SOCRATES: KNOW THYSELF exemplar which he must follow to

reach and attain his destiny.

• Principally concerned with man
• Man in this life should imitate his
• Considers man from the point of view former self, more specifically, he
of his inner life should live a life of virtue in which true
human perfection exists
• The famous line of Socrates, “Know
Thyself” tells each man to bring his • Happiness, which is the fruit of
inner self to light. A bad man is not virtue, is attained by the constant
virtuous through ignorance; the man imitation of the divine exemplar of
who does not follow the good fails to do virtue, embodied in man’s former
so because he does not recognize it. perfect self.

• The core concept of VIRTUE and IMMANUEL KANT: RESPECT FOR

KNOWLEDGE SELF
• Man is the only creature who
• Virtue is the deepest and most basic
governs and directs himself and his
propensity of man. Knowing one’s own
actions, who sets up ends for himself
virtue is necessary and can be
and his purpose, and who freely orders
learned. Virtue is innate in the mind.
means for the attainment of his aims
• Self-knowledge is the source of all • Every man is thus has an end in
wisdom. himself and should never be treated
merely as a means - as per the order of
• An individual may gain possession of the Creator and the natural order of
oneself and be one’s own master things
through knowledge.
• The rule is a plain dictum of reason
---------------------------------------------------------------- and justice: Respect others as you
would respect yourself.
PLATO: THE IDEAL SELF: THE
PERFECT SELF • A person should not be used as a tool,
instrument, or devise to accomplish
• Man was omniscient or all-knowing another's private ends.
before he came to be born into this • Thus, all men are persons gifted with
world. With this separation from the the same basic rights and should
paradise of truth and knowledge and his treat each other as equals.
long exile on earth, he forgot most of
the knowledge he had. But by constant ----------------------------------------------------------------
remembering through contemplation RENE DESCARTES: I THINK,
and doing good, he can regain his THEREFORE I AM
former perfection
• States that the self is a thinking
• Man now an exile on earth has a entity distinct from the body.
guiding star, a model, or a divine
• Famous principle was "Cogito, ergo thing to which all perceptions of a
sum", which means "I think, therefore man is ascribed.
I am."
• Even If there were such an impression
• Although the mind and the body are of the self, it would have to remain
independent from each other and serve constant over time to constitute
their own function, man must use his identity
own mind and thinking abilities to
investigate, analyze, experiment, and • However, man's impressions vary
develop himself. and always change. Even attempts to
have impressions of the self must fall for
all these attempts are really just
occasion for one to notice perceptions
JOHN LOCKE: PERSONAL IDENTITY
• Simply, a person can never observe
• Holds that personal identity (the self) oneself without some other perceptions
is a matter of psychological continuity
• He asserts that what we call the "self"
• Personal identity is founded on is really just "a bundle or collection of
consciousness (memory) and not on different perceptions which succeed
the substance of either the soul or the each other with an inconceivable
body rapidity".
• Personal identity is the concept about ----------------------------------------------------------------
oneself that evolves over the course
of an individual's life. It may include GILBERT RYLE: SOLVES THE MIND-
aspects of life that man has no control BODY DICHOTOMY
over, such as where he grew up or the
color of his skin, as well as the choices • For him, what truly matter is the
he makes, like how he spends his time behaviors that a person manifests in his
and what he believes. day to-day life.

• Tabula rasa – theory that at birth, the • Looking for and trying to understand a
mind is a “blank state” self as it really exists is like visiting your
friend's university and looking for the
----------------------------------------------------------------
“university”. One can roam around the
DAVID HUME: THE SELF IS THE campus, visit the library and the football
BUNDLE THEORY OF MIND field, meet the administrators and
faculty, and still end up not finding the
• He is skeptical about the existence of "university". This is because the
the self, specifically, on whether there is campus, the people, the systems,
simple, unified self that exists over time. and the territory all form the
university
• For him, man has no “clear and
intelligible” idea of the self
• He posits that no single Impression of
the self exists; rather, the self is just the
• He suggests that the self is not an intellectual, moral, religious, social,
entity one can locate and analyze but political, economic, emotional, sentient,
simply the convenient name that aesthetic, sensual and sexual aspects.
people use to refer to all the behaviors
that people make

