THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE

LESSON 1 : PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy is a training guide for your mind, showing how
you think in clear, analytic, and powerful ways.
Studying philosophy in a serious and reflective way will
change you as a person. Learning to think philosophically will inspire you to
be more thoughtful, more open-minded, more attuned to the complexities
and subtleties of life, more willing to think critically about yourself and all of
life’s important issues and less willing to accept superficial interpretations
and simplistic answers. And will help you develop the understanding and
insight you will need to make intelligent choices and fulfill your potential as
an individual.
This is the special power of philosophy: to provide the conceptual tools
required to craft a life inspiring in its challenges and rich in its fulfillment.
Philosophy is not intended to limit your options or dictate your choices. Your
responsibility as a student is to explore, to reflect, to think critically- and then
to create yourself in the image you have envisioned.
PHILOSOPHY OF THE SELF
Philosophy is often called the mother of all disciplines simply because all
fields of study began as philosophical discourses.
What is Philosophy? study of acquiring knowledge through rational
thinking and inquiries that involves in answering questions regarding the
nature and existence of man and the world we live in.
What is Self? It is defined as ³a unified being, essentially connected to
consciousness,
awareness and agency (or, at least, with the faculty of rational choice
PHILOSOPHERS
A. SOCRATES - First martyr of education, knowledge, and philosophy. His
philosophy underlies in the importance of the notion "knowing oneself". A
person's acceptance of ignorance is the beginning of acquisition of
knowledge. But, possession of knowledge is a virtue; ignorance is a depravity
(evil, corruption, wickedness). Knowing ourselves, lies in our own abilities,
and wisdom. Understanding ourselves is through internal questioning or
introspection (understanding our strengths and weaknesses, like vs. Dislike)
His way of teaching called Socratic Method or Socratic conversation
(role of both the teacher and the student is known to the world; asking and
answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and
underlying presumptions). However, he was charged with corruption of
minors and died as a martyr that fought against ignorance and narrow-
mindedness. But for him, men's goal in life is to obtain happiness. It
motivates us to act towards or avoid things that could have negative effects
in our lives. As such, by fully knowing oneself a person will be able to achieve
happiness.
B. PLATO ± He is a student of Socrates that is the reason he followed the
idea of Socrates in
knowing thyself. He was called the Father of academy (a place where
learning and sharing of knowledge happens; Later became one of the pillars
and basis of what schools and education is now in the present). He also
wrote several literatures that tackles politics, human nature and established
the idea of virtue and intelligence.
According to Plato, a person who is a follower of truth and wisdom will
not be tempted by vices and will always be correct/moral/ethical. He
believed in the division of a person's body and soul which forms the person
as a whole aside from the material things and that could be observed and
associated with a person. He believed that the soul is divided into 3 different
parts that has different views, leading to different behaviors
1. Appetitive soul - the part of the person that is driven by desire and need
to satisfy
oneself. This satisfaction involves physical needs, pleasures and desires,
objects, and
situations
2. Spirited soul- courageous part of a person. One who wants to do
something or to right
the wrongs that they observe. This is very competitive and is very active.
Competitiveness
drives one to expect positive results and winning.
3. Rational soul- the drive of our lives. The part that thinks and plan for the
future (the
conscious mind). It decides what to do, when to do it and the possible results
one could
have depending on their actions.
C. ST. AUGUSTINE - A saint and a philosopher of the church. He follows the
idea that God
encompasses us all, that everything will be better if we are with God. He
believed that God and his teachings affects various aspects in life (that
everything is better if we devote ourselves in mending our relationship with
God). His idea of a man and how to understand who we are as a person is
related to our understanding of who we are and how we question ourselves.
He also relates our existence to God being modelled in his likeness though
being alive means that we are still far from god and has yet to be truly with
him. But he rejected the doubtfulness of the academy in which one cannot or
should not accept ideas from others.
St. Augustine emphasized that we may not be able to give our
agreement to everything other people tell us, but we can still agree to those
who we are from our own perception. His believes that teaching the church
and establishing our sense of self with God identifies the essence of our
existence and role in the world (the reason for this is because our bodies are
limited).
D. RENE DESCARTES ± a French philosopher known to be the father of
modern philosophy
because of his radical use of systematic and early scientific method to aid his
ideas and assumptions. He believed in modern dualism or the existence of
body and mind and its importance to on e's existence were presented with
the evidences from experiments as well as philosophical reasoning.
Descartes is known to be the proponent of the "methodical doubt"
(continuous process of questioning) doubting, asking questions are part of
one's existence. He defined the roles of the mind and body to the notion of
one's existence and sense of self.
