Lesson 1: The Self from Various Philosophical Perspectives

“Know Thyself” - is an ancient greeting of the highly civilized Greeks. It was believed that the
temple gods greet people with this salutation as they enter the holy sanctuary.

To know thyself is first imperative and then requirement.

“Know Thyself” or “self-control” means that the greeting is not only an imperative of self-
knowledge but also a requirement that one has to have self-moderation.

The prudence aspects of knowing thyself are already extension from self-knowledge to ethics.

Socrates

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” This is perhaps the most satisfying philosophical
assertion that Socrates claimed in order to protect human beings from the shallowness of living their
lives.
“I know that I do not know”. This perhaps is what makes Socrates the wisest among the
philosophers. For Socrates, only in the recognition of one’s ignorance that a person can truly know
oneself.

Only a self-controlled man, then, will know himself and will be capable of looking to see what
is actually knows and what he doesn’t know.

Plato

Plato proposed his own philosophy of the self. He started on the examination of the self as
unique experience.

For Plato, the psyche is composed of three elements. These are the reason (mind), the
physical appetite (appetitive), Spirited (spirit or passion).

The appetitive element of the psyche includes one’s desires, pleasures, physical satisfactions,
comforts, thirst, sexual desire, etc.

The nous is the superpower that controls the affairs of the self. It decides, analyses, thinks
ahead, proposes what is best, and rationally controls both the appetitive and spirited and elements of the
psyche.

Plato believed that genuine happiness can only be achieved by people who consistently make
sure that their Reason is in control of their Spirits and Appetites

St. Augustine
Another concrete example of a highly self-controlled nous is the life of St. Augustine.
 He hailed from Tagaste, Africa in 354 BC. He succumbed to vices and vices and pleasures of
the world.

Augustine returned to his homeland and embraced an ascetic life. He dedicated his Christian
life to the pursuit of contemplative ideals. He practiced extreme self-denial and self-mortification.

Later he was elected as bishop of Hippo. He fought bravely the errors of his time through
sermons and many writings. He died in 430 and later was declared Doctor of the Church.

The development of the self for St. Augustine is achieved through self-presentation and self -
actualization. He was not afraid to accept to himself and tell the people about his sinfulness.

THE SELF IS A THINKING THING, DISTINCT FROM THE BODY:

RENE DESCARTES
Cogito, ergo sum—“I think, therefore I am.” is the first principle of Rene Descartes’s
theory of knowledge because he is confident that no rational person will doubt his or her own existence
as a conscious, thinking entity—while we are aware of thinking about our self.

For Descartes, the essence of your self is you are a “thinking thing,” a dynamic identity that
engages in all of those mental operations we associate with being a human self. For example:
 You understand situations in which you find yourself.
 You doubt the accuracy of ideas presented to you.
You affirm the truth of a statement made about you.

For Descartes, the essence of your self is you are a “thinking thing,” a dynamic identity that
engages in all of those mental operations we associate with being a human self. For example:
 You deny an accusation that someone has made.
 You will yourself to complete a task you have begun.
 You refuse to follow a command that you consider to be unethical.
 You imagine a fulfilling career for yourself.
 You feel passionate emotions toward another person.

THE SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS:

JOHN LOCKE
John Locke is an English Philosopher, Physician. He is considered to be the father of Classical
liberalism.

His work on the self is most represented by the concept of “Tabula Rasa” which means a Blank
Slate. He believed that the experiences and perceptions of a person is important in the establishment of
who that person can become.
 John 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 observation of the person.

the process of the mind to absorb information and accumulate knowledge may imply that a
person to be able to be whom we want to be, with the right stimulation, enough experiences as well as
awareness

that consciousness or more specifically, self-consciousness of our constantly perceiving self is

necessary to “personal identity,” or knowledge of the self as a person.

THERE IS NO SELF:
DAVID HUME
The Scottish Philosopher David Hume, focused his work in the field of Empericism,
Skepticism, and Naturalism.

