Philosophical Perspectives of the self ANCIENT GREEK OF PHILOSOPHERS

PHILOSOPHY - Finding answers to serious SOCRATES

questions about ourselves and about the world  “KNOW THYSELF”
we live in:  Philosophers agree that self-knowledge is a
 What is morally right and wrong? And pre-requisite to a happy and meaningful
why? life
 “An unexamined life is NOT worth living”
 What is a good life?
 Every human is dualistic
 Does God exist?
 BODY (imperfect and impermanent) and
 What is the mind?
SOUL (perfect and permanent)
 Questioning existing knowledge and
 PHYSICAL REALMS - Changeable, transient
intuitions to get closer to the truth
and imperfect
What will we get out of Philosophy?  IDEAL REALMS - Unchanging, eternal and
immortal
 Critical Thinking
 Argument Skills PLATO
 Communication
 A student of Socrates
 Reasoning  self can be explained as a process of self-
 Analysis
knowledge and purification of the soul
 Problem Solving
 believed in the existence of the mind and
Which will allow you to: soul
 Mind and soul are given in perfection with
 Justify your opinions God
 Spot a bad argument, no matter what  Soul has 3 parts:
the topic  RATIONAL SOUL - Reason and
 Explain to the people why they are intellect
wrong and you are right  SPIRITED SOUL - Emotion and
 Philosophy basically teaches how to passion
think!  APPETITIVE SOUL - Basic needs
Pythagoras - The first person to use the term  These 3 elements of our selves are in a
Philosophy dynamic relationship with one another,
sometimes in conflict.
Philosophy means “Love of Wisdom”  When conflict occurs, Plato believes that it
is the responsibility of our Reason to sort
 PHILO - Greek word for love
things out and exert control, restoring a
 SOPHIA - Greek word for Wisdom
harmonious relationship among the three
ORIGIN OF PHILOSOPHY + LOGIC elements of our selves.
 Plato believes that genuine happiness can
 Search for truth only be achieve by the people who
 Search is to look for something consistently make sure that their Reason is
 Search for a meaning in control of their Spirits and Appetites
 Importance
 Significance
 Value
 Relevance
ARISTOTLE
Philosophy and the Self
  “The soul is the essence of the self”  Cogito - The thing that thinks
 A student of Plato  mind
 The body and soul are not two separate  Extenza - The extension, The
elements but are one thing. body
 The soul is simply the Form of the body, and
is not capable of existing without the body JOHN LOCKE
 The soul is that which makes a person a  “The self is consciousness”
person. The soul is the essence of the self  The human mind at birth is tabula rasa or
 Aristotle suggests that the rational nature of blank slate
the self is to lead a good, flourishing and  He felt that the self is constructed primarily
fulfilling life from sense of experiences
 Without the body, the soul cannot exist. The  THE SELF IS CONCIOUSNESS
soul dies along with the body  CONCIOUSNESS - Necessary to have a
 suggested that anything with life has soul coherent personal identity or knowledge of
 KINDS OF SOULS the self as a person - What makes possible
 VEGETATIVE - Includes the our belief that we are the same identity in
physical body that can grow different situations
 SENTIENT - sensual desires,
feelings and emotions DAVID HUME
 RATIONAL - what makes man  “There is no self”
human. It includes the intellect  Self is simply a bundle or collection of
that makes man know and different perceptions, which succeed each
understand other with an inconceivable rapidly and are
ST. AUGUSTINE in a perpetual flux and movement
 The idea of personal identity is a result of
 “I AM DOUBTING, THEREFORE I AM” imagination
 Integrated the ideas of Plato and Christianity
 The self is known only through knowing God IMMANUEL KANT
 Believed Humankind is created in the image and  “We Construct the self”
likeness of God  Self is not just what gives one his
 The soul is united with the body so that man personality but also the seat of knowledge
may be entire and complete acquisition for all human person
 Self-knowledge is a consequence of knowledge  The self, constructs its own reality a world
of God that is familiar and predictable
 “Knowledge can only come by seeing the truth  Through our rationality, the self transcends
that dwells within us” (The truth of which St. sense experience
Augustine spoke refers to the truth of knowing
God.) GILBERT RYLE
 “The self is the way people behave”
RENE DESCARTES
 Self is not an entity one can locate and
 Se Cogito ergo sum - “I think therefore I
analyze but simply the convenient name
am”
that people use to refer to all the behaviors
 The act of thinking about self – of being
that people make
conscious – is in itself proof that there is
 “I act therefore I am”, in short, the self is
self.
the same as bodily behavior
 Descartes’ two (2) distinct entities:
PAUL CHURCHLAND  The self is the human capacity to be
reflective and take the role of others
 “The self is the Brain”  the self is reflective and reflexive
 self is inseparable from the brain and the  Stages in Mead’s Theory on the
physiology of the body Development of the Self
 All we have is the brain and so, if the brain  Preparatory Stage: Children
is gone, there is no self mimic/imitate others
 The physical brain and not the imaginary
 Play Stage: Children pretend to
mind, gives us our sense of self
play the role of a particular or a
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY significant other. Particular or
significant other are the
 The mind-body bifurcation that has been
going on for a long time is a futile endeavor perspectives and particular role
and an invalid problem that a child learns and
 All knowledge of ourselves and the world is internalizes
based on subjective experience  Game Stage: Children play
 The self can never be truly objectified or organized games and take on
known in a completely objective sort of way the perspective of the
 The self is embodied subjectivity generalized other

