UNDERSTANDING

THE SELF

KRISTAL PEARL R. ANTOLIN, MAED

Subject teacher

DIFFERENCE PERSPECTIVE IN THE EXPLANATION OF SELF

Socrates and his followers, Plato and Aristotle wrote about pleasure, pain,
knowledge, motivation, rationality, among other topics. They theorized about such
things as whether human traits are innate or the product of experience, which
continues to be a topic of debate even today. They also considered the origins of
mental illness, with both Socrates and Plato focusing on psychological forces as the
root of the such illnesses.

PLATO’S theory of soul: For Plato, as was characteristic of ancient Greek

philosophy, the soul was that which gave life. See this brief exchange from the
Phaedo: "What is it that, when present in a body, makes it living? A soul. Another
hallmark of Plato's view of the soul is that it is what rules and controls a person's
body. Plato uses this observation in the Alcibiades as evidence that people are their
souls. Plato advocates a belief in the immortality of the soul, and several dialogues
end with long speeches imagining the afterlife. In the Timaeus, Socrates locates the
parts of the soul within the human body: Reason is located in the head, spirit in the
top third of the torso, and the appetite in the middle third of the torso, down to the
navel.

ST. AUGUSTINE constructs a view of God that would come to dominate Western
thinking, he also creates a new concept of individual identity: the idea of the self.
This identity is achieved through a twofold process: self-presentation, which leads to
self-realization.

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RENE DESCARTES argues that the self can be correctly considered as either a
mind or a human being, and that the self's properties vary accordingly. For example,
the self is simple considered as a mind, whereas the self is composite considered as
a human being.

JOHN LOCKE holds that personal identity is a matter of psychological continuity. He

considered personal identity (or the self) to be founded on consciousness (viz.
memory), and not on the substance of either the soul or the body.

DAVID HUME, the self is “that to which our several impressions and ideas are
supposed to have a reference ... If any impression gives rise to the idea of self, that
impression must continue invariably the same through the whole course of our lives,
since self is supposed to exist after that manner.

IMMANUEL KANT According to him, we all have an inner and an outer self which
together form our consciousness. The inner self is comprised of our psychological
state and our rational intellect. The outer self includes our sense and the physical
world.

SIGMUND FREUD believes that evidence of a powerful unconscious self can be

found in the content of our dreams, inadvertent “slips of tongue,” and techniques—
such as free association—used by Freudian psychoanalysts in clinical treatment.

GILBERT RYLE Arguing that the mind does not exist and therefore can't be the seat
of self, Ryle believed that self comes from behavior. We're all just a bundle of
behaviors caused by the physical workings of the body.

PAUL CHURCHLAND Since brain damage alters a person's personality, Churchland

asserts that the concept of self originates in the physical brain, not an invented mind.
Adding to this, Churchland espouses that the idea of the mind is incongruent with the
theory of evolution

MAURICE MERLEAU PONTY believed the physical body to be an important part of

what makes up the subjective self. This concept stands in contradiction to
rationalism and empiricism. Rationalism asserts that reason and mental perception,
rather than physical senses and experience, are the basis of knowledge and self.

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WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?

Anthropology is the study of what makes us human. Anthropologists take a broad

approach to understanding the many different aspects of the human experience,
which we call holism. They consider the past, through archaeology, to see how
human groups lived hundreds or thousands of years ago and what was important to
them.

SOCIOLOGY From a classical sociological perspective, the self is a relatively stable

set of perceptions of who we are in relation to ourselves, others, and to social
systems. The self is socially constructed in the sense that it is shaped through
interaction with other people.

WHAT ARE SOCIAL GROUPS?

In the social sciences, a social group can be defined as two or more people who
interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense
of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties. For
example, a society can be viewed as a large social group.

GEORGE HEBERT MEAD Theory of Social Behaviorism Sociologist George Herbert

Mead believed that people develop self-images through interactions with other
people. He argued that the self, which is the part of a person's personality consisting
of self-awareness and self-image, is a product of social experience.

THE SELF AND THE PERSON IN CONTEMPORARY ANTHROPOLOGY The

anthropological self takes a holistic dimension of individual person. It both
considered the biological and environmental aspect of the person. The genetic
component plays a significant role in the cultural development of an individual.