----------------------------------------------------------------

MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY:
EMBODIED EXPERIENCE
• A phenomenologist who asserts that
the mind-body bifurcation is a futile
endeavor and an invalid problem
• Unlike Ryle who simply denies the sell,
Merleau-Ponty says that the mind and
body are so intertwined that they ----------------------------------------------------------------
cannot be separated from one another
ST. AUGUSTINE LOVE & JUSTICE:
• One cannot find any experience that is FOUNDATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL
not an embodied experience. All SELF
experience is embodied • A virtuous life is a dynamism love. It
• One's body is his opening toward his is a constant following of and turning
existence to the world towards love while a wicked life is a
---------------------------------------------------------------- constant turning away from love.
• Loving God means loving one's
THE CHRISTIAN OR BIBLICAL VIEW: fellowmen and loving one's
• According to the Holy bible, following fellowmen denotes never doing any
his redemption by the Saviour from harm to another or as the golden
eternal bondage, now shares in the principle of justice states, doing unto
infinite merits of his Redeemer and has others as you would have them do
become nor only the inheritor of the new unto you.
earth but also the heir of heavenly ----------------------------------------------------------------
kingdom.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEW OF
• Thus, it is appropriate to think of the SELF
"self" as the multi-bejeweled crown of SIGMUND FREUD: THE
the creation - the many gems thereof PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF
representing and radiating the glorious SELF
facets of man's self that
• Asserts that the human psyche or
include the
personality is structured into three parts
physical,
(tripartite)
• These structures - id, ego and super
ego, all develop at different stages in a
person's life
• The structures are systems and not  Presents us with an ego ideal,
physical parts of the brain. Although which is an image of what we
each part comprises unique features would like to be, our internal
and contributes to an individual's standards.
behavior, they interact to form a  Because it develops at a young
whole. age, it represents an immature
and rigid form of morality.
 “Archaic” and largely
PARTS OF PERSONALITY
unconscious
1. ID (INTERNAL DESIRES)
2 Aspects of the SUPEREGO:
 Primitive and the source of the
biological drives • CONSCIENCE – an internalization of
 Unconscious punishments and warnings
 Functions according to the • EGO IDEAL – derives from rewards
pleasure principle, aims to and positive models presented to the
satisfy its urges, which reduces child
tension and thus brings pleasure - the two communicate their
 Functions according to the purely requirements to the ego with feelings
instinctive and unsocialized like pride, shame and guilt
primary process
 Source of the psychic energy
called LIBIDO, derived from The Stages
sexuality Psychosexual – erogenous zones,
2. EGO (REALITY) pleasurable sensations from the skin
• ORAL STAGE – birth to 18 mos;
 The structure of the personality mouth is the focus of pleasure; sucking
that brings about the unity of and biting
personality and that in touch with
the real world • ANAL STAGE – 18 mos – 3 yrs old;
 Operates according to the reality anus; holding it in and letting it go
principle
 Can delay gratification and plan • PHALLIC STAGE – 3 yrs old – 7 yrs
through the secondary process old; genitalia; masturbation
 i.e., it can accurately • LATENT STAGE – 7 yrs old – puberty;
understand reality and sexual impulse suppressed for
can adapt itself to the learning;
constraints of the real
world • GENITAL STAGE – puberty;
resurgence of the sex drive in
3. SUPEREGO (CONSCIENCE) adolescence, and the more specific
focusing of pleasure in sexual
 The internal representative of the
intercourse
rules and restrictions of family
and society. ------------------------------------------------------
 Generates guilt when we act
contrary to its rules.
The Crises – certain difficult tasks 2. Personal development occurs in
associated with the stages where response to these needs
problems are more likely to occur
• Oral – weaning 3. Development proceeds in
stages
• Anal - potty training
• Phallic – Oedipus Complex / Electra 4. Movement through the stages
Complex reflects changes in an
• First love - object for all of us is our individual’s motivation
MOTHER
- The father as the rival for 5. Each stage is characterized by a
psychosocial challenge that
the mother’s charm; the enemy
presents opportunities for
• Castration anxiety – “fear of losing
one’s penis” • Erikson described the time that an
• Uses ego defenses – displacement & individual experiences a
identification with the aggressor psychological challenge as a crisis.
• The mother as first love
• Penis envy / penis substitute • A positive resolution of a crisis
means a favorable ratio of positive to
• Uses ego defenses – displacement
negative psychosocial traits emerges
& identification with the aggressor
If you have difficulties in any of the tasks • A negative resolution results in
associated with the stages, you will tend individuals seeing the world as
to retain certain infantile or childish unpredictable and threatening
habits – FIXATION development.
FREUDIAN CHARACTEROLOGY -
• This does not mean that people who
“EXTREMES LEAD TO EXTREMES”
successfully resolve the crisis never
Freud's Goal of Therapy: “to make have negative thoughts or distrust
the unconscious conscious” another person