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE GENERALIZED OTHER: The

SELF perspectives and expectations of a
network of others (or a society in
“MONKEY EXPERIMENT” general) that a child learns and then
“Cultural Acquisition of a specific learned takes into account when shaping
response among rhesus monkey” his/her own behavior

- An experiment conducted by G.R DUAL NATURE OF THE SELF: The

Stephenson in 1967 belief that we experience the self as
both subject and object, the “Ï” and
GEORGE MEAD (SOCIAL SELF)
“me”
 “The self is born of society. The self is
inseparable from society and bound up with
communication. It builds on social CHARLES COOLEY (THE LOOKING-GLASS SELF)
experience. This is largely a matter of taking
the role of the other with increasing  “One’s sense of self depends on seeing
sophistications, broadening out from one’s self reflected in interactions with
significant others to greater complexity”. others”
 SOCIAL SELF  was George Mead’s colleagues
 created through social  The looking-glass self refers to the notion
interaction that the self develops through our
perception of others’ evaluation and
 process started in childhood,
appraisal of us.
with children beginning to
 The looking-glass self - image people have
develop a sense of self at about of themselves is based on how they believe
the same time that they began others perceive them
to learn language
ERVING GOFFMAN (CONSTRUCTING PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF
SITUATIONS & DRAMA)
THE SELF
 “People routinely behave like actors on a
WILLIAM JAMES (CONCEPT OF THE SELF)
stage. Everyday social life become
theatrical. There are roles, scripts and Self as having two (2) aspects:
actions. Daily life as a series of stagecraft
rules.”  “I-self”
 Believed that meaning is constructed  Refers to the self that knows
though interaction who he or she is
 ‘Interaction order’- What we do in the  Thinking, acting and feeling self
immediate presence of others  Reflects the soul of a person or
 DRAMATURGY - Focuses on how individuals what is now thought of as the
take on roles and act them out to present a mind and is called the pure ego
favorable impression to their “audience”  “Me-self”
 Goffman argues that people are concerned  The empirical self
with controlling how others view them, a  Refers to describing the
process he called impression management. person’s personal experiences
 William Shakespeare - “All the world is a and further divided into sub-
stage, and all the men and women merely categories:
players: they have their exits and their  Material Self
entrances; and one man in his Time plays  Social Self
many parts.”  Spiritual Self
 THE SELF IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION  “A man’s self is the sum total of all that he
 FRONTSTAGE - People play can call his, not only his body and psychic
different roles throughout their powers, but his clothes and his house”
daily lives and display different DAVID LESTER (MULTIPLE VS UNIFIED SELF)
kinds of behavior depending on
where they are and the time of  The construction of multiples selves varies
day across different roles and relationships
 BACKSTAGE - When people  Coping with different selves constitutes a
engage in backstage behavior, formidable task among adolescents
they are free of the  These challenges contribute heavily to the
expectations and norms that young person’s struggle for a unified self
dictate front stage behavior
DONALD WINNICOTT (TRUE VS FALSE SELF)
 Each definition of a situation lends itself to a
different approach, and the consequences  The purpose of the false self is to hide the
are real. true self
 The Self is a Social Construction dependent  People tend to display a false self to impress
of the situation. others
CARL ROGERS (SELF THEORY)  REPRESION - Pushing threatening situations
out of conscious memory
 Believed in the goodness of people  RATIONALIZATION - Making up acceptable
 Emphasized the importance of free will and excuses for unacceptable behavior
psychological growth  PROJECTION - Placing one’s own
 SELF-CONCEPT - Refers to the image of unacceptable thoughts onto others.
oneself - Defined the self as a flexible and  REACTION FORMATION - Condemns
changing perception of personal identity - something that has an unconscious appeal
Self develops from interactions with  DISPLACEMENT - Transfer of emotions or
significant people and self-awareness behaviors to another less threatening
 SELF-IMAGE  REGRESSION - Falling back on childlike
 IDEAL SELF patterns as a way of coping with stressful
 SELF-ESTEEM situations
SIGMUND FREUD (THE IMPORTANCE OF  IDENTIFICATION - Trying to become like
UNCONSCIOUS) someone else to deal with one’s anxiety
 COMPENSATION (SUBSTITUTION) - Trying
Three Structures of Personality to make up for areas in which a lack is
 ID - pleasure-seeking, immature, impulsive, perceived by becoming superior in some
child-like and cannot delay gratification area