According to Hume, if we carefully examine the contents of our experience, we find that there
are only two distinct entities, “impressions” and “ideas”.

 Impressions—Impressions are the basic sensations of your experience, the elemental data of
your mind: pain, pleasure, heat, cold, happiness, grief, fear, exhilaration, and so on. These
impressions are “lively” and “vivid.”
 Ideas—Ideas are copies of impressions, and as a result they are less “lively” and “vivid.” Ideas
include thoughts and images that are built up from your primary impressions through a variety
of relationships, but because they are derivative copies of impressions they are once removed
from reality.

WE CONSTRUCT THE SELF:

IMMANUEL KANT
 You perceive and experience an organized world of objects, relationships, and ideas, all existing
within a fairly stable framework of space and time.
 The unity of consciousness is a phrase invented by Kant to describe the fact that the thoughts
and perceptions of any given mind are bound together in a unity by being all contained in one
consciousness—my consciousness
Kant is known for his philosophical work on epistemology and metaphysics, particularly
in his "Critique of Pure Reason."
He introduced the concept of the "transcendental self," which is not a constructed self-concept in
the modern psychological sense but rather a necessary condition for all human experience.
THE SELF IS MULTILAYERED:
SIGMUND FREUD
Unconscious

The processes in the mind that occur automatically and are not available to introspection, and
include thought processes, memory, affect, and motivation. Even though these processes exist well
under the surface of conscious awareness, they are theorized to exert an impact on behavior.

Conscious
The conscious mind consists of everything inside of our awareness; the aspect of our mental
processing that we can think and talk about in a rational way

THE SELF IS HOW YOU BEHAVE:

GILBERT RYLE
 The self is defined in terms of the behavior that is presented to the world, a view that is known
in psychology as behaviorism.

Ryle proposed a different perspective known as "ordinary language philosophy." He argued

that when we talk about the mind, consciousness, and the self, we are not referring to a separate,
immaterial entity but to various observable behaviors and dispositions.

ELIMINATIVE MATERIALISM:
PAUL CHURCHLAND
Paul Churchland believes that the concepts and theoretical vocabulary you use to think
about yourself—using such terms as belief, desire, fear, sensation, pain, joy—actually misrepresent the
reality of minds and selves.

All of these concepts are part of a commonsense “folk psychology” that obscures rather
than clarifies the nature of human experience.

THE SELF IS EMBODIED SUBJECTIVITY:

HUSSERL AND MERLEAU-PONTY
(Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty)

Edmund Husserl, often regarded as the founder of phenomenology, explored the nature of
consciousness and the self. He introduced the concept of the "transcendental ego."

According to Husserl, the transcendental ego is the core, unifying self that stands behind
all conscious experiences. It is the ego that performs acts of intentionality, giving meaning to the
objects of consciousness.

Phenomenology refers to the conviction that all knowledge of yourself and our world is
based on the “phenomena” of experience.
 Merleau-Ponty is a phenomenologist who asserts that the mind-body bifurcation that has
been going on for a long time is a futile endeavor and an invalid problem.

LESSON 2

SOCIOLOGICAL VIEWS OF THE SELF

Sociology or the study of how human society is established, its structure and how it works, the
people’s interaction with each other and the effects you have to others is an aspect in which you
consider with regards to the development of yourself as a person.

The Self as Product of Modern Society among Others

the self becomes “delocalized” self which is free to seek its own identity; defining religion,
theological tradition; free from customary constraints hence, deviating from the traditional way of life.
Stability of one’s self-identity is no longer based on pre-given traditional broad definition of the self.

Solution: For the individual to discover the “true” and “authentic” part of himself/herself to
realize his/her potentials, there is a needed to abolish repressive social constraints.
Self as Necessary Fiction
Lesson 1: The Self from Various Philosophical Perspectives
Overview
This lesson focuses on how the self has been understood and conceptualized across various
philosophical schools of thought. By exploring different representations and theories of the self,
students will develop a deeper understanding of their own identity. The lesson highlights the
importance of philosophical inquiry in understanding the self, drawing from both Western and Eastern
perspectives, and invites students to reflect on their own self-development.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
1. Explain the significance of understanding the self.
2. Describe and discuss different conceptions of the self from the viewpoints of various
philosophers.
3. Compare and contrast how the self is represented in different philosophical schools.
4. Examine one’s self against the different views of self that are discussed.

