Osias Colleges, Inc.

F. Tañedo St., San Nicolas, Tarlac City

(045)982 -02-45, e-mail: osiastrc@pldtsl.net
http:/www.osiascolleges.edu.ph

SUBJECT: GEN. ED. 1 (UNDERSTANDING THE SELF)

TOPIC: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES
MODULE: 2
OBJECTIVES:
After reaching the lesson and doing the activity sheets, the students are expected to:

 Discuss the different representations and conceptualization of the self from various
disciplinal perspectives.
 Examine the different influences, factors and forces that shape the self.

 Identify the different philosophers and their contributions in your quest of understanding
yourself.

LESSON PROPER:

I – READ
THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence own
powers you cannot be successful or happy.”
By: Norman Vincent Peale

How will do you know yourself? Are you aware of your talents? Skills? Weakness?
Strengths?

“Who am I?” is rooted in the human need to understand the basis of the experiences of the
self”. When people are asked to explain their understanding of the word, the usual answers are: “It’s
who I am.” It’s me, my essence.” “It’s what makes me unique and different from everyone else.”

Sociology sees the “SELF” as a product of social interactions, developed overtime through
social activities and experiences.
Anthropology views the “SELF” as culturally shaped construct or idea. Anthropologists assert
that it is an autonomous participant in the society as much as it is submerged in the community.
Psychology sees the “SELF” as having characteristics or properties that can be used to describe it.
Pioneers in the study pointed out that the “self” is related to its physical and social environment, it is
unique, and it is necessary to its experience.
Eastern – Western civilizations have always sought to understand the “SELF”. Their views,
however, stand on different perspectives. British philosopher OLAN WATTS talked about the great
“myths” of the Self. The term “myth” here is not used to describe a false story, rather it is used as a
means to interpret a reality.
According to WATTS, the pervading myth in the west is that “the world is an artifact.” This
means there is a clear distinction between the creator and the creation. It indicates that the Western
interpretation of the “SELF” possesses an internal distinction from its external environment that even
though the “self” functions in the world, the “self” is still its own. In the East, the myth is that “The
world is a drama and all things are actors with specific parts to play. There is no distinction between
the creator and the creation as all that exists is immersed in one and the same existence. The “self” in
Eastern traditions is seen through the eyes of a community rather than a detached, single entity.
WATTS further clarified that his statements on the two great myths of the SELF is only a description
of what it is “like” in that civilization, and not a definition of what it “is”.

PHILOSOPHY

SOCRATES - a Greek Philosopher and one of the very few individuals who shaped Western
thoughts. He never wrote anything. Knowledge about SOCRATES is though second – hand
information from the writings of his student PLATO and historian Xenophon.
SOCARTES was known for his method of inquiry in testing an idea. This is called SOCARTIC
METHOD, Whereby, an idea was tested by asking a series of questions to determine underlying
beliefs and the extent of knowledge to guide the person toward better understanding. SOCARTES was
described to have gone about I Athens questioning every views and popular Athenian beliefs. At 70
years old, SOCRATES was sentenced to death by drinking a cup of poison hemlock.
Some of SOCRATES ideas were:
 The soul is immortal
 The care of the soul is the task of philosophy
 Virtue is necessary to attain happiness

Socrates believed that philosophy had a very important role to play in the lives of the people. One
of his most – quoted phrases is, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Self – knowledge or the
examination of one’s life., are very important concerns because only by knowing yourself can you
hope to improve your life. Socrates believed that you as a person should consciously contemplate,
turn you gaze inward, and analyze the true nature and values that are guiding your life. According to
SOCRATES, the state of your inner being (soul/self) determines the quality of your life.

Socrates said existence is of two kinds:

1. The visible, and
2. The invisible

The visible existence changes while the invisible existence remains constant. According to
Socrates, this is the state of human being. The body, which is visible changes; the other part, the kind
that is invisible to human yet sensed and understood by the mind remains constant. In the Socratic
Dialogue, Plato wrote what Socrates said about the body and soul: “When the soul and the body
together nature assigns our body to be a slave and to be ruled and the soul to be ruler and master’.
Socrates said that the body was a reluctant slave, and the soul gets dragged toward what is always
changing. This would leave the soul confused.

