MATI DOCTORS COLLEGE

CITY OF MATI

GEC 1
Understanding the Self

Chapter 1- Defining the Self: Personal and Developmental Perspectives on

Self and Identity

Lesson 1: The Self from Various Philosophical Perspectives

Lesson 2: The Self, Society, and Culture

Lesson 3: The Self as Cognitive Construct

Lesson 4: The Self in Western and Eastern Thoughts

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Subject GEC 1 - Understanding the Self

Chapter 1 Defining the Self: Personal & Developmental

Perspective on Self and Identity

Lesson 1 The Self from Various Philosophical Perspectives

Objectives At the end of the learning module you shall be able to:

1. Explain why it is essential to understand the self;

2. Describe and discuss the different notions of the

self from the point-of-view of the various
philosophers across time and place;

3. Compare and contrast how the self has been

represented in different philosophical schools;
and

4. Examine one’s self against the different views of

the self that were discussed.

Abstraction The history of philosophies with men and women

who inquired into the fundamental nature of 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 Greek
were the one who seriously questioned myths and
moved away from them in attempting to understand
reality and respond to perennial question of curiousity,
including the question of the self. The different
perspective and views in 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 time to the contemporary period.

Socrates & Plato

Prior the Socrates, the Greek thinkers, sometimes

collectively called the Pre-Socratics to denote that some
of them preceded Socrates while others existed around
Socrates’s time as well, preoccupied themselves with
the question of the primary substratum, arche the
explains the multiplicity of things in the world. These

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men like Thales, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus,
and Empedocles, to name a few, were concerned with
explaining what the world is really made up of, why the
world is so, and what explains the changes that they
observed around them. Tired of simply conceding to
mythological accounts propounded by poet-theologians
like Homer and Hesiod, these men endeavored to finally
locate an explanation about the nature of change, the
seeming permanence despite change, and the unity of
the world amidst its diversity.

After a series of thinkers from all across the

ancient Greek world who were disturbed by the same
issue, a man came out to question something else. This
man was Socrates, and this has become his life-long
mission, the true task of philosophers is to know
oneself.

Plato claimed in his dialogs that Socrates affirmed

that the unexamined life is not worth living. During his
trial for allegedly corrupting the minds of the youth and
for impiety, Socrates declared without regret that hos
being indicated was brought about by his going around
Athens engaging men, young and old, to question their
presumptions about themselves and about the world,
particularly about who they are. Socrates took it up to
himself to serve as a “gadfly” that disturbed Athenian
men from their slumber and shook them off in order to
reach the truth and wisdom. Most men, in his
reckoning, were really not fully aware of whom they
were and the virtues that were supposed to attain in
order to preserve their souls for afterlife. Socrates
though that this is the worst that can happen to
anyone: to live but die inside.

For Socrates, every man is composed of body and

soul. This means that every human person is dualistic,
that is, he is composed of two important aspects of his
personhood. For Socrates, this means all individuals
have an imperfect, impermanent aspect to him, and the
body, while maintaining that there is also a soul that is
perfect and permanent.

Plato, Socrates’s student, basically took off from

his master and supported the idea that man is dual
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nature of 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 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 vitreous.

Augustine & Thomas Aquinas

Augustine’s view of the human person reflects the

entire of the medieval world it comes to man. Following
the ancient view of Plato and infusing it with the
newfound doctrine of Christianity, Augustine 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. This is because the body can
only thrive in the imperfect, physical reality that is the
world, whereas the soul can also stay after death in an
eternal realm with the all-transcendent God. The goal
of every human person is to attain this communion and
bliss with the Divine by living his life on earth in virtue.

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
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or thing.” It is what makes it what it is. In the
something that he shares even with animals. The cells
in man’s body are more or less akin 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.

Descartes

Rene Descartes, Father of Modern Philosophy,

conceived of the human person as having a body and a
mind. In his famous treatise, The Meditations of First
Philosophy, he claims that there is so much that we
should doubt. In fact, he says that since much of what
we think and believe are not infallible, they may turn
out to be false. One should only believe that since
which can pass the test of doubt. If something is so
clear and lucid as not to be even doubted, then that is
the only time when one should actually buy a
proposition. In the end, Descartes thought that the only
thing that one cannot doubt is the existence of the self,
for even if one doubts oneself, which only proves that
there is a doubting self, a thing that thinks and
therefore, that cannot be doubted. Thus his famous,
cogito ergo sum, “I think therefore, I am.” The fact that
one thinks should lead one to conclude without a trace
of doubt that he exist. The self then for Descartes is
also a combination of two distinct entities, the cogito,
the thing that thinks, which is the mind, and the
extenza or extension of the mind, which is the body. In
Descartes’s view the body is nothing else but a machine
that is attached to the mind. The human person says,
“But what then, am I? A thinking thing. It has been
said. But what is a thinking thing? It is a thing that
doubts, understands (Conceives), affirms, denies, wills,
refuses; that imagines also, and perceives”