Key Philosophical Perspectives

1. Socrates and Plato: The Soul is Immortal
 Socrates emphasized self-knowledge with the dictum “Know Thyself.” He asserted that living
an unexamined life is not worth living. For Socrates, knowing oneself is essential to moral
excellence and ethical living.
 Plato built on Socrates' ideas, proposing that the self consists of three parts: the rational mind
(reason), the spirited part (emotion), and the appetitive part (desires). He argued that happiness
could only be achieved when reason governs the other two parts, leading to justice both within
the individual and in society. Plato saw the psyche as the essence of the person, with reason
being the most crucial part that enables control over desires and emotions.
2. St. Augustine: The Christian Self
 St. Augustine integrated Platonic philosophy with Christian theology. He viewed the self as
restless and sinful by nature, but capable of redemption through God. His famous statement,
“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds rest in You,”
reflects his belief that the ultimate purpose of the self is to find peace in God. Augustine’s self is
oriented toward spiritual salvation, where true and eternal happiness is found in God.
3. René Descartes: The Self as a Thinking Thing
 Descartes' famous statement “Cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am) asserts that the self is
a thinking entity. For Descartes, the self is fundamentally a “thinking thing,” a mind or
consciousness that engages in mental operations such as doubting, affirming, imagining, and
willing. The self is distinct from the body and is defined by its capacity for rational thought.
4. John Locke: The Self and Personal Identity
 Locke introduced the idea that personal identity is founded on consciousness and memory. He
argued that the self is not a substance but a continuous stream of consciousness, and that
identity is maintained through the ability to remember past experiences. His theory emphasizes
the “Tabula Rasa”, meaning individuals are born as blank slates, with their identities formed
through experience and reflection.
5. David Hume: The Self as a Bundle of Impressions
 David Hume rejected the notion of a permanent self. According to him, the self is nothing more
than a bundle of perceptions, constantly changing and lacking any real unity. Hume argued that
the self is a product of various impressions and ideas that arise from experience, and since these
impressions change, so too does the self.
6. Immanuel Kant: The Self as a Construct
 Kant proposed that the self is not directly knowable but is an organizing principle of experience.
The “Transcendental Self” is the part of the mind that actively organizes sensory inputs into
coherent experiences. Kant’s theory suggests that the self is the necessary condition for
perceiving and making sense of the world. The self constructs reality through the synthesis of
sensory data and innate categories of understanding.
7. Sigmund Freud: The Multilayered Self
 Freud introduced a psychological perspective of the self, composed of the conscious,
preconscious, and unconscious layers. The self is shaped by unconscious desires, conflicts, and
memories, many of which influence behavior without the individual being fully aware of them.
Freud’s theory suggests that the self is multilayered, with much of its activity occurring beneath
conscious awareness.
8. Gilbert Ryle: The Self as Behavior
 Ryle criticized the Cartesian dualism of mind and body. He proposed that the self is not a
separate, hidden entity but is understood through observable behavior. According to Ryle, the
self is defined by what a person does, and “mind” is simply a collection of behavioral
dispositions and tendencies.
9. Paul Churchland: Eliminative Materialism
 Churchland’s eliminative materialism argues that common-sense concepts such as beliefs,
desires, and emotions are misrepresentations of the mind. He contends that as neuroscience
advances, these concepts will be replaced with more accurate scientific explanations grounded
in brain activity.
10. Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty: The Embodied Self
 Husserl introduced the concept of the “transcendental ego”, the self that stands behind all
conscious experiences and gives them meaning.
  Merleau-Ponty expanded on this by arguing that the self is embodied—it cannot be separated
from the physical body. All experiences are embodied, and the self is deeply intertwined with
the physical world.

