CHAPTER 1:  Being in constant doubt regarding one’s

existence is a proof that a person actually

PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE ON exists
SELF
JOHN LOCKE – Work on self is best represented
PHILOSOPHY – Greek words “Philos” and by the concept of “Tabula Rasa” (Blank Slate)
“Sophia” means “Love for Wisdom”
 Father of Classical liberalism
 Study of acquiring knowledge through  His works paved the way to fight the
rational thinking absolute powers of monarchs and rulers of
this time that led to the development of
SOCRATES – considered as first martyr of
governance, politics, and economic system
education, knowledge and philosophy.
that we know.
 Charged with corruption of minors DAVID HUME - Focused his work in the field of
 Made to choose between exile and death via empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism.
the intake of hemlock
 Died as a martyr who fought against MIND IS DIVIDED INTO TWO:
ignorance and narrow-mindedness
 Impression –
 His philosophy underlies in the importance  Ideas –
of “Knowing Oneself”
 A person is a bundle of perception “I” will
 man’s goal in life is to obtain happiness as be constantly changing because of the
such by full knowing oneself of a person different experiences.
will be able to achieve happiness.
 Thus, we cannot observe a permanent self.
 Possession of knowledge is a virtue In conclusion, there is NO SELF.
 Ignorance is a depravity  “Self”- The accumulation of different
 “An unexamined life is not worth living impressions.
(Socratic Method/Socratic Conversation)  Focused his work in the field of empiricism,
PLATO – “Psyche” – mind, soul, body skepticism, and naturalism.
 Empiricist – believes in concrete evidences
 Body - we see in a material world and observable experiences that meld a
 Soul – true self person.
o Appetitive Soul – Driven by desires
and need to satisfy oneself IMMANUEL KANT – “Transcendental
o Spirited Soul – Competitive, Apperception” essence of consciousness that
courageous, emotional. Drives one to provides basis for understanding and establishing
expect positive results and winning the notion of self by synthesizing one’s experiences,
o Rational Soul – Thinking, logical. intuition etc.
Driver of our lives  Man is free agent gifted with reason and free
ST. AUGUSTINE – Follows the idea that God will.
encompasses us all, that everything will be better  In refuting hume’s, idea he said that man is
with God. gifted with reason and free will, man can
organize the data gathered by the
 -Ultimate goal is to have connection with experiences.
God.  Known for his works on empiricism and
 We need to establish relationship with God rationalism.
through virtuous.
 Rejected the doubtfulness of the academy in SIGMUND FREUD – an Australian Psychologist
which one should not accept ideas from and Physician, also known as the “Father of
others. Psychoanalysis”

RENE DESCARTES – A French philosopher that  Known for his work on human nature and
believes in modern dualism or the existence of the unconscious.
body, mind and its importance to one’s existence ASPECT OF PERSONALITY
were presented with evidences from experiment as
well as philosophical reasoning.  ID - Also known as the child aspect of a
person.
 Father of Modern Philosophy - Attention is on satisfaction of one’s needs
 Proponent of “Methodical Doubt (Continue and self-gratification.
process of questioning and doubting) - Driven by the pleasure principle.
 “I think therefore I am” (Cogito Ergo Sum)  SUPEREGO – the conscience of one’s
personality.
 - has inclination to uphold justice and do SOCIOLOGY – The study of how human society
what is morally right and socially acceptable is established, its structure and how it works.
actions.
- involved in notion of right or wrong GEORGE HERBERT MEAD - Father of
 EGO – The police or mediator between id American Pragmatism
and superego. Primary function is to  One of the pioneers in the field of Social
maintain the impulses of the ID to an Psychology because of his contributions on
acceptable degree. the development of the person relating to
 Introduced the Level of Consciousness. various factors.
 Conscious – where minority memories are  Rejected the idea of biological
stored and the memories that are easier to be determination of the self which proposes
accessed that an individual already has an established
 Pre-Conscious- middle part of our entirety self from the moment he is born.
and memories stored in this area can still be  For him, the notion of person regards to who
accessed but with a little difficulty. they are develops from one’s social
 Unconscious – where majority of our interaction with other people.
memories since childhood are deeply stored.  Reiterated the process of establishing the
Very difficult to tap the memories in the self is through the construction and
unconscious. reconstruction of the idea of who we are as a
GILBERT RYLE – Behavioristic Approach to Self person during the process of social
experience.
 Self is the behavior presented by the person  “I” – reaction of the individual to the
 “The Ghost in the Machine” attitude of others, as well as the
manifestation of the “individuality” of the
PAUL CHURCHLAND – The self is defined by
person.
the movements of our BRAIN.
- one’s social interactions
 “Eliminative Materialism” – opposes that  “Me” – are the characteristics, behavior and
people’s common sense understanding of actions done by a person that follows the
the mind is false. “generalized others” that person interacts
 He believed that to fully understand one’s with.
behavior, one should understand the
THREE ROLE-PLAYING STAGES OF SELF
different neurological movement of the
DEVELOPMENT
brain.
 “The brains as the self” – movement of the  Preparation/Language Stage – (Birth to 2
brain can be the basis of who the person is years old) – simply imitates the actions and
this emphasize by Churchland and his wife. behaviors of the people that the infant
interacts with.
MAURICE JEAN JACQUES MERLEAU-  Play Stage – (2-6 years old) – children
PONTY – French philosopher who is known for his begin to interact with other with which
works on existentialism and phenomenology. certain rules apply. Rules that are set by the
 His idea of self is that mind and body are not children themselves.
separate entities, but rather those two  Game Stage – (6-9 years old) – the final
components is one and the same. stage of self-development, characterized by
 The body and mind are not separate entities, the ability of the children to recognize the
rather those two components are one and the rules of the game and be able to identify
same. their roles and roles of the others playing
 “Phenomenology of perception” – follows with them.
the idea of gestalt psychology. CHAPTER 3:
 Phenomenology – Unity of the function of
mind & body. ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
PHENOMENOLOGY OF PERCEPTION OF SELF
 The Body – Anthropology – systematic exploration of human
 The Perceived World – biological and cultural diversity.
 The People and the World – Academic Discipline of Anthropology or “four
field” anthropology – studies human species and its
CHAPTER 2:
immediate ancestors includes four main sub
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF disciplines or sub fields- sociocultural,
THE SELF archeological, biological and linguistic
anthropology.
THE SUB-DISCIPLINES OF ANTHROPOLOGY 2. The feelings and emotions they arouse-self
feelings
1. Cultural Anthropology – study of human 3. The actions to which they prompt - self-
society and culture which describes, seeking and self-preservation
analyzes, interprets and explains social and
cultural similarities and differences. It SUB CATEGORIES OF SELF
explores the diversity of the present and the
past. Ethnography and Ethnology are two 1. Material Self – constituted by our body,
different activities which can study and clothes, immediate family and home.
interpret cultural diversity. 2. Social Self – based on our interactions with
 Ethnography – based on the field work society and the reaction of people towards
 Ethnology – based on cross-cultural us. It varies as how we present ourselves to a
comparison particular social group.
2. Archeological Anthropology – 3. Spiritual Self – the most intimate because it
reconstructs, describes and interprets human is more satisfying for the person that they
behavior and cultural patterns through have the ability to argue and discriminate
material remains. one’s moral sensibility and conscience.
3. Biological, or Physical Anthropology – CONCEPTION OF SELF
focuses on special interest, human
revolution as revealed by the fossil. Carl Rogers – had come up with his conception
4. Linguistic Anthropology – studies of self through the intervention he used for his
language in its social and cultural context client, the Person-centered therapy. It is a non-
across space and over time. directive intervention because it believes that all
people have the potential to solve their own
THE SELF EMBEDDED IN THE CULTURE problems. Roger believe that people must be
Culture - refers to customary behavior and beliefs fully honest with themselves in order to have
that are passed on through enculturation personal discovery on oneself.
(Kottsk,2008) THREE SIDES OF TRIANGLE
Enculturation – is the social process which culture 1. The Perceived Self – (Self-Worth - how
is learned and transmitted. the person sees self & other sees them.)
Culture- is a social process that is learned and 2. The Real Self – (Self-Image – how the
passes from one generation to another. person really is)
3. The Ideal Self – (How the person would
CHAPTER 4: like to be)