Hume

The self is not an entity over and beyond the

physical body. Men can only attain knowledge by
experiencing. Self, according to Hume, is simply “a
bundle or collection of different perceptions, which
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 succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and
are in a perpetual flux and movement.”

Immanuel Kant

Things that men perceive around them are not

just randomly infused into the human person without
an organizing principle that regulates the relationship of
all these impressions. There is necessarily a mind that
organizes the impressions that men get from the
external world. Time and space are ideas that one
cannot find in the world, but is built in our minds; he
calls these the apparatuses of the mind. The self is not
just what gives one his personality; it is also the seat of
knowledge acquisition for all human persons.

Gilbert Ryle

Blatantly denying the concept of an internal, non-

physical self; what truly matters is the behavior that a
person manifests in his day-to-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

The mind and body are so intertwined that they

cannot be separated from one another. One cannot find
any experience that is not an embodied experience. All
experience is embodied; one’s body is his opening
toward his existence to the world. The living body, his
thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one.

APPLICATION Activity 1.1 – The Self

AND
ASSESSMENT In your own words, state what “self” is for each of the
philosophers enumerated below. After doing so, explain
how your concept of “self” is compatible with how they
conceived of the “self.”

1. Socrates
2. Plato
3. Augustine
4. Descartes

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 5. Hume
6. Kant
7. Ryle
8. Merleau-Pont

Activity 1.2 – Words that Describe Me

Circle and explain the words that describe you. Add

additional words if applicable.

Adaptive Self – Aware Tolerant

Dependable Intelligent Fearless

Capable with
Compassionate Hard Worker
Hands

Respectful Calm Humble

Energetic Eccentric Clever

Creative Confidant Thoughtful

Complex Realistic Cautious

Balanced Cooperative Shy

Quite Attentive Picky

Activity 1.3 – My Self

Answer the following questions about yourself as fully

and precisely as you can.

1. How would you characterize yourself?

2. What makes you stand out from the rest? What

makes yourself special?

3. How has your self-transformed itself?

4. How is yourself connected to your body?

5. How is yourself related to other selves?

6. What will happen to yourself after you die?

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Were you able to answer the questions on the previous
slide with ease? Why? Which questions did you find
easiest to answer? Which ones are difficult? Why?

Can one truly know the self?

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Subject GEC 1 - Understanding the Self

Chapter 1 Defining the Self: Personal & Developmental

Perspective on Self and Identity

Lesson 2 The Self, Society, and Culture

Objectives At the end of the learning module you shall be able to:

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.

Abstraction What Is the Self?

The self, in contemporary literature and even common

sense, is commonly defined by the following
characteristics:

- Separate means that the self is distinct from

other selves. The self is always unique and has its
own identity.

- 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.

- Consistency means that a particular self’s traits,

characteristics, tendencies, and potentialities are
more or less the same.

- Unitary in that it is the center of all experiences

and thoughts that run through a certain person

- Private means that each person sorts out

information, feelings and emotions, and thought

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 processes within the self. This whole process is
never accessible to anyone but the self.

The Self and Culture

- According to Marcel Mauss, every self has two

faces:

Moi refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his body,

and his basic identity, his biological givenness.

Personne is composed of the social concepts of what it

means to be who he is.

- Language is another interesting aspect of this

social constructivism; it is a salient part of culture
and ultimately, has a tremendous effect in our
crafting of the self.

- If a self is born into a particular society or

culture, the self will have to adjust according to
its exposure.

The Self and the Development of the Social World

- More than his givenness (personality, tendencies,

and propensities, among others), one is believed
to be in active participation in the shaping of the
self.

- Men and women in their growth and

development engage actively in the shaping of
the self.

- The unending terrain of metamorphosis of the self

is mediated by language.

Mead and Vygotsky

- For Mead and Vygotsky, the way that human

persons develop is with the use of language
acquisition and interaction with others.