Lesson 2: Sociological Perspectives of the Self

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. Compare and contrast different views of the self.
2. Examine the two components of self.
3. Describe the concept of the looking-glass self and how it affects self-concept.
4. Explain the concept of social comparison and its role in shaping human behavior.

Key Sociological Perspectives

1. The Self as a Product of Society
 Modern society, according to sociological theory, allows for a delocalized self, free from
traditional constraints like religion or familial roles. However, this freedom can also lead to
alienation and a loss of authenticity, as described by Clifford Geertz.
2. The Looking-Glass Self (Charles Horton Cooley)
 Cooley’s looking-glass self theory states that individuals form their self-concept based on how
they believe others perceive them. Our sense of identity is shaped by our interpretations of
others’ reactions, whether real or imagined.
3. George Herbert Mead: The “I” and the “Me”
 Mead’s theory of self involves two components: the “I” (the spontaneous, active aspect of the
self) and the “Me” (the socialized aspect, representing the expectations of society). The self
emerges through social interactions, as individuals internalize the perspectives of others,
especially the generalized other—the common expectations of the community.
4. Social Comparison Theory (Leon Festinger)
 Festinger’s social comparison theory suggests that individuals evaluate themselves by
comparing their abilities, behaviors, and opinions to those of others. Social comparison helps
individuals gauge their social status and self-worth. Comparisons with those deemed similar are
particularly influential in shaping one’s self-concept and esteem.
5. Postmodern View of the Self
 In postmodernity, the self becomes pluralized and fragmented, influenced by the digital age
and multiculturalism. Self-creation is seen as an ongoing project, shaped by cultural narratives
and social media representations (e.g., the “digitalized self” on social platforms like Facebook
or Instagram).
Lesson 3: Anthropological Perspectives of the Self
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
1. Define and discuss the concept and importance of anthropology.
2. Explain the concept of culture and the mechanism of enculturation.
3. Synthesize anthropological perspectives on self-awareness and self-reflexive conduct.
4. Show appreciation for one’s cultural identity through practice of cultural values.

Key Anthropological Perspectives

1. Anthropology and the Self
 Anthropology studies the human condition across time and place, exploring how humans have
evolved both biologically and culturally. The self is seen as both a biological and cultural
entity. The traditional anthropological view holds that humans evolved biologically from earlier
hominid species and developed culture as a way to adapt to their environment.
2. Culture and Enculturation
 Culture is the learned, symbolic framework through which individuals interpret and give
meaning to the world. Enculturation is the process through which culture is passed down from
one generation to the next, shaping the development of the self through socialization, language,
rituals, and education.
3. Self-Awareness and Cultural Identity
 Self-awareness, in the anthropological sense, refers to the ability to assume responsibility for
one’s actions and to navigate social roles. This begins to develop in early childhood and is
shaped by cultural practices such as naming rituals, which individualize a person and give
them a unique identity within their community.
4. Behavioral Orientation
 The self interacts with the environment through four orientations: object orientation, spatial
orientation, temporal orientation, and normative orientation. These orientations help situate
the self in relation to objects, space, time, and cultural norms.
5. The Self Embedded in Culture
 The self is deeply embedded in culture, meaning that individual identity is shaped by cultural
values, norms, and symbols. Culture provides a context in which the self is constructed, and
individuals must continuously negotiate their identity within this cultural framework. The
postmodern anthropological view emphasizes the breakdown of grand narratives, highlighting
the importance of recognizing diverse cultural identities and the plurality of perspectives in
shaping the self.
Lesson 4: Psychological Perspectives of the Self
Key Concepts:
 Cognitive Construction of the Self: Cognitive construction refers to the self being shaped
through mental processes. New experiences are assimilated and modified within existing
knowledge frameworks, shaping the way individuals perceive and act on the world.
 William James’ Theory: James differentiated between the "I" (the knower) and "Me" (the
known self). He further divided the "Me" into three aspects:
 Material Self: Includes things we possess, such as clothes, family, and money.
 Social Self: How we present ourselves in different social contexts.
 Spiritual Self: The core of who we are, including personality, values, and conscience.
 Real vs Ideal Self: Concepts developed by Karen Horney and Carl Rogers focus on the
disparity between who a person actually is (real self) and the ideal self they aspire to be. A large
gap between these two leads to incongruence and psychological distress.
 Multiple vs Unified Selves: Postmodern theorists argue that we have multiple selves that adapt
to different social situations, while traditional psychology favors a unified self that is coherent
and consistent.
 True vs False Self (Winnicott): The true self is based on authentic being, while the false self
is a defensive front presented to meet societal demands. A healthy false self can balance societal
expectations without compromising integrity.
 Agentic Self (Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory): Humans are proactive and agentic,
meaning they can control their actions and outcomes. This idea is central to self-efficacy, which
influences how confidently individuals approach challenges.