He is known for the statement "cogito ergo sum" (I think therefore I
am) and according to him, a person is comprised of mind (thinks and
questions what the body has experienced) and body (perceives from the
different senses). The body and its perceptions cannot fully be trusted or can
easily be deceived (for example: there are times that we feel that a dream is
real before actually waking up or having different perception of size based on
an objects distance from the viewer).
Descartes believes that we should focus on the mind in order to
perceive as who we are or the essence of our existence because we cannot
always trust our senses. He explained that the more we think and doubt
what we perceived from our senses and the answer that came from such thin
king or doubting leads to better understanding of ourselves. He also
emphasizes that being in constant doubt regarding one's existence is proof
that a person exists.
E. JOHN LOCKE ± An English philosopher and physician. He is the Father of
Classical Liberation. His works paved the way to several revolutions to fight
the absolute powers of monarchs and rulers of his time that led to the
development of governance, politics, and economic system that we now
know. He works on the self is most represented by the concept "tabula rasa"
(blank slate).
The experiences and perceptions of a person is important in the
establishment of who that person can become. Locke does not disregard the
experiences of the person in the identification and establishment of who we
are as a person. He stated that a person is born with knowing nothing and
that is susceptible to stimulation and accumulation of learning from the
experiences, failures, references, and observations of the person
F. DAVID HUME ± A Scottish philosopher. He focused his work in the field of
empiricism,
skepticism, and naturalism. He explained that the Self is the accumulation of
different impressions and does not exceed the physical realm. For him, there
is no permanent self because impressions of things are based from our
experiences where we can create our ideas and knowledge. Thus, it may
improve or totally be replaced
G. IMMANUEL KANT ± A German philosopher that is known for his works
on empiricism and rationalism. He established that the collection of
impressions and different contents is what it only takes to define a person.
He believes that the awareness of different emotions that we have,
impressions and behavior is only a part of ourselves.
 He emphasizes that a person who fully understand the self has a
certain level of
consciousness or sense that uses our intuition which synthesizes all the
experiences, impressions and perceptions of ourselves will pave the way to
define and know who we are really are. But he argued that the sense called
"transcendental apperception" is an essence of our consciousness that
provides basis for understanding and establishing the notion of self by
synthesizing one's accumulation of experiences, intuition, and imagination
H. SIGMUND FREUD ± An Austrian psychologist and physician. The Father
of psychoanalysis. Freud is well known for his work on human nature and the
unconscious. He believed that man has different constructs of personality. He
conceptualized about the different levels of consciousness that provides an
idea how a person develops a sense of self:
Man has 3 aspects of personality
1. Id- the child aspect of a person; attention is on satisfaction of one's needs
and self gratification. Driven by pleasure principle.
2. Super ego- the conscience of one's personality. Has the inclination to
uphold justice
and do what is morally right and socially acceptable actions. Involved in the
notion of right
or wrong that is imparted to us by our parents or people that took care for us
during
childhood
3. Ego - police or the mediator between id and super ego. Operates within
the boundaries
of reality, primary function is to maintain the impulses of the id to an
acceptable degree.
Introduced the Levels of Consciousness:
1. Conscious- where minority of our memories are being stored and the
memories that
are in the conscious is easier to be to be tapped or accessed
2. Pre-conscious - the middle part of the entirety of our consciousness; the
memories
stored in this area can still be accessed but with a little difficulty
3. Unconscious- this area is where majority of our memories since
childhood are deeply
stored. It is very difficult to tap the memories. It would need a trained
professional and
several special techniques in order to make some memories resurface
He believed that we are a by-product of our experiences in the past
and that are actions are driven by the idea of resisting or avoiding pain, and
are molded from our need for pleasure or being happy
I. GILBERT RYLE ± He used behavioristic approach to self. According to him,
self is the behavior presented by the person. The behavior that we show,
emotions, and actions are the reflection of our mind and as such is the
manifestation of who we are. He does not believe that the mind and body are
two separate entities which is said to be evident in the unexplainable
phenomenon or abilities of the mind where the soul is considered; however,
to some they can co-exist.
He explained that the self is exemplified in his "ghost in the machine"
view (man is a
complex machine with different functioning parts, and the intelligence, and
other characteristic or behavior of man is represented by the ghost in the
said machine. His idea is saying that the things that we do, how we behave
and react and all other components like the way we talk, walk and look is
generally who we are as a person
J. PAUL CHURCHLAND - A Canadian philosopher whose focus is on the idea
that people should improve our association and use of worth in identifying
the self.