Socrates also believed that the goal of life is to be happy. How does one become happy?
According to Socrates, the virtue man is a happy man, and that virtue alone is the one and only
supreme good that will secure his/her happiness. Virtue is defined as moral excellence, and an
individual is considered virtuous if his/her character is made up and justice. According to Socrates,
even death is a trivial matter for the truly virtuous because he/she has realized that the most important
thing in life is the state of his/her soul and the acts taken from taking care of the soul through self –
knowledge.

PLATO

Plato is a student of Socrates. He wrote the Socratic Dialogue where Socrates was the main character
and speaker. Plato’s p[philosophical method was what he identified as “collection and division”. In
this method, the philosopher would “collect” all the generic ideas that seemed to have common
characteristics and then divided them into different kinds until the subdivision of ideas that is best
known for his Theory of Forms that asserted the physical world is not really the “real” world because
the ultimate reality exists beyond the physical world. According to Plato, the “soul” is indeed the most
divine aspect of the human being. The self /soul/mind according to Plato is the aspect of the human
beings by which the Forms (ideas) are known.

Three parts of the soul according to Plato:

1. The appetitive (sensual)
The element that enjoys sensual experiences, such as food, drink, and sex.
2. The rational (reasoning)
The element that forbids the person to enjoy the sensual experiences; the [part that loves truth,
hence, should rule over the other part parts of the soul through the use of reason.
3. The spirited (feeling)
The element that is inclined toward reason but understand the demands of passion; the part
that loves honor and victory.

St. Augustine

Saint Augustine, also called Saint Augustine of Hippo, is one f the Latin Fathers of the church, one of
the Doctors of the Church, and one of the most significant Christian Thinkers. His philosophical
approach to Christian thinking is the most influential theological system. His written works are among
the foundations of the medieval and modern Christian thought.

Saint Augustine was deeply influenced by Plato’s ideas. He adopted Plato’s view that the
“self” is an immaterial (but rational) soul. Theory of Forms a Christian perspective, Augustine
asserted that these forms were concepts existing within the perfect and eternal God where the soul
belonged. Saint Augustine’s concepts of the “self” was an inner, immaterial “I” that had self-
knowledge and self – awareness. He believed that the human being was both a soul and body, and the
body possessed senses, such as imagination, memory, reason, and mind through which the soul
experienced the world.
The aspects of the soul according to Saint Augustine:
 It is able to be aware of itself
 It recognizes itself as a holistic one
 It is aware of its unity

Saint Augustine believed that the human being who both soul and body is meant to tend to higher,
divine, and heavenly matters because of his/her our capacity to ascend and comprehend truths
through the mind. He connected the ascension of the soul with his assertion that everything
related to the physical world belongs to the physical body, and if a person concerns
himself/herself with this physical world then he/she will not be any different from animals. Saint
Augustine pointed out that a person is similar to God as regards to the mind and its ability; that by
ignoring to use his/her mind (or the incorrect use of the mind) he/she would lose his/her
possibility to reach real and lasting happiness.

Rene Descartes

Rene Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He is considered the father of
modern Western Philosophy. Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to emphasize the use of
reason to describe, predict, and understand natural phenomena based on observational and empirical
evidence.

Descartes proposed that doubt was a principal tool of disciplined inquiry. His method was
called hyperbolical/metaphysical doubt, also sometimes referred to as methodological skepticism. It is
a systematic process of being skeptical about the truth of one’s beliefs in order to determine which
beliefs could be ascertained as true.
 Rene Descartes famous line “Cogito ergo sum” translated as I think, therefore I am” became a
fundamental element of Western philosophy as it secured the foundation for knowledge in the face of
radical doubt. He asserted that everything perceived by the senses could not be used as proof of
existence because human senses could be fooled. He added that there was only one thing we could
sure of in his world, and that was everything could be doubted. In turn, by doubting his own
existence, Descartes proved that there is a thinking entity that is doping the act of doubting.

Descartes claims about the “self”:

 It is constant; it is not prone to change; and it is not affected by time.
 Only the immaterial soul remains the same throughout time.
 The immaterial soul is the source of our identity.

He further asserted that this thinking could exist without the body because it is an immaterial
substance. Nevertheless, this immaterial substance(self) possesses a body and is so intimately
bound/joined it that the “self” forms a union with his body. Despite this body – soul union,
Descartes reasoned that the soul is still distinct from the body.