________________________________ • In general, they see the best in

others and have a positive orientation
PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT towards life.
ERIK HOMBURGER ERIKSON (1902 –
________________________________
1994 )
Erikson’s work is based on five • Trust vs Mistrust:
assumptions:
Infancy (Birth to approx. 1.5/2 Years)

1. People, in general have the - The first stage of Erikson’s

same basic needs theory of psychosocial
development occurs between
birth and one year of age and is
 the most fundamental stage in Initiative is characterized by an
life. exploratory and investigative attitude
that results from meeting and
- If a child successfully develops accepting challenges
trust, he or she will feel safe and
secure in the world. - Preschool children encounter a
widening social world, and a lot
- Failure to develop trust will more challenges
result in fear and a belief that the
world is inconsistent and - Children are asked to assume
unpredictable. responsibility for their bodies,
their behaviour, their toys and
• Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt: their pets
Early Childhood (1.5/2 - 3 Years)
- Children make enormous
Securely attached children next face the cognitive leaps, and those
challenge of autonomy, or doing developing abilities provide the
things on their own impetus for exploration in all
areas of their lives
- Child learns to feed and dress
themselves and toilet training - Children who are given the
begins freedom to explore and
experiment with adults who
- The key challenges the child answer their questions tend to
faces during this stage relates to develop initiative
exerting independence
- Those who are restricted and
- Erikson believe that learning to whose initiative is considered to
control one’s body functions be a problem tend to develop a
leads to a feeling of control and sense of guilt about pursuing
a sense of independence. their interests

- Other important events include - Children who are successful at

gaining more control over food this stage feel capable and able
choices, toy preferences, and to lead others. Those who fail to
clothing selection. acquire these skills are left with a
sense of guilt, self-doubt and
- Children who successfully lack of initiative.
complete this stage feel secure
and confident, while those who • Industry vs Inferiority: School Age
do not are left with a sense of (6 - 11 Years)
inadequacy and self-doubt.
Industry is the enjoyment of mastery
• Initiative vs Guilt: Preschool (3 - 5 and competence through success and
Years) recognition of one’s accomplishment(s)
 - This stage covers the early - Those who receive proper
school years from approximately encouragement and
age 5 to 11. reinforcement through personal
exploration will emerge from this
- Through social interactions, stage with a strong sense of
children begin to develop a self and a feeling of
sense of pride in their independence and control.
accomplishments and abilities. Those who remain unsure of
their beliefs and desires will
- Children who are encouraged insecure and confused about
and commended by parents and themselves and the future.
teachers develop a feeling of
competence and belief in their • Intimacy vs Isolation: Young
skills. Those who receive little or Adulthood (19 to 40 Years)
no encouragement from
parents, teachers, or peers will - A person with a firm sense of
doubt their ability to be identity is prepared for intimacy,
successful. or giving the self over to
another
• Identity vs Confusion: Adolescence
12 – 18 Years - This stage covers the period of
early adulthood when people
In the adolescent years, youths develop are faced with the developmental
a desire for independence from task of forming intimate
parents, achieve physical maturity and relationships
are concerned with the question of
“Who am I?” - Giving for the sake of giving,
without expecting something
- Adolescents experience major in return characterizes a positive
physical, intellectual and resolution of the crisis at this
emotional changes. Many go stage
through growth spurts and their
coordination often doesn’t keep - Erikson believed it was vital that
up with their bodies people develop close,
committed relationships with
- Adolescents experience new other people. Those who are
sexual feelings and are not quite successful at this step will
know how to respond, they are develop relationships that are
frequently confused committed and secure.

- They are caught in the awkward - Remember that each step builds
position of wanting to assert their on skills learned in previous
independence, yet longing for steps. Erikson believed that a
the stability of structure and strong sense of personal
discipline identity was important to
developing intimate relationships.
 Studies have demonstrated that • Identity vs Despair: Old Age (65 to
those with a poor sense of self death)
tend to have less committed
relationships and are more likely People who accept themselves,
to suffer emotional isolation, conclude that they only have one life to
loneliness, and depression. live, live it as well as possible and
have few regrets are seen as having
• Generativity vs Stagnation: Middle integrity
Adulthood (40 – 65 Years)
- This phase occurs during old age
The key characteristics of generativity and is focused on reflecting
are creativity, productivity and back on life.
concern for and commitment to guiding
the next generation. - Those who are unsuccessful
during this phase will feel that
- During adulthood, we continue to their life has been wasted and
build our lives, focusing on our will experience many regrets.
career and family. The individual will be left with
feelings of bitterness and
- Generative adults try to despair.
contribute to the betterment of
society by working for principles - Those who feel proud of their
such as a clean physical accomplishments will feel a
environment, a safe and drug- sense of integrity. Successfully
free social world and completing this phase means
adherence to the principles of looking back with few regrets
freedom and dignity for and a general feeling of
individuals satisfaction.

