UNDESTANDING THE SELF

Self from Various Perspectives

 Philosophical
 Sociological

 Anthropological

 Psychological

 Eastern and Western Perspective

Unpacking the Self

 Physical Self
 Sexual Self

 Material/ Econimic Self

 Spiritual Self

 Political Self

 Digital Self

Managing and Caring for the Self

 Learning to be a Better Student
 Taking charge of one’s health

 Bonus Lesson: How to plan your finances

Understanding the Self

 “Know thyself”
 The Self is your main companion in living in this world.

 Who you are, who you want to be, who society wants you to be, and who you can be are some of the
ideas we will explore.

 The Self is freaking complex

PHILOSOPHY
 Philia- love; Sophia- Wisdom (loving wisdom)
 Philosophy employs the inquisitive mind to discover the ultimate causes, reasons,
and principles of everything.

 The nature of the Self is a topic of interest among Philosophers.

 The Philosophical frameworks for Understanding the Self was heavily explored by
Ancient Greeks Philosophers Socrates and Plato

PHILOSOPHY
 Socrates suggests to “Know thyself”
 What is Self and the qualities that define it?

 Philosophers agree the self-knowledge is a pre-requisite to a happy and meaningful

life.

PHILOSPHERS’ PERSPECTIVE OF SELF

SOCRATES
“The unexamined life not worth living”
 For Ancient Greek Philosopher Socrates, the self is synonymous with the soul
(Psyche).
 The soul is immortal, Socrates believed that every human possessed an immortal
soul.

 Human life does not end at one’s death

 Socrates explained that death is the departure of the soul for the eternal world.

SOCRATES- How to be a Human

 Goodness or beauty is the most important of all.
 A person can have a meaningful and happy life only if he becomes virtous and
knows the value of himself that can be achieved through constant soul-searching.
 For him, this is best achieved when one tries to separate the body from the soul as
much as possible.
 The Socratic method, the so-called introspection, is a method of carefully examining
our thoughts and emotions- to gain self-knowledge.

Dichotomous Realms
 The physical realm is changeable, transient, and imperfection. The body belongs to
the physical realm
 The ideal realm is unchanging, eternal, and immortal. The soul belongs to the ideal
realm.

PLATO
“Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others”
The Self consists of three parts: Reason, Spirit or Passion, and Physical Appetite

1. Reason is the divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise choices, and
achieve a true understanding of eternal truths.
2. The Spirit or Passion includes basic emotions such as love, anger, ambitions,
aggressiveness, and empathy.
3. The Physical Appetite includes our basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, and
sexual desire.

PLATO- Conflict of the Self

 These three elements of ourselves are in a dynamic relationship with one another,
sometimes in conflict.

 When conflict occurs, Plato believes that is the responsibilty of our Reason to sort
things out and exert control, restoring a harmonious relationship among the three
elements of ourselves.

 Plato believes the genuine happiness can only be achieved by people who
consistently make sure that their Reason in control of their Spirit and Appetite.

ARISTOTLE
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”

 For Aristotle, the body and soul are not two separate elements but are one thing.
 The soul is simply the Form of the body and is not capable of existing without the
body.
 The soul is that which makes a person. The soul is the essence of the self.
  Without the body the soul connot exist. The soul dies along the body.

Aristotle- On the Soul

 Aristotle suggest that anything with life has a soul.

 Three kinds of soul:

1.Vegetative- the physical body; alllow things to grow

2. Sentient- sensual desires, feelings, and emotions
3. Rational- what makes us human; includes intellect that makes man know and
understand things.

 Aristotle suggests that the rational nature of the Self is to lead to a good,
flourishing, and fulfilling life

Medieval Philosophy
ST. AGUSTINE
“Knowledge can only come by seeing the truth that dwells within us.”
ST. AGUSTINE- Socrates/ Plato in the Christian World
 St. Agustine integrated the ideas of Plato and Christianity.
 He developed a more unified perspective on the body and soul.

 The soul is what governs and defines the human person or the self.

 The soul is an important element of man.

ST. AGUSTINE
 The soul is united with the body so that man may be entire and complete
 The physical body is different from and inferior to its inhabitant, the immortal
soul.

 Agustine described that humankind is created in the image and likeness of God.

 Agustine believed that God is transcendent and everything created by God, who is
all good, is good.

ST. AGUSTINE- God and Man

 Therefore, the human person being a creation of God is always geared towards
the good.
 The self is known only through knowing God.

 Self-knowledge is consequences of the knowledge of God.

 God is transcendent and the self seeks to be united with God through faith and
reason.

MODERN PHILOSOPHERS
RENE DESCARTES
“I think therefore I am”
Rene Descartes
  For him, the act of thinking about the self- of being self-conscious - is in itself proof
that there is a self.
 For Descartes, the essence of the self- a thinking entity that doubts, understands,
analyzes, questions, and reasons.

Rene Descartes- Mind-body Dichotomy

 There are two dimensions of the self; the self as a thinking entity and the self as a
pyhsical body
1. The thinking self (or soul) is the non-material, immortal, conscious being, and
independent of the physical laws of the universe.
2. The pyhsical body is the material, mortal, non-thinking entity, fully governed by the
pyhsical laws of nature.

