UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Professor: Ms. Mae Derby Uy Babalcon

Grading System:
- Midterm Grade (MG): CS (activity per meeting) + PE + ME / 3
- Tentative Final Grade (TFG): CS + PF + Project(s) / 3
- Final Grade (FG): MG + TFG / 2
- Class participation (e.g. reciting) for additional points.

LESSON 1: VALUES OF SELF

1. Reflective Self - introspect on thoughts, actions, and feelings.
2. Positive Self - having a positive outlook in life.
3. Agentic-proactive Self - to be more proactive with choices ; to be/achieve more.
Philosophical Self (philo: love , sophia: wisdom)
- Philosophy is the love/pursuit of wisdom.
- Philosophy: mother of all disciplines
- Knowledge(able): knowing things
- Wisdom/Wise: when knowledge is applied

Lesson 2: PRE-SOCRATIC ERA PHILOSOPHERS

1. Thales of Miletus
- Vitalistic/essence of life view
- “All things are animated and living.”
- Things that move/are moved are alive, which is the core essence of things.
2. Democritus
- Mechanistic view
- Atoms: prime mover(s) ; the reason that things move
3. Socrates
- Fundamental task of “knowing who you are/knowing thyself.”
- The unexamined life is not worth living. ; The ability to reflect on one’s life/self is
a distinctively human ability.
- Central concern of philosophy is “the psyche,” “the self,” or “the soul.”
- Soul: the core that makes you, “you.”
- Goodness and wisdom were partners.
- Considered as the “wisest among all” and “philosopher’s philosopher.”
- “I know that I know nothing.”
- Loved discussions. ; Socratic method
- Son of a midwife and sculptor. “Sculpting minds in order to give birth to new
understandings.”
- Brought philosophy from the clouds to the marketplace.
- Students included Plato and Xenophon.
4. Plato
- Theory of Forms
- World of Form/Ideas: permanent, eternal, and doesn't change ; comprehended by
the soul.
- World of Phenomena/Senses: poor copy of the real world ; changes.
- Education is reminiscing: learning is a matter of extracting from the mind what is
already there.
- Tripartite structure of the soul
- Rational (reason/logic), Spirit(ed) (highly manageable self), and appetite (unruly
self/bodily desires)
- Dual view of the soul: rational (reason) and irrational (wild beast)
5. Aristotle
- Having a soul means being alive ; only living things have a soul.
- Both body and soul are important.
- Hylomorphism: Things are composed with both matter and form. That the psyche
and body cannot exist without the other.
- Hylo/Hyle: matter ; Morphe: form
- Humans have both a body and a rational soul.
- Doctrine of the mean/Golden mean: To find balance/moderate position between
the two extremes. (excess and deficiency)
- Functions of the Psyche: (1) Nutritive Psyche: basic nourishment and
reproduction (2) Sensitive Psyche: for all animals ; includes locomotion and
perception (3) Rational Psyche: for human beings ; the capacity for reason and
other functions.

LESSON 3: RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHERS

1. Roman Philosopher Plotinus
- Founder of Neoplatonism (inspired by Plato’s ideas)
- Neoplatonism: the soul is but a prisoner of the body.
- The self should pursue a life guided by values and virtues. In other words,
between the nourishment of the soul and the demands of the flesh, the soul “shall
overcome.”
- 3 activities for the soul: (1) Perception: by perceiving we direct consciousness to
an object. (2) Reflection: implies that consciousness is separated into subject and
object or occasions wherein we are conscious of ourselves. (3) Contemplation: the
soul is believed to transcend the everchanging and impermanent to the unchanging
and eternal.
2. St. Augustine of Hippo
- The soul is given primacy over the body.
- The soul is different and superior to the body.
- The soul’s quest for heaven is the need to have “contempt for self.”
The body is the mundane and the worldly demands and is not what is represented
by the soul that is capable of higher aspirations and unity with god.
- Two cities made of love: Earthly and Heavenly City
- Earthly city: the love for self and contempt of God. (selfish)
- Heavenly city: the love for God and contempt of self. (selfless)
3. St. Thomas of Aquinas
- Employs Aristotelian thought. (the person is both body and soul)
- The human soul continues to exist even after death.
- A soul that’s separated from the body will find completion when it animates a
body once more.
- The presence of the soul in the body is good and natural. The soul is enriched and
nourished when it is joined with the body, as well as completes human nature.