A UNIT BUT UNITARY is a one definition of self in modern anthropology

characterizes the term in its most general, ordinary, and everyday use.
Anthropologist and professor, Katherine Ewing (1990), described the self as
encompassing the 'physical organism, possessing psychological functioning and
social attributes.

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SELF AS REPRESENTATION According to Katherine Ewing? The first definition of
self that Ewing considers is one she characterizes as the most general, and ordinary,
everyday, sense of the word. In this sense, she (1990: 254) says, '“self”
encompasses the physical organism, all aspects of psychological functioning, and
social attributes.

THE SELF EMBEDDED IN CULTURE The “embedded self” concept is derived from
Goldschmidt's “culturally embedded self” as symbolic self is inevitably embedded in
the context of others” (105). Particular emphasis is on object symbolism as it relates
to connectedness and worthiness of the self and the embedded self.

RELATIONSHIPS Relational culture refers to a privately transacted system of

definitions, values and meanings that stablish for partners in a relationship a
consensual order of interpretation and action.

PERSONAL TRAITS Personality is what makes a person who s/he is. In psychology,
it is often thought of as the traits that define us and distinguish us from others.
Culture is the societal or social groups of people and their shared customs,
traditions, and beliefs.

ACHIEVEMENTS Achievement culture is one where people work hard to achieve

goals and better the group as a whole. This culture generally consists of highly
motivated people who need little to no supervision. Rules and procedures are limited
as they may interfere with the accomplishment of work.

EXPRRESSING EMOTIONS Loosely defined, culture refers to the shared values,

beliefs and norms of a specific group of people. Culture, therefore, influences the
manner we learn, live and behave. Because of this, many theorists believe that
culture is an important shaper of our personality.

WHAT IS PHYCHOLOGY? is the study of mind and behavior. It encompasses the

biological influences, social pressures, and environmental factors that affect how
people think, act, and feel.

JEAN PIAGET'S theory of cognitive development suggests that intelligence changes

as children grow. A child's cognitive development is not just about acquiring
knowledge, the child has to develop or construct a mental model of the world.

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UNPACKING THE SELF Physical self refers to the body which we interface with
our environment and fellow being. It is a tangible aspect of the person that can be
directly observed and examined.

A. THE PHYSICAL SELF: The self

as impacted by the body
Physical self refers to the body
which we interface with our
environment and
fellow being.
It is a tangible aspect of the
person that can be directly
observed and
examined. People now days are too
conscious on how they look. How
they
see themselves in the mirror, how
people will look at them and what
will
people say about them. Our concept
of our self and the perception of
people
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around us will always have big effect
on how we deal in a situation,
cultural
or not. This discussion of Physical
Self has found place on different
Schools
of Psychology, like
psychoanalysis, behaviorism,
humanism etc. For
A. THE PHYSICAL SELF: The self
as impacted by the body
Physical self refers to the body
which we interface with our
environment and
fellow being.
It is a tangible aspect of the
person that can be directly
observed and

HANZEL MIE C. HANDOC

examined. People now days are too
conscious on how they look. How
they
see themselves in the mirror, how
people will look at them and what
will
people say about them. Our concept
of our self and the perception of
people
around us will always have big effect
on how we deal in a situation,
cultural
or not. This discussion of Physical
Self has found place on different
Schools
of Psychology, like
psychoanalysis, behaviorism,
humanism etc. For
A. THE PHYSICAL SELF: The self
as impacted by the body
HANZEL MIE C. HANDOC
Physical self refers to the body
which we interface with our
environment and
fellow being.
It is a tangible aspect of the
person that can be directly
observed and
examined. People now days are too
conscious on how they look. How
they
see themselves in the mirror, how
people will look at them and what
will
people say about them. Our concept
of our self and the perception of
people
around us will always have big effect
on how we deal in a situation,
cultural

HANZEL MIE C. HANDOC

or not. This discussion of Physical
Self has found place on different
Schools
of Psychology, like
psychoanalysis, behaviorism,
humanism etc. F

HANZEL MIE C. HANDOC