vaughan 2010). The “me” on the other hand, is the physical characteristics as well as
psychological capabilities that makes who you are (Gleitman, Gross and Reisberg 2011;
Hogg and Vaughan 2010). Carl Rogers's (1959) theory of personality also used the
same terms, the "I" as the one who acts and decides while the “me" is what you think
or feel about yourself as an object (Gleitman Gross, and Reisberg 2011).

Identity is composed of personal characteristics, social roles, and responsibilities,

as well as affiliations that define who one is (Oyserman, Elmore, and Smith 2012).

Self- concept is what basically comes to your mind when you are asked about
who you are (Oyserman, Elmore, and Smith 2012).

Self, identity, and self-concept are not fixed in one-time frame. For example, when you
are asked about who you are, you can say “I was a varsity player in 5th Grade" which
pertains to the past, “a college student" which may be the present and "a future
politician" which is the future. They are not also fixed for life nor are they everchanging
at every moment. Think of a malleable metal, strong and hard but can be bent and
molded in other shapes. Think about water. It can take any shape of the container, but
at its core, it is still the same element.

Under the Theory of symbolic interactionism, GH. Mead (1934) argued that self
is created and developed through human interaction (Hogg and Vaughan 2010).
Basically, there are three reasons why self and identity are social products (Oyserman,
Emore, and Smith 2012):

1. We do not create ourselves out of nothing. Society helped in creating the foundations
of who we are and even if we make our choices, we will still operate in our social and
historical contexts in one way or the other. You may, of course, transfer from one
culture to another, but parts of who you were will still affect you and you will also have
to adapt to the new social context. Try looking at your definition of who you are and
see where society had affected you.

2.Whether we like to admit it or not, we actually need others to affirm and reinforce
who we think we are. We also need them as reference points about our identity. One
interesting example is the social media interactions we have. In the case of Facebook,
there are those who will consciously or unconsciously try to garner more "likes" and/or
positive "reactions" and that can and will reinforce their self-concept. It is almost like a
battle between who got more friends, more views, and trending topics. If one says he is
a good singer but his performance and the evaluation of his audience says otherwise,
that will have an effect on that person's idea of himself, one way or another.

3. What we think is important to us may also have been influenced by what is important
in our social or historical context. Education might be an important thing to your self-
concept because you grew up in a family that valued education. Money might be
important to some because they may have grown in a low-income family and realized

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how important money is in addressing certain needs like medical emergencies. Being a
nurse or a lawyer can be priority in your self-schema because it is the indemand course
during your time.

Self-awareness – state when we are aware of our self-concepts

Carver and Scheier (1981) identified two types of self that we can be aware of:
(1) the private self or your internal standards and private thoughts and feelings, and
(2) the public self or your public image commonly geared toward having a good
presentation of yourself to others (Hogg and Vaughan 2010).

Self-awareness self-schema (Higgins 1997 in Hogg and Vaughn 2010):

Actual Self- is who you are at the moment
Ideal Self- is who you like to be,
Ought Self- is who you think you should be.

An example is that you are a student interested in basketball but is also

academically challenged in most of your subject. Your ideal self might be to practice
more and play with the varsity team but ought to pass your subjects as a responsible
student. One has to find a solution to such discrepancies to avoid agitation, dejection,
or other negative emotions. In some instances, however, all three may be in line with
one another.

Self-awareness can keep you from doing something dangerous; it can help
remind you that there is an exam tomorrow in one of your subjects when you are about
to spend time playing computer games with your cousins, among others.

Self-consciousness– state where we are concerned about being observed and

criticized by others. (Jhangiani and Tarry 2014)

At other times, especially with large crowds, we may experience deindividuation

or "the loss of individual self-awareness and individual accountability in groups"
(Festinger, Pepitone, and Newcomb 1952; Zimbardo 1969 in Jhangiani and Tarry
2014). A lot of people will attune themselves with the emotions of their group and
because the large crowd also provides some kind of anonymity, we may lessen our
selfcontrol and act in ways that we will not do when we are alone. A common example
is a mass demonstration erupting into a riot.

Self Comparison Theory – we learn about ourselves, the appropriateness of our

behaviours, as well as our social status by comparing aspects of ourselves with other
people (Jhangiani and tarry 2014; Hogg and Vaughan 2010).

Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory – states that we can feel threatened when

someone out performs us, especially when that person is close to us (i.e., a friend or

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family) (Tesser 1988 in Jhangiani and Tarry 2014). In this case, we usually react in
three ways:

 First, we distance ourselves from that person or redefine our relationship with them
(Jhangiani and Tarry 2014). Some will resort to the silent treatment, change of
friends, while some may also redefine by being closer to that person, hoping that
some association may give him a certain kind of acknowledgment also.

 Second, we may also reconsider the importance of the aspect or skill in which you
were outperformed (Jhangiani and Tarry 2014). If you got beaten in a drawing
competition, you might think that drawing is not really for you and you will find a
hobby where you could excel, thus preserving your self-esteem.

 Lastly, we may also strengthen our resolve to improve that certain aspect of
ourselves (Jhangiani and Tarry 2014). Instead of quitting drawing, you might join
seminars, practice often, read books about it, and add some elements in your
drawing that makes it unique, among others. Achieving your goal through hard work
may increase your self-esteem, too.

People with high self-esteem are commonly described as outgoing, adventurous,

and adaptable in a lot of situations. They also initiate activities and building relationship
with people. However, they may also dismiss other activities that do not conform to
their self-concept or boost their self-esteem. They may also be bullies and experiment
on abusive behaviours with drugs, alcohol, and sex (Jhangiani and Tarry 2014).

PERFORMANCE TASK # 4.1: Do a research and list ten (10) things to boost your
self-esteem or improve your self-concept. Cite your sources.

Week 5: The Self in Western and Eastern Thoughts Specific

Objective/s:
1. differentiate the concept of the self according to Western thought against
Eastern/Oriental perspectives.
2. explain the concept of self as found in Asian thoughts

DISCUSSION PROPER

INTRODUCTION

Different cultures and varying environment tend to create different perceptions

of the "self" and one of the most common distinctions between cultures and people is

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the Eastern-vs-Western dichotomy wherein Eastern represents Asia and Western
represents Europe and Northern America. It must be understood that this distinction
and the countries included was politically colored at the time that aforementioned
concepts were accepted and used in the social sciences.

Furthermore, it must be reiterated that while countries who are geographically

closer to each other may share commonalities, there are also a lot of factors that create
differences. In the Philippines alone, each region may have a similar or varying
perception regarding the "self.”

ABSTRACTION
There are actually a lot of sources in which you can analyze the perspective of
each culture and country about the concept of "self." You can see it in their literature
like how one culture depicts a hero or a villain in their stories. You can see it in their
social organization like how they see their boss or their subordinate. Artworks, dances,
even clothing may show you clues about the "self."

In this lesson, we will look at religious beliefs and political philosophies that
greatly influenced the mindset of each nation or culture. Since almost all the theories
about the self, which were discussed in the previous lessons, also came from the
Western scientific research, we will highlight the Eastern thoughts in this lesson.

Confucianism.
Confucianism can be seen as a code of ethical conduct, of how one should
properly act according to their relationship with other people; thus, it is also focused on
having a harmonious social life (Ho 1995). Therefore, the identity and self-concept of
the individual are interwoven with the identity and status of his/her community or
culture, sharing its pride as well as its failures (Ho 1995) Self cultivation is seen as
the ultimate purpose of life but the characteristics of a chun-tzu, a man of virtue or
noble character, is still embedded in his social relationships (Ho 1995). The cultivated
self in Confucianism is what some scholars call a "subdued self" wherein personal
needs are repressed (subdued) for the good of many, making Confucian society also
hierarchal for the purpose of maintaining order and balance in society (Ho 1995).

Taoism.
Taoism is living in the way of the Tao or the universe. However, Taoism rejects
having one definition of what the Tao is, and one can only state clues of what it is as
they adopt a free-flowing, relative, unitary, as well as paradoxical view of almost
everything. Taoism rejects the hierarchy and strictness brought by Confucianism and
would prefer a simple lifestyle and its teachings thus aim to describe how to attain that
life (Ho 1995). The self is not just an extension of the family or the community, it is
part of the universe, one of the forms and manifestations of the Tao (Ho 1995). The
ideal self is selflessness but this is not forgetting about the self, it is living a balanced-
life with society and nature, being open and accepting to change, forgetting about
prejudices and egocentric ideas and thinking about equality as well as complementarity
among humans as well as other beings (Ho 1995). In this way, you will be able to act

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spontaneously because you will not be restricted by some legalistic standards but
because you are in harmony with everything.