- Both Vygotsky and Mead treat the human mind as

something that is made, constituted through
language as experienced in the external world

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 and as encountered in dialogs with others.

Self in Families

- 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 will certainly affect us.

- Human beings are born virtually helpless and the

dependency period of a human baby to its
parents for nurturing is relatively longer than
most other animals.

- In trying to achieve the goal of becoming a fully

realized human, a child enters a system of
relationships, most important of which is the
family.

- 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.

Gender and the Self

- Gender is one of those loci of the self that is

subject to alteration, change, and development.

- The sense of self that is being taught makes sure

that an individual fits in a particular environment,
is dangerous and detrimental in the goal of truly
finding one’s self, self-determination, and growth
of the self.

- It is important to give one the leeway to find,

express, and live his identity.

- Gender has to be personally discovered and

asserted and not dictated by culture and the
society.

APPLICATION Activity 1.4 – My Self Through the Years

AND
ASSESSMENT Paste a picture of you when you were in elementary, in
high school, and now that you are in college. Below the

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picture, lists down your salient characteristics that you
remember.

After having examined your “self” in its different stages,

fill out the table below:

Activity 1.5 – Knowing My Self

Answer the following questions cogently but honestly.

1. How would you describe yourself?

2. What are the influences of family in your

development as an individual?

3. Think of a time when you felt you were your “true

self.” What made you think you were truly who you
are during this time of your life?

4. Following the question above, can you provide a

time when you felt you were not living your “true

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 self”? Why did you have to live a life like that? What
did you do about it?

5. What social pressures help shape yourself? Would

you have wanted it otherwise?

6. What aspects of yourself do you think may be

changed or you would like to change?

Activity 1.6 – Your Personal Identity

Fill in the needed information needed in the circles.

Be creative as you can be.

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Subject GEC 1 - Understanding the Self

Chapter 1 Defining the Self: Personal & Developmental

Perspective on Self and Identity

Lesson 3 The Self as Cognitive Construct

Objectives At the end of the learning module you shall be able to:

5. Identify the different ideas in psychology about

the “self”;

6. Create your own definition of the “self” based on

the definitions from psychology; and

7. Analyze the effects of various factors identified in

psychology in the formation of the “self.”

Abstraction There are various definitions of the “self” and other

similar or interchangeable concepts in psychology.

Other concepts similar to self are identity and self-

concept:

 Identity is composed of personal characteristics,

social roles, and responsibilities, as well as
affiliations that define who one is.

 Self-concept is what basically comes to your

mind when you are asked about who you are.

Self, identity, and self-concept are not fixed in one time

frame.

Carl Rogers captured this idea in his concept of self-

schema or our organized system or collection of
knowledge about who we are. Theories generally see
the self and identity as mental constructs, created and
recreated in memory.

Freud saw the self, its mental processes, and one’s

behavior as the results of the interaction between the
Id, the Ego, and the Superego. There are three reasons
why self and identity are social products:

1. We do not create ourselves out of nothing.

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 Society helped in creating the foundations of who
we are.

2. Whether we like to admit it or not, we actually

need others to affirm and reinforce who we think
we are.

3. What we think is important to us may also have

been influenced by what is important in our social
or historical context.

Social interaction and group affiliation are vital factors

in creating our self-concept especially in the aspect of
providing us with our social identity; There are times
when we are aware of our self-concepts; this is also
called self-awareness; Carver and Scheier 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.

Self-awareness also presents us with at least three

other self-schema:

 The “actual” self is who you are at the moment

 The “ideal” self is who you like to be

 The “ought” self is who you think you should be

Self-awareness may be positive or negative depending

on the circumstances and our next course of action.

Our group identity and self-awareness also has a great

impact on our self-esteem, defined as our own positive
or negative perception or evaluation of ourselves.

One of the ways in which our social relationship affects

our self-esteem is through social comparison:

 The downward social comparison is the more

common type of comparing ourselves with others,

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 by comparing ourselves with those who are worse
off than us.

 The upward social comparison which is

comparing ourselves with those who are better
off than us.

Social comparison also entails what is called self-

evaluation maintenance theory, which states that we
can feel threatened when someone out-performs us,
especially when that person is close to us.

In the attempt to increase or maintain self-esteem,

some people become narcissistic, a “trait characterized
by overly high self-esteem, self-admiration, and self-
centeredness.”