Some distinctions between the soul and body as pointed out by Descartes:
THE SOUL THE BODY
It is a conscious thinking substance that is It is a material substance that changes through
unaffected by time. time

It is known only to itself (only you know your It can be doubted; the public can correct
own mental event and others cannot correct claims about the body
your mental states)

It is not made up of parts. It views the entirely It is made up of physical, quantifiable,

of itself with no hidden or separate divisible parts.
compartments. It is both conscious and aware
at the same time

John Locke

John Locke was a philosopher and physician and was one of the most influential Enlightenment
thinkers. The age of enlightenment od the age of reason was an intellectual and philosophical
movement that dominated the ideas in Europe during the 18th century.

If Descartes describe the “self’ as a thinking thing, Locke expanded his definition of “self” to
include the memories of that thinking thing. Locke believed that the “self” is identified with
consciousness. This is usually interpreted to mean that the “self” consists of memory; that the person
existing now is the same person yesterday because he/she remembers the thoughts, experiences, or
actions of the earlier self.

According to Locke since the person is the same “self” in the passing of time, he/she can be
held accountable for past behaviors. Locked insisted that a person could only be held accountable for
behaviors he/she can remember. Locked believed that punishing someone for behaviors he/she has no
recollection of doings is equivalent to punishing him/her for actions that was never performed. He
asserted that the state of the person who cannot remember his/her behavior is the same as the state of
the person never committed the act, which meant the person was ignorant.

David Hume

David Hume (1711 – 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian during the
age of enlightenment. Rationalism is the theory that reason, rather than experience, is the foundation
of all knowledge. Empiricism is the idea that the origin of all knowledge is sense experience. It
emphasized the role of experience and evidence (especially sensory perception) in forming concepts,
while discounting the notion of innate ideas.
Hume is identified with bundle theory wherein he described the “self” or person (which
Hume assumed to be the “mind”) as a bundle or a collection of different perceptions that are moving
in a very fast and successive manner; therefore, it is in a “perpetual flux”. Hume’s theory began by
denying Descartes’ view of the immaterial soul and of its experiences. Empiricist like Hume believed
that human intellect and experiences are limited; therefore, it is impossible to attribute it to an
independent persisting entity. David Hume concluded that the “self” is merely made up of successive
impressions.

Hume divided the mind’s perceptions into groups stating that the difference between the two
“consists in the degree of force and liveliness with which they strike upon the mind”
1. Impressions – these are the perceptions that are the strongest. They enter the senses with most
force. These are directly experienced; they result from inward and outward sentiments.
2. Ideas – these are the less forcible and less lively counterparts of impressions. These are
mechanisms that copy and reproduce sense data formulated based upon the previously
perceived impressions.

Hume asserted that the notion of the self “self” could not be verified through observation. He
argued that if you can directly know, then what you know are mere objects of what your senses
are experiencing. with this idea, he believed there is no logical justification for the existence of
anything other than what your senses experienced. For Hume, the “self” was nothing but a series
of incoherent impressions received by the senses. This description of experience revealed,
according to Hume, no permanently subsisting self.

Hume compared the “self” to a nation; whereby a nation retains its “being a nation” not by
some single core or identity but by being composed of different, constantly changing elements,
such as people, systems, culture, and beliefs. Hume is not just one impression but a mix and a
loose cohesion of various personal experiences. Hume insisted that there is no one constant
impression that endures throughout your life.

Hume did not believe on the existence of the “self”. He stressed that your perceptions are only
active for as long as you are conscious. According to Hume, should your perception be
“removed” for any time (such as when you are sleeping), and you can no longer sense yourself
then you also cease to exist. Hume seemed to reduce the “self” as a light bulb that may be
switched on or off.

“self” is a passive observer similar to watching one’s life pass before the eyes like a play or
on a screen; whereby the total annihilation of the “self” comes at death.

Immanuel Kant

Philosopher Immanuel Kant is a central figure in modern philosophy. His contributions to

metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics have a profound impact on almost every
philosophical movement that followed him. Among other ideas that Kant proposed was that, the
human mind creates the structure of human experience.

Kant’s view of the “self” is transcendental, which means that the “self” is related to a spiritual or
nonphysical realm. For Kant, the self is not in the body. The self is outside the body, and it does not
have the quantities of the body. Despite being transcendental, Kant stressed that the body and its
qualities to the “self”. He proposed that it is knowledge that bridges the “self” and the material things
together.

