Understanding the Self

MODULE 1: The Self in Various Philosophical Perspectives

REBUS
PUZZLE
CAR
YOU JUST ME

Just between you and me

CYCLE CYCLE
CYCLE
 EARLY EARLY
TOMORROW TOMORROW
TOMORROW TOMORROW

Too early for tomorrow

SECRET
SECRET
SECRET
SECRET
Top secret
 scope

Microscope
LADY LADY LADY

First lady
Understanding the Self
MODULE 1: The Self in Various Philosophical Perspectives
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
1. Explain why it is essential to understand the self;
2. Describe and discuss the different notions of the
self from the points of-view of the various
philosophers across time and place;
3. Compare and contrast how the self has been
represented in different philosophical schools
and;
4. Examine one’s self against the different views of
self that were discussed in class
 NATURE vs NURTURE
Nature differs from Nurture, since in Nature, a person
develops his/her characteristics biologically (something
that has developed starting from the birth of the child),
while in Nurture, a person develops his/her
characteristics through the external factors, such as the
environment and the society (family, friends, relatives,
etc.).
 IDENTITY vs SELF
● Identity, also, differs from Self, as what the readings
say, Identities are “qualities, characteristics, beliefs,
opinions, etc., that make a person unique from
others.” These is what is distinguishable by others, or
what they perceive to us through our actions.
● Self, on the other had, is the “person of
himself/herself,” meaning, it is what the others
didn’t see in you, because this is personal character;
this is what makes up a person.
 IDENTITY vs SELF
● Social factors
● Environmental factors
● Hereditary factors
● Person-volition factors
 PHILOSOPHY
● It is the study of the fundamental nature of
knowledge, reality, and existence especially in an
academic discipline.
 WHAT PHILOSOPHY SAYS ABOUT
THE SELF?
● Self – it is defined to as “a unified being, essentially
connected to consciousness, awareness, and agency
(or, at least, with the faculty of rational choice).
● Classical Antiquity
○ Through Greek times:
■ Greek philosophy was started by Socrates,
with his principle of “know thyself’”.
 SOCRATES AND PLATO
• For Socrates, every man is composed of body and soul.

 Socrates believed that the real self is not the physical body, but rather
the psyche, or the soul.

 Plato, a student of Socrates, basically took off from his master and supported
the idea that man is a dual nature of body and soul.

 In addition to what Socrates earlier espoused, Plato added that there are
three components of the soul:

1. Rational soul – reason and intellect

2. Spirited soul - in charge of emotions

3. Appetitive soul - in charge of base desires

 AUGUSTINE AND THOMAS AQUINAS
• Augustine’s followed the ancient view of Plato
and infused the doctrine of Christianity.
• Man is of bifurcated nature
• An aspect of man dwells in the world and is
imperfect and continuously yearns to be with
the Divine and the other part is capable of
reaching immortality.
• Body – dies on earth ;
• soul – lives eternally in spiritual
• bliss with God
 AUGUSTINE AND THOMAS AQUINAS
● Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two
parts: matter and form.
● The body of the human is similar to animals/objects,
but what makes a human is his essence
● “The soul is what makes us humans”
 RENE DESCARTES
● Father of Modern Philosophy
● Human person = body & mind
● He thought that the only thing that one cannot
doubt is the existence of the self.
● The self is a combination of two distinct entities:
1. Cogito
2. Extenza
 DAVID HUME
● One can only know what comes from the senses and
experiences (Empiricism)
● The self is nothing but a bundle of impressions and
ideas.
● Self is a collection of different perceptions which
rapidly succeed other
 IMMANUEL KANT
● Agrees with Hume that everything starts with
perception/sensation of impressions.
● There is a mind that regulates these impressions
● Apparatus of the mind
● The self organizes different impressions that one
gets in relation to his own existence
● The self is not only personality but also the seat of
knowledge
 GILBERT RYLE
● Denies the internal, non-physical self
● What truly matters is the behavior that a person
manifests in his day to day life
 MERLEAU-PONTY
● A phenomenologist who says the mind and body
bifurcation problem is an invalid problem
● One’s body is his opening towards his existence to
world
Understanding the Self
MODULE 2: The Self, Society and Culture
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Explain the relationship between and among the
self, society and culture;
2. Describe and discuss the different ways by which
society and culture shape the self;
3. Compare and contrast how the self can be
influenced by the different institution in the
society; and
4. Examine one’s self against the different views of
self that were discussed
● “Social constructionists argue
for a merged view of ‘the
person’ and ‘their social
context’ where the boundaries
of one cannot easily be
separated from the boundaries
of the other’ (Stevens 1996).
 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SELF AND
EXTERNAL REALITY
Social Constructionist Perspective
• Argue that the self should not be seen as a
static entity that stays constant through and
through. Rather, the self has to be seen as
something that is in constant struggle with
external reality, and is malleable in its
dealings with society.
• Self is always in participation with social life
and its identity is subjected to influences here
and there.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SELF AND
EXTERNAL REALITY
 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SOCIAL WORLD
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD
“The self is born of society. The self is
inseparable from society and bound up
with communication. It builds on social
experience. This is largely a matter of
taking the role of other with increasing
sophistications, broadening out from
significant others to greater complexity.”
THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SOCIAL WORLD

