Understanding The Self: Unitary and Private

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
The Self from Various Philosophical Perspectives:
 SOCRATES
o First Philosopher who engaged in a systemic questioning about self.
o For him, every man is composed of the body and the soul. It means that every human person is
dualistic (composed of 2 important aspects of his personhood)
 PLATO
o He supported the idea of Socrates but he added that there are three components of the soul: the rational
soul, spirited soul, and appetitive soul.
o He emphasized that justice in human person can only be attained if the three parts are working together.
o He also believed that we are just shadows of the ideal world.
 ARISTOTLE
o He view self as an activity. He believe that soul is the core essence of living beings. (Ex. knife=cutting)
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
o Following the stand of Aristotle, he believed that man is composed of matter and form.
 ST. AUGUSTINE
o “Si Fallor, Sum” – If I am mistaken, I am. (Kapag nagkamali ako, nandito ako)
o He believed that an aspect of man dwells in the world, is imperfect, and continuously yearns to be good
and the other is capable of reaching immortality.
 RENE DESCARTES
o “Father of Modern Philosophy”
o “Cogito Ergo Sum” – I think therefore I am.
o He conceived a person by having a body and a mind.
 DAVID HUME
o Scottish phiolosopher, an empiricist (experience), who believes that one can know only what he
perceives from his senses and experiences.
o Self is just a collection of perceptions.
o There is no consistent unchanging self.
 IMMANUEL KANT
o Agrees with Hume. He thinks that men perceive around them ARE NOT JUST randomly infused into
the human person without an organizing principle that regulates the relationship of all the impressions.
o For him, there is a mind that organizes all the impressions that a man get from external world.
 GILBERT RYLE
o He believes that what tuly matters is the behavior that a person manifests to his day-to-day life.
o He suggests that self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply a convenient name that
people use to refer to all the behavior that people make.
 MARLEAU-PONTY
o Phenomenologist, he asserts that the mind-body bifurcation is a futile endeavor and an invalid problem.
o For him, mind and body are so intertwined and cannot separated from on another.
 JOHN LOCKE
o Focuses on the sameness of memory
o Nominal essences
o No two things can be in the same kind in the same places at the same time
WHAT IS SELF?
 Self is commonly defined by the following characteristics: separate, self-contained, independent, consistent,
unitary and private.
o SEPARATE means that the self is distinct from other selves. One cannot be another person. Even twins
differs from each other.
o SELF-CONTAINED AND INDEPENDENT (in itself it can exist). Its distinctness allows it to be self-
contained with its thoughts, charateristics, and volition. It does not require any other self to exist. Its
consistency allows it to be studied and measured.
o UNITARY means the self is the center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a certain person.
It is like the chief command post in an individual where all processes and thoughts converge.
o PRIVATE because each person sorts out information, feelings and emotions through processes within,
the whole processes is never accessible to anyone. It lives within its own world.
Self should not be seen as a static identity that stays constant through and through but rather the self is a
constant struggle with external reality and malleable in its dealings with society.
The Self and Culture
 MARCEL MAUSS
o A French Anthropologist believes that 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.
 Personne is composed of the social concepts of what it means to be he is. It has something to do
with what it means to live in the world.
o If a self is born into a particular society or culture, the self will have to adjust according to its exposure.
 MEAD and VYGOTSKY

o Believes that human person develops with the use of language acquisition and interaction with others.
o Human beings are the self having two aspects the”I” and the “me”. The “I” is the thinking, acting and
feeling, the “me” is the physical characteristics as well as psychological capabilities that makes who you
are.
o For Carl Rogers, the “I” is the one who acts, and the “me” us what you think or feel about yourself as an
object.
o SELF-CONCEPT is what comes to your mind when you are ask about who you are.
 SIGMUND FREUD
o Most influencial psychoanalyst who saw self as the result of interaction of id, ego and superego.
o THREE REASONS why self and identity are social products:
1) Society helped in creating the foundation 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.
2) We need others to affirm and reinforce who we think we are. We need them as reference points
about our identity,
3) What we think is important to us and may have benn influenced by what is important in our
social and historical context.
SELF-AWARENESS or SELF-CONCEPT
 Actual self is who you are now.

 Ideal self is who you like to be.
 Ought self is who you think you should be.
SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY helps us to learn about ourselves, the appropriateness of our
behaviors, as well as our social status.
a.) Downward Social Comparison is the common type of comparing ourselves with other
people. We create a positive self-concept with those who are worse off than us and by having this kind of
advantage, we can raise our self-esteem.
b.) Upward Social Comparison is comparing ourselves with those who are far better off than us
and it can be a form of motivation for some but there are those who actually felt lower self-esteem as they
highlight more of their weakness or inequities.
SELF-EVALUATION MAINTENANCE THEORY states that we can feel threatened when someone
out-perform us, especially when the person is close to us.
We can react in three ways:

1) We distance ourselves from the person or redefine our relationship with them. Some
will resort to silent treatment, change of friends, while some may try by being closer to
that person to earn acknowledgment.
2) We may reconsider the importance of the aspect or skill in which you were
outperformed.
3) We may strengthen our resolve to improve that certain aspect of ourselves.
ACHIEVING YOUR GOAL THROUGH HARDWORK MAY INCREASE YOUR SELF-

ESTEEM.
GENERAL IDEAS:
 Soul (Immaterial)
a.) Sentinent (Humans)
b.) Vegetative (Animals)
 A person is an entity that can think reflectively and think of itseld as persisting overtime.
 A person is a being accountable for their actions.
 A person is : a) thinking intelligent being b) person has reasons and reflections c) can consider
itself as itsef d) the same thinking being in different places and time
VOCABULARY:
 HEDO – desire
 PLIGHT- escape
 ESSENCE- it is that thing which make that thing it is
 METANOIA- complete change of heart and mind
 SKEPTICISM- view that says no knowledge is possible beyond what one knows by immediate
sense sense of experience and insane extreme position that even knowledge-based experience is
impossible. “You can know nothing if it does not pass your senses”
 ATHEISTS- denies the existence of God.
 THEISTS- believes in the existence of God.
 AGNOSTICS- abstain.
 IGNORANT- someone not knowing things that he/she is expected to have.
 INNOCENT- someone not knowing things that he/she is not expected to know.
 RUAH- breath of life

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What are the different philosophical perspectives on the self according to the passage?

How does the self relate to culture according to the anthropologists discussed?

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

The Self from Various Philosophical Perspectives:

The Self and Culture

 MEAD and VYGOTSKY

 Actual self is who you are now.

We can react in three ways:

3) We may strengthen our resolve to improve that certain aspect of ourselves.

ACHIEVING YOUR GOAL THROUGH HARDWORK MAY INCREASE YOUR SELF-

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