 EGO - “I”, works on the reality principle,  SUBLIMATION - Turning socially
controls the id and can delay pleasure unacceptable urges into socially acceptable
 SUPEREGO - the “conscience” and “moral behavior
judge” of conduct ALBERT BANDURA (SELF AS PROACTIVE AND
AGENTIC)
 Views people as agents of experience not
just reactive
 Suggests that humans have the ability to act
and make things happen
 4 Agentic Perspective
 INTENTIONALLY – enables to
behave with purpose
 FORETHOUGHT – allows to
anticipate outcomes
 SELF-REACTIVENESS – we can
be motivated to regulate our
actions
 SELF-REFLECTIVENESS – we can
reflect our thoughts and
behaviors and make the needed
modification
 Emphasized the importance of social
learning or learning through observations
PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFENSE MECHANISM
 His theory emphasized the role of conscious
 DENIAL - Refusal to recognize a threatening thoughts including self-efficacy, or our own
situation beliefs in our abilities
 WESTERN VS EASTERN PERSPECTIVE
WESTERN THOUGHTS
Conducted scientific investigations in the effort
to understand the self and have developed
theories and difference among them
- They emphasized the importance of
scientific methods of investigation to
 ATTENTION - In order to learn, you need to provide satisfactory answers to
be paying attention understanding the self.
 RETENTION - The Ability to store - The emphasis is individualistic rather than
information is also an important part of the relational.
learning process.
 MOTOR REPRODUCTION - Once you have EASTERN THOUGHTS
paid attention to the model and retained Raise questions about the ultimate meaning of
the information, it is time to actually human life
perform the behavior you observed.
 MOTIVATION - Finally, for the observational Developed theories of self as they have
learning to be successful, you have to be investigated what means to be a human being.
motivated to imitate the behavior that has
- the emphasis is relational rather than
been modeled.
individual
CARL JUNG (SELF AS THE CENTRAL ARCHETYPE) - Self is considered not in isolation but in
relation to others, society, and the
Archetypes - are universal, inborn models of universe.
people, behaviors or personalities that play a - Eastern theories are highly practical.
role in influencing human behavior - They offer a variety of techniques for
JUNG’S PERSONALITY ARCHETYPES cultivating a deeper understanding of the
self.
 PERSONA - One’s “public personality” or - They do not utilize the scientific techniques
mask; one’s social roles of investigation
 SHADOW - One’s dark side, parts of
ourselves that we dislike Eastern thoughts aim at transformations in:
 ANIMA - Female archetypes, or “feminine - Consciousness
side” - One’s relationship to other people and the
 ANIMUS - Male archetypes, or “male side” world
 SELF - Central archetypes of personality, - Emotions
represents wholeness - Feelings
DIFFERENT EASTERN THOUGHTS:
BUDDHISM
- Comes from the root word “budh”
meaning awake
- Siddharta Gautama known as Buddha is
the founder of Buddhism.
-
Five (5) parts that compose the individual Self-cultivation could be accomplished by
knowing one’s role in the society and act
- Matter accordingly.
- Sensation
- Perception Moral character is perfected through
- Mental constructs continuously taking every opportunity to
- Consciousness improve oneself in thought and action.
There is no self (or no soul). There is only TAOISM
nothing and all else is an illusion. There is
nothing permanent, but change The self is an extension of the cosmos, not of
social relationships.
“Annica” - Literally means impermanence.
Means that everything in life is always The self is described as one of the limitless
changing, that nothing last forever forms of the Tao.

The ideal is to experience Nirvana, a state of The Tao is commonly regarded as a nature that
transcendence devoid of self- is the foundation of all that exists.

Reference This state of transcendence can be The perfect man has no self and the selfless
achieved through meditation. person leads to a balanced life, in harmony with
both nature and society.
HINDUISM
The religion of an ancient people as the Aryans
“The goal of man is to have knowledge of the
true reality.” - Brahman
Law of karma is the most important doctrine of
Hinduism.
Karma does not end with a body’s death; its
influence may extend through incarnation of
the soul.
Hinduism believes that Atman being an
immortal soul continues to be reincarnated
from lifetime to lifetime until it is freed from
the cycle of rebirth and reach a state of
nirvana or non-birth
CONFUCIANISM
System of thought and behavior originating in
ancient China
THE PHYSICAL SELF
“Do not do into others what you would not
want others to do to you”. - Golden rule
Another important feature in Confucian
thought is the individual’s greatest mission of
attaining self-realization wherein self-
cultivation is instrumental.