Buddhism.
The self is seen as an illusion, born out of ignorance, of trying to hold and control
things, or human-centered needs; thus, the self is also the source of all these sufferings
(Ho 1995). It is, therefore, our quest to forget about the self, forget the cravings of the
self, break the attachments you have with the world, and to renounce the self which is
the cause of all suffering and in doing so, attain the state of Nirvana (Ho 1995).

Confucianism and Taoism still situate the self within a bigger context. In striving
to become a better person, one does not create a self above other people or nature but
a self that is beneficial to his community as well as in order and harmony with
everything else. As for Buddhism, the self, with all its connections and selfish ideas, is
taken not just out of the center of the picture, but from the whole picture entirely.

As previously discussed, Western perspective does not discount the role of

environment and society in the formation of the self but the focus is always looking
toward the self. You compare yourself in order to be better; you create associations and
bask in the glory of that group for your self-esteem; you put primacy in developing
yourself. One can also describe that the Western thought looks at the world in dualities
wherein you are distinct from the other person, the creator is separate from the object
he created, in which the self is distinguished and acknowledged (Wolter 2012).

On the other hand, the Eastern perspective sees the other person as part of
yourself as well as the things you may create, a drama in which everyone is
interconnected with their specific roles (Wolter 2012).

Several studies showed that Americans, for example, talk more about their
personal attributes when describing themselves while Asians in general talk about their
social roles or the social situations that invoked certain traits that they deem positive
for their selves (Gleitman, Gross, and Reisberg 2011). Evaluation of the self also differs
as Americans would highlight their personal achievements while Asians would rather
keep a low profile as promoting the self can be seen as boastfulness that disrupts social
relationships (Gleitman, Gross, and Reisberg2011).

The Western culture is what we would call an individualistic culture since their
focus is on the person. Asian culture, on the other hand, is called a collectivistic
culture as the group and social relations that is given more importance than individual
needs and wants. By valuing the individual, Westerners may seem to have loose
associations or even loyalty to their groups. Competition is the name of the game and
they are more likely straightforward and forceful in their communication as well as
decision- making. Eastern or oriental persons look after the welfare of their groups and
values cooperation. They would also be more compromising and they tend to go around
the bush in explaining things, hoping that the other person would "feel" what they
really want to say (Qingxue 2003).

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Westerners also emphasize more on the value of equality even if they see that
the individual can rise above everything else. Because everyone is on their own in the
competition, one can say that they also promote ideals that create "fair" competition
and protect the individual. Asians, with their collectivistic culture, put more emphasis on
hierarchy as the culture wants to keep things in harmony and order (Qingxue 2003).
For example, Westerners would most likely call their bosses, parents, or other seniors
by their first name. The boss can also be approached head-on when conflicts or
problems about him arises. For Asians, we have respectful terms for our seniors and a
lot of workers would not dare go against the high-ranking officials (Qingxue 2003).

It must be emphasized, however, that these are general commonalities among

Western cultures as compared to Asian or Oriental cultures. In the case of the
Philippines, we can also consider the colonization experience for differences and
similarities with our Asian neighbors. We might also find variation among provinces and
regions due to geographical conditions.

With the social media, migration, and intermarriages, variety between the
Western and Asian perceptions may either be blurred or highlighted. Whereas conflict is
inevitable in diversity, peace is also possible through the understanding of where each
of us is coming from.

PERFORMANCE TASK #5.1. Answer the following questions:

1. How does religious beliefs influenced that mindset of each individual?

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2. Give the difference between individualistic culture and collectivistic culture

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3. Give some Philippine cultures that are similar with our Asian neighbors.
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Week 6: TERM ASSESSMENT

General Directions:
• Read the questions carefully.
• Answer the test items by following the indicated instructions.

I. State in your own word how you understand the philosophical definition of
“Self” of the following philosophers.

1. Socrates
2. Plato
3. St. Augustine
4. Immanuel Kant
5. Rene Descartes

II. Essay

1. Give some Philippines Culture that you love the most. Why?
2. How would you describe yourself?
3. Are you happy and proud with the SELF you’ve become? Why or Why not?

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