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF Kenneth Gergen – proponent of post modern

psychology
THE SELF
 The individual has many potential selves
Psychology – has various way of understanding a
 Therefore maybe it is healthy to have many
person and the therapist way of helping people
mask.
understand themselves.
 Multiple selfhood is part of what it means to
Self – a reference by an individual to the same be human, and forcing oneself to stick to
individual person. Having its own or single one self-concept maybe unhealthy.
character as a person, referring to the person as
True Self – rooted from early infancy called simple
same individual.
being. Based on spontaneous experience having
Psychology of Studying – is about either cognitive “real self”
or affective representation of one’s identity.
Fake Self – our defense façade. Overlaying or
“The self and it selves” contradicting the original sense of self.
William James – The principles of Psychology
(1890) a numerous concepts and distinction of self.
 A psychologist
 His main concept are the “me-self” and the
“I-self”
 Me-self is the phenomenal self
 I-self is the self-thought or self-knower.
3 CATEGORIES OF THE UNDERSTANDING
OF SELF
1. Its constituents
CHAPTER 5:
THE SELF IN WESTERN AND
EASTERN/ORIENTAL THOUGHT

WESTERN EASTERN
 Focus on oneself and personal needs.  Focus on others and the feeling of others.
Egoism first. Collectivism first.
 Obsessed with being successful.  More inclined towards long life, long life is
 Wealth and Poverty is the result of hard equated with wealth.
work and enterprise.  Wealth and Poverty is the result of fortune
 Celebrates the youth and being young and luck.
 Self is a social construction which is  Values the wisdom of years and seniority.
symbolically and signally created between  A gentleman by following the moral way
and among social beings. consisting of the virtues of love,
 Phenomenological object which can be righteousness, wisdom, propriety and loyalty
productively studied through a series of in order to promote harmony in society.
evanescent actions, self is multidimensional (Confucianism)
entity.  (Theravada) detachment and desirelessness
 Self is in interpersonal unit. to reach nirvana; reciprocal
 Self takes form in communication. relationship;(Mahayana) compassion to other
 Self is intimately connected to bodily humans for belief that we are part of the
experience both ontogenetically and here same ever-changing universe (Buddhism)
and now awareness.  Attainment of liberation in the identification
 Self is both phenomenal and non- of atman (the spiritual essence of all
phenomenal. individual human beings) and Brahman (the
 Self acquires substance according to spiritual essence of the universe) through the
semantic, syntactic and pragmatic. Four Yogas (Taoism)
 Concept of Kapwa , recognition of shared
identity, an inner self shared with others;
Two levels or modes of social interaction -
ibang-tao or “outsider” and hindi ibang tao
or “one-of-us” (Filipino Psychology)

INDIVIDUALISM VERSUS COLLECTIVISM

INDIVIDUALISM COLLECTIVISM
 People are autonomous and independent  Interdependent within their in-groups
from their in-groups  Give priority to the goals of their in-groups
 Give priority to their personal goals of  In-groups primarily shape their behavior
their in-groups  Behave in a communal way
 Behave on their basis of attitudes rather  Concerned in maintaining relationship with
than norms. others