Two kinds of consciousness of self (rationality):

 1. Consciousness of oneself and one’s psychological states in inner sense
2. Consciousness of oneself and one’s states by performing acts of appreciation

Apperception – is the mental process by which a person makes sense of an idea by assimilating it to
the body of ideas he or she already possesses

Kant’s point is that what truly exist are your ideas and your knowledge of your ideas: that you
perceive the outside world through the self with your ideas. Kant pointed out that the material world
id not just an extension, and that you are merely seeing objects. He insisted that you perceive the
outside world because there is already residing within you. These ideas are what connect you to the
external world. He defended the diverse quality or state of the body and soul (self) presenting the that
“bodies are objects of outer sense: souls are objects of inner sense”.

The two components of the “self”:

1. Inner self – the “self” by which you are aware of alteration in your own sate. This includes
your rational intellect and your psychological state, such as moods, feelings, and sensations,
pleasure, and pain.
2. Outer self – it includes your senses and the physical world. It is the common boundary
between the external world and the inner world. It gathers information from the external
world through the senses, which the inner self interprets and coherently expresses.

Kant proposed that the “self” organizes information in three ways:

1. Raw perceptual input.
2. Recognizing the concept
3. Reproducing in the imagination

Kant’s “self” has a unified point of self – reference. You are conscious of yourself as the subject,
and you are conscious of yourself as a common subject of different representations. Here Kant
confirms that the impressions you perceive point to one single common fact – the “self” is the subject
of these experiences.

Sigmund Freud

Philosopher, physiologist, and psychologist Sigmund Freud was one of the most influential thinkers
of the 20th century. His most important contribution, particularly in psychology, was psychoanalysis,
is a practice devised to treat those who are mentally ill through dialogue.

The vast majority of Europe philosophers before Freud (from Plato and Aristotle to Kant and
Descartes) regarded human beings as having an “essence” to which the self/soul is ascribe. The “self”
was an entity in itself characterized as the subject (the focal point: the topic and doer of the action) of
the physical and mental actions and experiences. The notion is that the self is essence and subject
points to the idea of an entity that is unified, single, undivided, and unaffected by time.

Freud however, did not accept the existence of any single entity that could be put forward as
the notion of “self”. His work in the field of psychoanalysis was groundbreaking because it answered
questions about the human psyche in a way that no one else had before him. In psychology, the
psyche is the totality of the human mind, both conscious and unconscious.

In his earlier structural division of the psyche, Freud distinguished three levels of consciousness:
1. Conscious – which deals with awareness of present perceptions, feelings, thoughts, memories,
and fantasies at any particular moment;
2. Pre – conscious/subconscious – which is related to data that can readily be brought to
consciousness; and
3. Unconscious – which refer to data retained but not easily available to the individual’s
conscious awareness or scrutiny.
Central to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was the proposed existence of the unconscious as:
1. A repository for traumatic memories; and
2. The source of anxiety – provoking drives that is socially or ethically unacceptable to the
individual.

Psychoanalytic Theory is a personality theory based on the notion that an individual gets motivated by
unseen forces, controlled by the conscious and the rational thought. Sigmund Freud did not exactly
create the notion of the conscious versus unconscious mind, but he certainly was responsible for
making it popular, and this was one of his main contributions to psychology.

Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind.

1. Id – it operates on the pleasure principle. Every wishful impulse should be satisfied

immediately, regardless of the consequences. When the id achieves its demands, you
experience pleasure; when it is denied, you experience “unpleasure” or tension.
2. Ego – it operates according to the reality principle. It works out realistic ways of satisfying
the id’s demands (often compromising or postponing satisfaction to avoid negative
consequences of society). The ego considers social realities and norms, etiquette, and rules in
deciding how to behave. If the ego fails to use the reality principle, anxiety is experienced,
and unconscious defense mechanisms are employed to help ward off unpleasant feelings.
3. Superego- it incorporates the values and morals of society. The superego’s function is to
control the id’s impulses. It persuades the ego to choose, moralistic goals and to strive for
perfection rather than simply realistic ones.

The superego consists of two systems:

1. Conscience – if the ego gives in to the id’s demands, the superego may make the person feel
bad through guilt.
2. Ideal self – it is an imaginary picture of how you ought to be. It represents career aspirations;
how to treat other people; and how to behave as a member of society.

According to Freud’s structure of the mind, the ego and the superego function in different level of
consciousness. There is a constant movement of memories and impulse from one level to another. The
id, on the other hand, is unaffected by reality, logic, or the everyday world as it operates within the
unconscious part of the mind.