LESSON 4: MODERN PHILOSOPHERS

1. Rene Descartes
- Father of Modern Philosophy
- Rationalist: led a life of reason and logic
- While other philosophers focused on answering questions, he delved in the
thought process of answering these questions.
- 1st Principle of Knowledge: Methodic/Universal Doubt
- There is a need to doubt in order to know. It is the right way to start building a
system of beliefs.
- There is certainty in one’s existence because of the ability to think and be
conscious.
- “Cogito ergo sum.” (I think, therefore I am.)
- Doubt —> Think —> Exist
- 2nd Principle: That we ought to consider as false all of the things of which we
doubt.
- 3rd Principle: That we ought not to make use of this doubt of the conduct of our
life in the meantime.
- 4th Principle: The reason(s) why we doubt sensible things.
- Waking state: conscious of our actions ; Dreaming state: we can’t trust our senses
because we can’t differentiate dreams from reality.
- Puts primacy in one’s capacity to think.
2. John Locke
- Empiricist: all knowledge is derived from experience.
- Believed that the human mind at birth is a blank slate, a scraped tablet, a
TABULA RASA.
- Self is dynamic. Consciousness and awareness are derived from experience.
3. David Hume
- Empiricist
- Impressions VS Ideas
- Impressions are the basic constituents of experience wherein ideas are derived.
- No impressions persist because they are always in motion, changing, or fleeting.
This means there is no impression of a “constant self.” (Theory of Lack of Self)
- The self does not exist. ; There was no self to begin with.
4. Immanuel Kant
- Considered as an influential thinker in the history of philosophy despite leading a
regulated life.
- Reconciled the debate between Rationalism and Empiricism.
- Agrees with Hume that empirical experience is important and is the primary
starting point, but not all knowledge comes from experience.
- Priori: knowledge derived from logic ; knowledge is always universal.
- Posteriori: knowledge derived from experience.
- SELF can be known through or before experience.

LESSON 5: ANTHROPOLOGICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL, & PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF

Important Notes!
- George Herbert Mead - identity is how an individual sees him/herself in relation to
his/her interaction and experiences with the society.
- Your name is inseparable from yourself. It is part of your self-identity.

Self in the Anthropological Process (ANTHROPOLOGICAL SELF)

- The self reflects how human adaptations with our social environment increase our
chances of survival.
- Adaptations we have to go through in order to survive ; these adaptations are passed
down from generation to generation.
- Humans have an evolved capacity of using social interactions for survival. This is called
culture.
- Culture: a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts used by
members and is transmitted from generation to generation via learning.
- 5 key qualities of culture:
- Culture is learned, shared, symbolic, integrated, and adaptive.
- Enculturation: Learning process of culture. When one is born, they are already immersed
in a culture.
- “Born into a culture, but not born with a culture.”
- Culture is not experienced by one only, but also others in the social environment. (e.g.
Filipinos celebrating Christmas)
- Symbols in a culture have the same meaning to all members. (e.g. Image of Sto. Nino as
hope to Cebuanos)
- Culture is a constantly changing/evolving process. Social sanctions
(rewards/punishments) ensure that cultural values are being practiced.
- Culture is the idea that our self-identity is by what we believe we are, but by what our
ancestors passed on to us and what we learn in our social environment ; we are
multifaceted products of our cultural adaptation.

Self in the Sociological Process (SOCIOLOGICAL SELF)

- Aside from culture, our social interactions with others in society also play important
roles.
- The self is a two-way feedback ; what you receive from social interactions impact on how
you see yourself.
- Looking Glass Self (Charles Horton Cooley): One sees oneself in the feelings, thoughts,
and actions of others.
- “The self is social.” ; social self is learned by following the norms of what society wants
you to.
- Norms: Behaviors that should/shouldn’t be followed.
- 4 types of Norms:
- Folkway: Day-to-day behaviors that people follow in social situations.
- Mores: Norms that are violated leads to social sanctions. Norms that pertain to
morality.
- Taboo: More strict than mores and mentioning/engaging in these acts can elicit
strong negative reactions from others in a society.
- Laws are written expectations on how one should behave.
- Adaptive culture: Situations where one’s culture is forced to adapt and change.
Self in the Psychological Process (PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF)
- Socially/cognitively constructive
- Your perception on how society sees you/collective traits that define you.
- William James: distinguishes between the self as I and ME
- Dualistic structure of self:
- I in Self: the subjective part of self
- Me in Self: the objective part of self
- Material Self: physical attributes, materials owned, and immediate family
members.
- Social Self: Attributes of how others describe you.
- Spiritual Self: Internal frame of mind/mindset.
- Carl Rogers
- Real Self: who you truly are ; self that makes us most comfortable
- Ideal Self: how we want/expected to be
- Possible Self: things we don’t wish to experience, but are a possibility. ; negative
side (opposite of Real Self)