Rene Descartes- Mind-body Dichotomy

 The soul and the body are independent od one another, and each can exist and
function without the other.
 The self as thinking entity is distinct from the self as a pyhsical body. In other
words, the thinking self can exist eindependently of the pyhsical body.

 Just a thought, AI. Do they have a soul?

JOHN LOCKE
“No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience”
John Locke- Tabula Rasa
 Tabula rasa or blank slate
 He felt that the self, or personal identity is constructed primarily from sense
experiences- or more specifically, what we see, hear, smell, taste, and feel.

 These experiences shape and mold the self throughout a person’s life.

 Self- consciousness is necessary to have a coherent personal (self) identity of

knowledge of the self as a person.

John Locke- Memories as the Self

 consciousness is what makes possible our belief that we are the same identity in
different situations.
 Using the power of reason and introspection enables people to understand and
achieve accurate conclusions about the self.

 in essence, the self isa collection of memories organized by consciousness.

DAVID HUME
“A wise man proportions his beliefs to the evidences.”
David Hume
 There is no Self
 What people experience is just a bundle or collection of different perceptions,
impressions, sensations, ideas, thoughts, and images.

 There is no past nor future, only the present stimulation provided by the
environment.

 The idea of personal identity is a result of imagination.

IMMANUEL KANT
“Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination.”

IMMANUEL KANT
 We construct the Self
 It is the self that makes experiencing an intelligible world possible because it is the
self that is actively organizing and synthesizing all our thoughts and perceptions.

Internal World- thoughts, feelings

External World- events, situations, happenings outside our control

 We synthesize both to create the self

 In other words, the self constructs its own reality creating a world that is familiar
and predictable.

 Through our rationality, the self transcends sense experience.

SIGMUND FREUD
“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in
uglier ways.”
Sigmund Freud- Psychoanlysis
 Levels of the Mind:

- Conscious

- Preconscious

- Unconscious

 Province of the Mind:

- ID

- Ego

- Superego

Sigmund Freud- Psychoanlysis

GILBERT RYLE
“I act therefore, I am.”
GILBERT RYLE
 The way we do things, defines the self

PAUL CHURCHLAND
“The curiosity of man, and the cunning of his reason, have revealed much of what nature
held hidden.”
Paul Churchland
 The self is the brain
 All we have is the brain and so if the brain is gone, there is no self

 For Churchland, the physical brain and not the imaginary mind, gives us our sense
of self.

MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
“The body is our general medium for having a world.”
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
 The self is embodied subjectivity.
 All knowledge of ourselves and our world is based on subjective experience.

 The self can never be truly objectified or known in a completely objective sort of
way.

Conclusion:
 Knowing yourself is a lifelong search as the self is complex and dynamic.
 Simple answers may satisfy a child but in the adult world, the answer are never
simple.
sociological perspective of the Self
The Self as the product of Society

 The self as a product of social interaction

The Self is not present at birth.
 it develops only with social experience wherein language, gestures, and objects are used
to communicate meaningfully
 The sociological perspective of the Self assumes that human behavior is influenced by
group life
 A particular view of oneself is formed through interactions with other people, groups, or
social institutions.

chARLES HORTON COOLEY- THE LOOKING GLASS SELF

 The people whom a person interacts with become a mirror in which he views himself.
 Since these perception are subjective, there might be some wrong interpretation of how
other people evaluate him/her.
 It would be critical if he/she thinks others judge him/her unfavorably because he could
develop a negative self-image.

George herbert mead- “I” and “me”

 The “I” is the subjective element and the active side of the self.
 It represents the spontaneous, and unique traits of the individual.
 The “I” is the response of the individual to the “Me”
 The “Me” is the objective element of the self.
 It represents the “internalized” attitudes, expectations, and demands of other people.
 The “Me” is what is learned in interaction with others and with the environment.

I and me self

 The full development of the self is attained when the “I” and the “Me” are united.
 Who you really are and what others see you as.

The self as a Product of post modern society

 Gerry Lanuza- in modern societies the attainment and stability of self-identity is freely
chosen. It is no longer restricted by customs and traditions.
 In post modern societies, self-identity continuously change due to the demands of
multitude of social contexts, new information technologies, and globalization.
 Is the Philippines Postmodern?

The self as a Product of postmodernism

 These freedom and changes offer opportunities for self-cultivation but problems may also
arise (e.g., alienation and dehumanization)
 For instance, it limits the face to face, close relationships with others especially among
the family members.

Post modern self

 Jean Baudrillard- individuals achieve elf-identity through prestige symbols that they
consume.
 The cultural practices of advertising and mass media greatly influence individuals to
consume goods not for their primary value and utility but to give them a feeling of
goodness and power when compared with other.
Post modern self

 The Postmodern person has become an insatiable consumer and may never be satisfied in
his life.
 Thus, the self may be a never-ending search for prestige in the postmodern society.