Lesson 5: The Self from Western and Oriental (Eastern) Thought

Key Concepts:
 Western vs Eastern Constructs of the Self:
 Western Thought:
 Focuses on the individualistic self. The self is seen as separate from others, often
marked by a duality between body and soul. Notable figures like Plato and
Descartes emphasized this division.
 The psyche is central to Western thought, and the pursuit of arête (excellence)
and self-perfection is a key goal. The body and soul are seen as distinct entities,
with emphasis on the development of the self through intellectual, moral, and
social growth.
 Eastern Thought:
  The self is more collectivist and relational, with no emphasis on body-soul
dualism. In Confucianism, the self is deeply embedded in relationships,
prioritizing societal harmony and collective welfare over individual
achievements.
 In Buddhism, the self is seen as an evolving consciousness, with death merely a
transition in the cycle of consciousness. The concept of Atman in Indian
philosophy emphasizes a unified self that transcends bodily existence.
 Individualistic vs Collective Self:
 Individualistic: In Western philosophy, the self strives for personal achievement and is
responsible for its own development. The self is autonomous, independent, and self-
sufficient.
 Collectivist: Eastern traditions focus on self-sacrifice for the greater good. The self is
inseparable from society, and relationships are a core aspect of identity. Concepts like
ren (compassion) in Confucian thought highlight the self’s duty to others.
 Social Construction of the Self:
 In Western thought, social constructs like self-sufficiency and rationality play a
dominant role in defining the self. Logical and scientific reasoning is emphasized in the
pursuit of personal goals and societal roles.
 In contrast, Eastern thought focuses on harmony between the self, society, and nature.
Confucius highlighted the importance of li (ritual propriety) and ren (benevolence) in
forming a virtuous self that contributes to societal well-being.
 Spiritual Development in Confucian Thought: Confucian philosophy emphasizes that
societal harmony comes from virtuous leadership. The junzi (ideal person) strives for moral
excellence, not only for self-improvement but for the collective benefit of society. This spiritual
development is tied to respecting ancestors and following proper rituals (li) while embodying
ren (compassion).

Key Differences Between Western and Eastern Thoughts on the Self:

1. Body-Soul Dualism (Western) vs Unified Consciousness (Eastern):
 Western philosophies often treat the body and soul as separate, with the soul striving for
perfection beyond the physical. In contrast, Eastern thought sees the self as one unified
being, transcending bodily limitations.
2. Individualism vs Collectivism:
 Western traditions promote the self as autonomous and self-driven, while Eastern
traditions emphasize the interdependence of the self with family, society, and nature.
3. Rational vs Relational:
 The Western self is grounded in rationality, logical reasoning, and scientific approaches.
The Eastern self prioritizes relationships, social harmony, and spiritual growth.
4. Perfection through Achievement (Western) vs Perfection through Harmony (Eastern):
 In Western thought, perfection is achieved through intellectual and personal
accomplishments. In Eastern thought, perfection comes from achieving harmony within
relationships and the natural world.