- Those who are successful during - These individuals will attain

this phase will feel that they are wisdom, even when confronting
contributing to the world by death. They accept
being active in their home and responsibility for the way they
community. Those who fail to have lived and accept the
attain this skill will feel finality of death
unproductive and uninvolved
in the world. They are
characterized by apathy,
pseudointimacy, or self
absorption.
The Self, Society, and Culture
THE CONCEPT OF SELF (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
one another.
- because in itself it can
exist.
 Self-contained - own thoughts,
characteristics, and volition.
- does not
require any other self for it to exist.
 Consistent - it has a personality that
is enduring and therefore can be
expected to persist for quite some
time.
 - Its consistency, therefore, ________________________________
allows it to be studied, described, and Social Constructivists argue that:
measured. • The self should not be seen as a
- a particular self’s traits, static entity that stays constant
characteristics, tendencies, and through and through.
potentialities are more or less the • Rather, the self has to be seen as
same. something that is in unceasing flux, in
 Unitary - it is the center of all constant struggle with external
experiences and thoughts that run reality, and is malleable in its
through a certain person. dealings with society.
- It is like the chief command post • “that the self is truly multifaceted”
in an individual where all processes, ________________________________
emotions, and thoughts converge.
The self is capable of morphing and
 Private - each person sorts out
fitting itself into any circumstance it
information, feelings and
finds itself in.
emotions, and thought processes
________________________________
within the self.
- this whole process is never The Self and Culture
accessible to anyone but the • Remaining the same person and