There is a thin line between high self-esteem and

narcissism and there are a lot of tests and
measurements for self-esteem like the Rosenberg scale.

Though self-esteem is a very important concept related

to the self, studies have shown that it only has a
correlation, not causality, to positive outputs and
outlook.

Programs, activities, and parenting styles to boost self-

esteem should only be for rewarding good behavior and
other achievements and not for the purpose of merely
trying to make children feel better about themselves or
to appease them when they get angry or sad.

APPLICATION Activity 1.7 – Myself Empowered

AND
ASSESSMENT Do a research and list 10 things to boost your self-
esteem or improve your self-concept. Cite your
sources.

Analyze which of those tips are more likely to backfire

and make someone conceited or narcissistic and revise
them to make the statements both helpful to the
individual as well as society in general.

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Activity 1.8 – A portrait of Yourself

Answer the following questions cogently but honestly.

1. The best thing(s) I ever did was (were)?

2. I wish I could lose my fear of?

3. I know I have the talent to?

4. I enjoy people who?

5. I admire?

6. I feel most productive when?

7. I am motivated by?

8. I almost never?

9. My idea of fun is?

10. Work is exciting when?

11. The best advice I ever got was?

12. The best advice I ever got was?

13. The thing I value most is?

14. If money were no object, I would?

15. It is easy for me to focus on?

16. My idea of a perfect life is?

17. My best days are?

18. My dream is?

19. I always wanted to?

20. I look forward to?

21. I spent too much time?

22. The thing my friends like about me is?

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 23. When I try to change something?

24. In a group I like to?

25. If ever win a prize it will be for?

Activity 1.9 – Setting Priorities about Values

Values are beliefs, feelings and principles that guide a

person’s action. Explain the following values cogently
but honestly.

1. Money

2. Peace of Mind

3. Happiness

4. Success

5. Nature

6. Spiritual Life

7. Friends

8. Taking on Challenges

9. Satisfaction with Work

10. Learning

11. Balancing Your Life (work and play)

12. Physical Health

Activity 1.10 – Success Stories

Think of two or three success stories that you have

experience, explain it cogently but honestly.

What does this say about who you are and what’s
important to you?

Activity 1.11 – My Unique Picture Album

Think about the people, places and experiences in your

life that are very special to you. This is where you get

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your psychological needs met. Write two examples in
each box on how you meet this particular need.

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Subject GEC 1 - Understanding the Self

Chapter 1 Defining the Self: Personal & Developmental

Perspective on Self and Identity

Lesson 4 The Self in Western and Eastern Thoughts

Objectives At the end of the learning module you shall be able to:

8. Differentiate the concept of self-according to

Western thought against Eastern/Oriental
perspectives;

9. Explain the concept of self as found in Asian

thoughts; and

10. Create a representation of the Filipino self.

Abstraction Eastern thoughts:

- 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

- Asian culture is called a collectivistic culture as

the group and social relations that is given more
importance than individual needs and wants.

Western thoughts:

- 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

- The Western culture is what we would call an

individualistic culture since their focus is on the
person.

Confucianism

- A code of ethical conduct, of how one should

properly act according to his/her relationship with
other people

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 - 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.

- Self-cultivation is seen as the ultimate purpose of

life.

- 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.

Confucianism

- A code of ethical conduct, of how one should

properly act according to his/her relationship with
other people

- 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.

- Self-cultivation is seen as the ultimate purpose of

life.

- 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.

Taoism

- Living in the way of the Tao or the universe

- Rejects having one definition of what the Tao is

- Rejects the hierarchy and strictness brought by

Confucianism and would prefer a simple lifestyle
and its teachings thus aim to describe how to

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 attain that life

- The self is not just an extension of the family or

the community; it is part of the universe.

- 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.

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.

- 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.

Application & Activity 1.12 – My Self as Filipino Culture

Assessment
Create a representation, diagram, or concept map of
the SELF according to Filipino culture.

Provide a brief explanation of your output. You can also

cite books and researches about Filipino culture, self,
and identity to further elaborate on the topic.

Activity 1.13 – The West and East

Write top five differences between Western society and

Eastern society, culture, and individuals in the table
below. Cite your sources.

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1. Do you agree with the differentiation between the
West and the East?

2. Where can you find the Philippines in the distinction?

3. What are the factors that make the Philippines

similar or different from its Asian neighbors?

4. Is there also a difference between regions or ethno

linguistic groups in the Philippines?

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