CHAPTER 1

Lesson 1: The Self in Philosophical View

1) Socrates
 He was the first philosopher who ever engaged in a systematic questioning about the self.
 For Socrates, every man is dualistic. Dualistic in a sense that every man is composed of body and
soul.
Body – Imperfect and impermanent
Soul – Perfect and permanent

2) Plato
 Plato was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician and a student of Socrates.
 As a student, he followed his master and supported the idea that every man is dualistic because they
are composed of body and soul.
 Not only Plato agreed but he also added that there are three (3) components of the soul.
o The Rational Soul - Governs our intellect and reasoning.
o The Spirited Soul - In charge of emotions.
o The Appetitive Soul - In charge of basic desires like eating, drinking, sleeping and having sex
are controlled as well.

3) Augustine
 Augustine’s view of the self reflects the entirely to one’s spirituality.
 He followed Plato’s view and infused it with the doctrine of Christianity.
o Body – Imperfect and impermanent because the body is bound to die on earth.
o Soul – Perfect and permanent because it desires to be with God.

4) Thomas Aquinas
 Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two parts:
o Matter – common stuff that makes up everything in the universe.
o Form – essence of a substance or a thing.

5) Rene Descartes
 Rene Descartes was the Father of Modern Philosophy.
 He viewed the human person as having a body and a mind.
o Body (extenza)
o Mind (cogito)
 In Descarte’s view, the body is nothing else but a machine that is attached to the mind.

6) Gilbert Ryle
 Through this work, Ryle is thought to have accomplished major tasks. Gilbert Ryle solves the mind-
body dichotomy that has been running for a long time in the history of Philosophy.
 For him, what really matter is the behavior that a person shows in his everyday living.
 Lesson 2: The Self, Society and Culture

1) What is the Self?

Commonly defined by the following characteristic:
• Separate – it is meant that the self is distinct from other selves. The self is always unique and has its own
identity.
• Self-contained – its distinctness allows it to be self-contained with its own thoughts, characteristics and
volition.
• Independent – the self can exist without the other selves.
• Consistent – the self has its own personality that is enduring and therefore can be expected to persist for quite
some time.
• Private – each self sorts out information, feelings, and emotions and thought processes within the self, this
whole process is never accessible to anyone but the self.

2) Marcel Mauss
According to Mauss, every Self has two faces:
*PERSONNE – composed of the social concepts of what it means to be who he is
*MOI – person’s basic identity

3) The Self and the Development of the Social World

Answers the question:
“How human beings develop in their social world?”
 Simply we interact with other people, we engage actively in order to shape ourselves.

4) Mead and Vygotsky

 The way the human persons develop is with the use of language acquisition and interaction with
others.

5) Self in Families
 The kind of family that we are born in, the resources available to us (physical, spiritual, economic),
and the kind of development that we will have certainly affect us as we go through life.
 Without a family, biological and sociological, a person may not even survive or become a human
person.

6) Gender and the Self

 Another important aspect of the self
 Our gender partly determines how we see ourselves in the world
 Gender has to be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by culture and the society
 Lesson 3: The Self as a Cognitive Construct

1) William James
 One of the earliest psychologists to study the self
 Conceptualized the self as having two concepts: “I” and “Me”
 For him
o “I” is the thinking, acting and feeling self
o “Me” is the physical characteristics as well as capabilities that makes who you are

2) Carl Rogers
 Also used the terms “I” and “Me” in his theory of personality
 For him,
o “I” is the one who acts and decides
o “Me” is what you think or feel about yourself as an object

3) Concept of self-schema
 Our organized system or collection of knowledge about who we are
 May also include your interests, work, course, age, name, and physical characteristics

4) Sigmund Freud
 Saw the self, its mental processes, and one’s behavior as the interaction between the id, ego and
superego
o Id – pleasure principle
o Ego – reality principle
o Superego – moral principle

5) Identity and Self-concept

 Identity – composed of personal characteristics, social roles, and responsibilities, as well as
affiliations that define who one is
 Self-concept – is what basically comes to your mind when you are asked about who you are

6) G. H. Mead
 Argued that self is created and developed through human interaction
 3 reason why self and identity are social products:
o Society helped in creating the foundation of who we are
o We need other’s affirmation and reinforcement in who we think we are
o What we think is important to us may also have been influenced by what is important
in our social or historical context

7) Social comparison
 According to the social comparison theory, we learn about ourselves, the
appropriateness of our behaviors, as well as our social status by comparing aspects of ourselves with
other people
o The Downward Social Comparison
-we create a positive self-concept by comparing ourselves with those are worse off
than us
o The Upward Social Comparison
-comparing ourselves with those who are better off than us
 Lesson 4: The Self in Western and Eastern Thoughts

1) East

 Confucianism
- Confucianism can be seen as a code of ethical conduct of how one should properly act according to
their relationship with other people; thus, it is also focused on having a harmonious social life.
 Taoism
- Taoism rejects the hierarchy and strictness brought Confucianism and would prefer a simple lifestyle
and its teachings thus aims to describe how to attain that life.
 Buddhism
- the self is seen as an illusion, born out if ignorance, of trying to hold and control things, or human-
centered needs; thus, the self is also the source of all these sufferings. It is therefore, our quest to
forget the cravings of the self, break the attachments and attain the state of nirvana.

2) West
 By valuing the individual, Westeners may seem to have loose associations or even loyalty to their
groups.
 Competition is the name of the game and they are more likely straightforward and forceful in their
communication as well as decision-making.
 Westeners also emphasize more on the value of equality even if they see that the individual can rise
above everything.

Eastern Culture Western Culture

 Asian Countries  Europe and North America

 Collectivistic Culture  Individualistic Culture
 Thrives on virtue  Focus is on their self
 Main principle: Unity  Main principle: Self-dedication