self. turning chameleon by adopting to one’s

________________________________ context seems paradoxical.

 Marcel Mauss - the French
Social Constructionist perspective
anthropologist Marcel Mauss has an
“Social constructionists argue for a explanation for
merged view of “the person” and this
their social context where the
boundaries of one cannot easily be
separated from the boundaries of
the other” (Stevens 1996, p. 222)
 phenomenon (turning chameleon just simply crosses whenever and
and be the same person) wherever.
• When the same Filipino visits another
country with strict traffic rules, say
Singapore, you will notice how suddenly
law-abiding the said Filipino becomes.
• This observation has been anecdotally
confirmed by a lot of Filipinos.
A man courting a girl.
Moi
• The same malleability can be seen in
• refers to a person’s sense of who he
how some men easily transform into
is, his body, and his basic identity;
sweet, docile guys when trying to woo
• his biological givenness.
and court a particular woman and
• is a person’s basic identity.
suddenly change after hearing a sweet
Personne
“yes”.  
• composed of the social concepts of
________________________________
what it means to be who he is.
Language is another interesting aspect
• has much to do with what it means to
of this social constructivism.
live in a particular institution, a
- The way by which we articulate
particular family, a particular religion,
our love is denoted by the phrase
a particular nationality, and how to
“Mahal kita”.
behave given the expectations and
The Filipino brand of this articulation of
influences from others.
love, unlike the English version, does
________________________________
not specify the subject and the object
A Filipino OFW adjusting to a life in
of love.
another country.
• Unlike its English version, there is no
In the philippines,
specification of who loves and who is
• Many people unabashedly violate
loved.
jaywalking rules.
• There is simply a word for love, mahal,
• A common Filipino treats road, even
and the pronound kita which is a 2nd
national ones, as basically his and so he
person pronoun that refers to the • In these varied examples, we have
speaker and the one being talked to. seen how language has something to
do with culture.
• In the Filipino language, unlike in
• If one finds himself born and reared in
English, there is not distinction a particular culture, one definitely tries
between the lover and the beloved. to fit in a particular mold. If a self is
born into a particular society or culture,
They are one.
the self will have to adjust according
• the word, mahal. In Filipino, the word to its exposure
can mean borth “love” and ___________________________________
“expensive”.
THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT
• In our language, love is intimately OF THE SOCIAL WORLD
bound with value, with being • Recent studies, however, indicate that
men and women in their growth and
expensive and being precious.
development engage actively in the
Something expensive is valuable. shaping of the self.
Someone we love is valuable to us. • the unending terrain of
metamorphosis of the self is mediated
• The Sanskrit origin of the word love is
by language.
“Lubh” which means desire. • “Language as both a publicly shared
Technically, love is a desire. and privately utilized symbol system
• The Filipino word for it has another is the site where the individual and the
social make and remake each other”
intonation apart from mere desire, (Schwartz, White, and Lutz 1993, p. 83))
which is valuable. ________________________________
________________________________
For Mead and Vygotsky,
Another interesting facet of our • human persons develop with the use
language is its being gender-neutral. of language acquisition and
• In English, Spanish, and other interaction with others.
languages, there is a clear distinction • Both Vygotsky and Mead treat the
between a third person male and third human mind as something that is
person female pronoun. He and she. made, constituted through language as
El and Ella. experienced in the external world and
as encountered in dialogues with
• In Filipino, it is plain “siya”. There is
others.
no specification of gender.
• A young child internalizes values,
• Our language does not specify norms, practices, and social beliefs and
between male and female. We both mores through exposure to these
call it “siya”
dialogues that will eventually become • Notice how children can easily
part of his individual world.  adopt ways of cartoon characters
• A child conceptualizes his notion of they are exposed to? Dora, for
“self” though this. example
• Notice how little children are fond of • Children learn the culture of their
playing role play with their toys? community (ways of thinking and
• Notice how they make scripts and behaving) through these interactions.
dialogues for their toys as they play
For example:
with them?
• According to Mead, it is through this • young Indian girls of southern Mexico
that a child delineates the “I” from the learn complicated ways of weaving cloth
rest. through informal instruction by adults in
Mead explained about the “I” and their communities
“Me”. • Chinese children learned to use
 Me = societies opinion of things chopsticks through the guidance of their
 I = my response to societies opinion parents. 
For example:
 Me = everyone should go to Self in Families
college and get a degree • the kind of family that we are born in
• I = is going to college and the resources available to us
really necessary? I can (human, spiritual, economic) will
be successful and certainly affect us and the kind of
make plenty of money development that we will have as we
without doing so. go through life.
• Me = Drugs are bad • As a matter of evolutionary fact,
• I = Yolo drugs all day human persons are one of those
everyday…  beings whose importance of family
________________________________ cannot be denied.
Vygotsky
• Human beings are born virtually
• for his part believes a child helpless and the dependency period
internalizes real-life dialogues that he of a human baby to its parents for
has had with others, with his family, his nurturing is relatively longer than most
primary caregiver, or his playmates. other animals.
• They apply this to their mental and • Learning, therefore, is critical in our
practical problems along with the capacity to actualize our potential of
social and cultural infusions brought becoming humans.
about by the said dialogues.
• In trying to achieve the goal of
• Notice how children eventually becoming a fully realized human, a child
become what they watch? enters a system of relationships, most
important of which is the family.
• It is what a family initiates a person to • Oftentimes, society forces a
become that serves as the basis for particular identity unto us depending
this person’s progress.
on our sex and/or gender.
• Babies internalize ways and styles
that they view from their family. In the Philippines,
• Husbands for the most part are
• For example, by imitating the
language of their primary agents of expected to provide for the family.
rearing, their family, babies learn • The eldest man in a family is expected
language. The same is true for ways of
behaving. to head the family and hold it in.

• Respectful environment = respectful

kid  Women

• Table manners or ways of speaking • Nancy Chodorow, feminist, argues

to elders are things that are possible to that because mothers take the role of
teach and therefore, are consciously
taking care of children, there is a
learned by kids.
tendency for girls to imitate the same
• Some behaviors and attitudes, on
the other hand, may be indirectly and reproduce the same kind of
taught through rewards and mentality as women as care providers
punishments.
in the family.
• Others such as sexual behavior or • The way that little girls are given
how to confront emotions are learned
to subtle means, like the tone of the dolls instead of dolls, encouraged to
voice or intonation of the models. play with makeshift kitchen also
• Without a family, biologically and reinforces notion of what roles they
sociologically, a person may not even
should take and the selves they should
survive or become a human person.
  develop.

________________________________ • In boarding schools for girls, young

women are encouraged to act like fine
GENDER AND THE SELF
ladies, are trained to behave in a
• Gender is one of those of the self that
fashion that befits their status as
is subject to alteration, change, and
women in society. 
development.
 Even very young children are quite
• Our gender partly determines how we
knowledgeable about gender role
see ourselves in the world.
 stereotypes and tend to play in
gender-segregated groups.

Men
• 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 to also
assert their manliness in the society.
• Circumcision plays another social
role by initiating young boys into
manhood.
Cross-cultural comparison of gender
roles
 The roles assumed by men and
women may vary dramatically from
culture to culture.