Gilbert Ryle

Philosopher and professor, Gilbert Ryle produced a critique on Descartes idea that the mind is distinct
from the body. He wrote the Concept of Mind where he rejected the notion that mental states are
separable from physical states. Ryle called the distinction between mind and matter a “category-
mistake” because od its attempt to analyze the relation between “mend” and “body” as if the two were
terms of the same categories.

Ryle’s points against Descartes theory are:

 The relation between mind and body are not isolated processes
 Mental processes are intelligent acts, and are not distinct from each other
 The operation of the mind is itself an intelligent act.

According to Ryle, the rationalist view that mental acts are distinct from physical acts and that
there is a mental world distinct from the physical world is a misconception. Ryle describe this
distinction between mind and body as “the dogma o the ghost in the machine” where he explained
there is no hidden entity or ghost called “soul” (also understood s mind or self) inside a machine
called “body”.
 Ryle criticized the theory that the mind is a place where mental image is apprehended, perceived,
or remembered. He asserted that sensations, thoughts, and feelings do not belong to a mental
world separate from the physical; world. Knowledge, memory, imagination, and any other
abilities or dispositions do not reside “within” the mind as if the mind were a space in which these
could be stored or located.
If Ryle believed that the concept of a distinct “self” is not real, where do we get our sense of self?
Ryle asserted that it is from our behaviors and actions.

Paul Churchland

Philosopher and professor Paul Churchland are known for his studies in neuro philosophy and the
philosophy of mind. His philosophy stands on a materialistic view or the belief that nothing but matter
exists. In other words, if something can b seen, felt, heard, touched, or tasted, them it exists. There is
nothing beyond the sensory experience.

Thus, in Churchland’s view the immaterial, unchanging soul/self does not exist because it
cannot be experienced by the senses.

Churchland insisted that the idea of a mind or soul is not in consonance with the physical
changes that have occurred in the hereditary characteristics of the human species over successive
generations. Churchland’s idea is called eliminative materialism or the claim that people’s common -
sense understanding of the mind (or folk psychology) is false, and that certain classes of mental states
which most people believe in do not exist.

To prove his point, Churchland pointed out that in mental conditions. Such as depression, it is
technically wrong to say the person is “out of his mind” because neuroscientists have found that brain
activity, and even brain shape, appears to be associated with severe mood disorders. He pointed out
that if the mind were a separate entity, the victim should have retained his/her personality despite the
damage to the brain. Thus, Churchland asserted the sense of “self” originated from the brain itself,
and that this “self” is a product of electrochemical signals produced by the brain.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a philosopher and author. Emphasizing the body as the primary site of
knowing the world, Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s idea of “self” is an embodied subjectivity. The term
“embodied” is a verb that means t0 give a body to (usually an immaterial substance like a soul).
Subjectivity, in philosophy, is the state of bring a subject – an entity that possesses conscious
experiences, such as perspective, feelings, beliefs, and desires. A subject act upon or affects some
other entity, which in philosophy is called the object. A subject, therefore, is something that exists,
can take action, and can cause real effect (on an object).

Merleau-Ponty rejected the Cartesian mind-body dualism and insisted that the mind and body are
intrinsically connected. By emphasizing the primacy of the body in an experience, he also veered
away from the established notion that that the center of consciousness is the mind.

He asserted that human beings are embodied subjectivities, and that the understanding of the “self”
should begin from this fundamental fact. H added that the body is not a mere” house” where the mind
resides. Rather it is through the lives experience of the body that you perceive; informed; and interact
with the world.

Merleau-Ponty argued that the body is part of the mind, and the mind is part of the body; that
although there could be stand-alone mental faculty that perceives what the senses experience, it needs
the body to receive these experiences, act on its perceptions and communicate with the external world.
According to Merleau-Ponty, the body acts what the mind perceives as unified one,
II – REFLECT

After reading the above topic, Plato said that “Good actions give to ourselves and inspire
good actions in others.” How will explain this?

III -RESPOND

Accomplish the activity sheets provided for this lesson.

Osias Colleges, Inc.

F. Tañedo St., San Nicolas, Tarlac City
(045)982 -02-45, e-mail: osiastrc@pldtsl.net
http:/www.osiascolleges.edu.ph
1. If you are asks to represents yourself, how will you go about it?

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2. What are the different influences, factors and forces that shape yourself? Discuss.

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3. Identify the different philosophers and their contributions in your quest for
understanding yourself?

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