MEAD: THE SOCIAL SELF

• Created through social
interaction
• Process started in
childhood with children
beginning to develop a
sense of self at about the
same time that they
began to learn language
 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL WORLD

The self is human capacity to be reflective and take the role of others.
To understand
Social experience intention you must
The self emerges
involves imagine the situation
from social
communication from another person’s
experience. It is
and the exchange point of view. By taking
not part of the
of symbols. People the role of the other:
body and it does
create meaning the self is reflective
not exists at birth
and reflexive.
Module No. 2 The Self, Society and Culture
 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SOCIAL WORLD
Mead’s Theory on the Development of the Self
1. Preparatory stage:

Children mimic/imitate others

 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SOCIAL WORLD
Mead’s Theory on the Development of the Self

2. Play stage:

• Children pretend to play the

role of a particular or a
significant other
 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SOCIAL WORLD
Mead’s Theory on the Development of the Self

3. Game stage:

• Children play organized

games and take on the
perspective of the
generalized other
Generalized other:
• The expectations of a network of others (or a society in
general) that a child learns and then takes into account
when shaping his or her own behavior
 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SOCIAL WORLD
Mead’s Theory on the Development of the Self

● Dual Nature of the Self:

• The belief that we

experience the self as both
subject and object, the “I”
and “me”
 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL WORLD

Charles Cooley: The looking-glass self

“One’s sense of self depends
on seeing one’s self reflected
in interactions with others”

- Charles Cooley

Module No. 2 The Self, Society and Culture

 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE SOCIAL WORLD
Charles Cooley: The looking-glass self

• Charles Cooley was George Mead’s colleague

• The looking-glass self refers to the notion that the
self develops through our perception of others’
evaluation and appraisal of us.
 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SOCIAL WORLD
Erving Goffman: Constructing situations and dramas

“People routinely behave like

actors on a stage. Everyday social
life become theatrical. There are
roles, scripts and actions. Daily life
as a series of stagecraft rules”
 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL
WORLD
Ervin Goffman: Constructing situations and dramas
Presentation of the self in everyday
life
• Believed that meaning is
constructed through interaction
• ‘Interaction order’
• What we do in the
immediate presence of
others

Module No. 2 The Self, Society and Culture

 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL
WORLD
Ervin Goffman: Constructing situations and dramas

Dramaturgy:
• Focuses on how
individuals take on
roles and act them out
to present a favorable
impression to their
“audience”

Module No. 2 The Self, Society and Culture

 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SOCIAL WORLD

Ervin Goffman: Constructing situations and dramas

• Goffman argues that people are

concerned with controlling how
others view them, a process he
called impression management

Module No. 2 The Self, Society and Culture

 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL
WORLD
Frontstage

People play different roles throughout Erving Goffman: Constructing

their daily lives and display different situations and dramas
kinds of behavior depending on where
they are and the time of the day

Backstage

When people engage in back stage

behavior, they are free of the
expectations and norms that dictate
front stage behavior

Module No. 2 The Self, Society and Culture

 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE SOCIAL WORLD

Erving Goffman: Constructing situations and dramas

• Each definition of a situation lends itself to a different

approach, and the consequences are real.
• The self is a Social construction dependent of the situation

Module The Self, Society and

 THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SOCIAL WORLD

“All the world is a stage, and all

the men and women merely are
players: they have their exits and
entrances; and one man in his
time plays many parts.”

-William Shakespeare

Module No.
2