The self is defined by the movement of our brain. A constant movement of
the brain can
be the basis of who the person is (emphasized by Churchland and his wife in
the statement "the brain as the self"). He focuses on the philosophy of
"eliminative materialism" and understanding the different neural pathways,
how they work, and what implications are those movement to people is a
measurable classification on one's behavior
K. MAURICE JEAN JACQUES MERLEAU-PONTY ± A French philosopher. He
is known for his works on existentialism and phenomenology. He coined the
idea of phenomenology of perception (unity of the function of the mind and
the body) which is divided into three division. Merleau-Ponty regarded that
the body and mind are not separate entities but rather those two
components is one and the same. His idea of perception follows the idea of
Gestalt psychology (gives importance on the whole rather than the sum of its
parts). The perception guides our action based from our experiences. The
body perceives while our consciousness provides the meaning or interprets
the various perception we have in the world and the self could be established
by the perceptions we have in the world. One's actions, behavior and
language used could be said to be the reflection of our united perception of
the world.
L. THOMAS AQUINAS - The most eminent 13th century scholar and
stalwart of the medieval philosophy, appended something to this Christian
view. He explained that Man is composed of two parts: Matter or hyle in
Greek, refers to the common stuff that makes up everything in the universe
and Form or morphe in Greek refers to the essence of a substance or thing
In the case of human person, the body of the human person is
something that he shares even with animals. The cells in man's body are
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, the soul is what animates the body; it is what
makes us humans.
SUMMARY
The philosophical framework for understanding the self was first introduced
by the ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In particular,
Socrates: “Know Thyself”. But what exactly does “know thyself” mean that is
self and the qualities that define it. The different views of prominent
philosophers regarding the nature of the self are discussed and while there
are disagreements in how philosophers view of the self, most of them agree
that self-knowledge is a prerequisite to a happy and meaningful life.

LESSON 2 SOCIOLOGY
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD
Sociologist from University of Chicago
Symbolic Interactions Perspective
THEORY OF SELF
 Two parts of Self: Self-awareness and Self-image
 Our bodies age biologically, but the self is something that emerges
thorough social
 interaction
 Self is developed as we age, as we grow
 Self develops through interacting with others, through reflecting on
that interaction, to thinking about how others are perceiving you, and
that helps you generate an image of yourself
 Our self is mirrored in the reaction of the other
 Self-image was developed in recognizing how others are perceiving us,
we are
 constantly trying to put ourselves in the shoes of another and think
about how they are seeing this event or situation or this action
transpiring ±this is imitation
 When you have internalized the widespread cultural norms, mores, and
expectations of behaviors ±this is generalized others
 By taking the role of other, we can become self-aware
THE I and ME of The SELF
 “I” what is out there, acting, being spontaneous, doing things in the
world
 “me” an object, the aggregate combined image of yourself that has
been given to you from interacting with society
HENRI de SAINT-SIMON (1760-1825)
 Historic founder of French Socialism
 Origin of many ideas elaborated into Comtism
 His idea of the reconstruction of society were conditioned by the
French Revolution and by feudal and military system
 He insisted on the necessity of new and positive reorganization of
society
 Industrial chiefs should control society
 In medieval church, spiritual direction of society should fall to the men
of science
  Industrial state directed by modern science, in which universal
association should
suppress war
 Men who are successfully able to organize society for productive labor
are entitled to govern it
 The social aim was to produce things useful to life
 Call for “society of science” -influenced his disciple Auguste Comte
HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903)
Synthetic Philosophy - Encompasses realms of physical, psychological,
biological,
sociological, and ethical
Moral Philosophy
Social Statistics
 Human happiness can be achieved only when individuals can satisfy
their needs and desires without infringing on the right of others to do
the same
 In obtaining full satisfaction, one must derive pleasure from seeing
pleasure in others
Principles of Ethics basic law of ethics and morality
Extension of laws in the natural world, and much of his scientific justification
for his moral position
 Moral dictum: Once physical and biological realms are discovered,
humans should obey them and cease trying to construct, through
political legislation, social forms that violate these laws
 Scientific position: The laws of social organization can no more be
violated than can those of the physical universe, and to seek to do so
will create, in the long run, more severe problems
 Humans should be as free from external regulation as possible
“implicitly obey them!´
Social Statistics
 Moral laws and laws of laissez-faire capitalism converge and how they
reflect
 biological laws of unfettered competition and struggle among species
 In the union of many men into one community ±the law of
individuation
 While decrying as destructive, it allows more organized “races” to
conquer the “the less organized “races” to conquer the “less organized
and inferior races” increasing thereby, the level and the complexity of
social organization.
DAVID EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)
 French sociologist, cited as the principal architect of modern social
sciences
 Established academic discipline with Marx and Weber
 How societies could maintain their integrity and coherence in
modernity, an era in which a traditional social and religious tie are no
 longer assumed, and in which new social institutions have come into
being
 Acceptance of sociology as a legitimate science
 Sociology of Knowledge
 How concepts and categories of logical thought could arise out of
social life
Certain aspects of logical thought common to all human did exist, but they
were
products of collective life and that they were not universal a priori since the
content of
categories differed from society to society
Collective representations
 The symbols and images that come to represent the ideas, beliefs, and
values elaborated by a collectivity and are not reducible to individual
constituents
 Created through intense social interaction and are products of
collective activity
 Controlled by society (as a whole) yet simultaneously by virtue of that
participation within the society
 A language product of collective action, language contains within it a
history
 accumulated knowledge and experience that no individual would be
capable of
 creating on their own
 Language ±a social product that structures and shapes our experience
of reality
ALBERT BANDURA (1925) Social Learning Theory
 Theory that attempts to explain socialization and its effect on the
development of the self
 It looks at the individual learning process, the formation of self, and
influence of society in
 socializing individual
 Formation of one’s identity is a learned response to social stimuli.
 An individual’s identity is not the product of the unconscious but
instead a result of modeling oneself in response to the expectations of
others
 Behaviors and attitudes develop in response to reinforcement and
encouragement from people around us
Self-Efficacy
 Peoples belief about their capabilities to produce designated levels of
performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives
 This belief determines how people feel, think, motivate themselves,
and behave
 People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks
as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided
  They set themselves challenging goals and maintain strong
commitment to them despite series of failures
 They attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge and
skills which are acquirable
o Not on their personal deficiencies, on the obstacles they will
encounter, and all
kinds of adverse outcomes
 They approach threatening situations with assurance that they can
exercise control over them
Four Main Sources of Self-Efficacy
1. Mastery Experience
 Successes build a robust belief in ones personal efficacy
 A resilient sense of efficacy requires experience in overcoming
obstacles through perseverant effort
2. Vicarious Experience
 Provided by social models
 Seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises
observers beliefs that they too, possess the capabilities to master
comparable activities required to succeed
 People seek proficient models who possess the competencies to which
they aspire
3. Social Persuasion
 People who are persuaded verbally that they possess the capabilities
to master given activities are likely to mobilize greater effort and
sustain it than if they harbor self-doubts and dwell on personal
deficiencies when problem arises
 People who have persuaded that they lack capabilities tend to avoid
challenging activities that cultivate potentials and give up in the face
of difficulty
4. Psychological Responses
 People rely partly on their somatic and emotional states in judging
their capabilities
 They interpret their stress reactions and tensions as signs of
vulnerability to poor performance
KARL MARX (1818 ±1881)
 Theory of Self-Estrangement or Self-Alienation
 The alienation of man’s essence, man’s loss of objectivity and his loss
of realness as self-discovery, manifestation of his nature, objectification
and realization
 When a person feels alienated from others and society as a whole
 A person may feel alienated by his work by not feeling like he has
meaning to his work, therefore losing their sense of self at the
workplace
MAX WEBER (1864 ±1920)
German sociologist and political economist
Capitalism developed out of a Protestant ethic, a religious calling
 “iron cage” as the religion became peripheral, capitalism decoupled from its
roots and established itself as the dominant force in society
Exercise Self-Help Imagination
 Personality makes little sense in its modern usage
 “an inner devotion to the subject and only to the subject”
 Which raises one “to the height and dignity of the subject”
 You gain personality within a field only by stepping out if your own self
 Teach the subject, not your interpretation of the subject
 Make your students interested in the subject itself, rather than in the
person teaching it
LEWIS MORGAN
 The Leasguge of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois (1851)
 This presented the complexity of Iroquois society in a path-breaking
ethnography that was a model for future anthropologists
 He wanted to provide evidence for monogenesis, the theory that all
human beings descended from a common source
 The structure of the family and social institutions develops and change
according to a specific sequence
Theory of Social Evolution
 Kinship relations as a basic part of society
 Critical link between social progress and technological progress
 Interplay between the evolution of technology of family relations of
property relations of the larger social structure, and systems of
governance and intellectual development
LESSON 3 ANTHROPOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
Anthropology is a relative newcomer to the debate on selfhood. It
emerged as a subject from the imperial ambitions of European states during
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and was initially an effort to identify
the weaknesses and failings of other cultures so that they could be exploited
and subjugated. It was only in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth
centuries that anthropology threw off its intimate links with the national and
religious organisations it had been serving, and began to ask the big
question that has informed its research ever since: ‘ What does it mean to be
human?
Anthropology does express a unique view on the issue of selfhood: the
anthropological approach both starts and finishes with the group. The self
needs to be seen as a socially defined phenomenon, created by both the
impression of the group upon the individual and the expression of the
individual upon the group. Humans have a unique relationship with other
members of their species, both communicatively and socially. Our capacity
for group living and group institutions exceeds that of every other animal on
the planet. Anthropology therefore has an important voice in the discussion
of selfhood.