Understanding the self (UDSELF030)

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is intended to facilitate the exploration of the issues and concerns regarding self and identity to arrive
at a better understanding to one’s self. It strives to meet this goal by stressing the integration of the personal with the
academic –contextualizing matters for better learning, generation a new appreciation for the learning process, and
developing a more critical and reflective attitude while enabling them to manage and improve themselves to attain a better
quality of life.
The course is divided into three major parts: The Self from Various Disciplinal Perspectives, Unpacking the Self,
and Managing and Caring for the Self. This course also includes the mandatory topics on Family Planning and Population
Education.
COURSE/SUBJECT OUTCOMES
At the end of the semester, the students must have:
1. Understood the construct of the Self from various disciplinal perspectives: philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and
psychology – as well as the more traditional division between the East and West
– each seeking to provide answers to the difficult but essential question of “What is the self?”
2. Delved into some of the various aspects that make up the self, such as the biological and material up to and including
the more recent digital self.
3. Explored three areas of concern: learning, goal setting, and managing stress
4. Practically applied the concept discussed in this course and has developed self-help plans for self- regulated learning,
goal setting, and self-care.
Topic 1
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SELF
Objectives:
1. To explain the importance of understanding the philosophical nature of the Self
2. Discuss the different views about the self-based on selected philosophers
What is “philosophy?”
- the branch of knowledge or academic study devoted to the systematic examination of basic concepts such as truth,
existence, reality, causality, and freedom.
- a precept, or set of precepts, beliefs, principles, or aims, underlying somebody's practice or conduct
What do you think is your meaning of life?
- It usually depends on a life philosophy that you have and you hold.
The Meaning of Life according to different philosophers
 Platonism: Learn more  Nihilism: Do anything (life has no meaning)
 Aristotelianism: Be good  Pragmatism: Bring the most good to humans
 Cynicism: Be self-sufficient  Theism: Follow God’s will
 Hedonism: Have pleasure now  Existentialism: Make decisions and be
 Epicureanism: Free yourself from pain positive.
 Stoicism: Be logical. Don’t suffer  Absurdism: Stop making sense of life. Just live
 Classical Liberalism: Defend individual  Humanism: Act in self-interest and common good
liberty.  Logical Positivism: Life has no meaning, until you
 Kantianism: Do as you’d have others do give it one
(your duty)
 Natural Pantheism: Care for nature  Confucianism: Live an ordinary life
 Mohism: Love people impartially  Legalism: Learn

PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES OF THE HUMAN PERSON AND THE SELF

The Essentialist/Avocado View An

avocado
- pear-shaped tropical fruit
- yellowish flesh
- a single large seed at the center
The seed at the center contains all the essential information about what makes an avocado.
Essentialism. The claim that human nature is determined by the set of necessary and sufficient properties of
humanness, coupled with the claim that the properties that are part of human nature are distinctive of human beings.
The essence of being a triangle, for example, would be ‘having three sides’. Any object that had more than three
sides could not be a triangle. In the case of human beings, this essentialist view usually translates into the claim that things
like intelligence, humor, morality, reason, and language are distinctively and essentially human. They are what define us
and mark us out as different from other animals.
According to Judaic and Christian Traditions:
 Humans are made in the image and likeness of God  We are self-conscious
 Animals may have instincts and intelligence  We have the capacity to love
but they are not made in God’s likeness  We have fleshy outward appearance but inside we
share the divine nature
According to the Greek Rationalist Tradition:
 Reason is at the core our being
 We may act like animals at times, but only because
 Our reasoning ability sets us apart from other
we are not using reason to control the other parts of
terrestrial beings
our being
 Reason controls emotions & appetites
 Humans alone are capable of living
according to reason
According to the Theocentric Tradition (St. Augustine of Hippo)
 The most important part of a person is the inner bodily goods, wealth, and reputation) or higher
person, i.e., the mind. goods (virtue and, above all, God).
 Ethically, the most important part of the mind is not  Although originally neither good nor bad, the human
the intellect (or reason) but the will. will become corrupted so that it is in most cases
 The orientation of the will determines whether we inclined to love lower rather than higher goods.
love lower goods (such as
Existentialist / Protean View (or Artichoke or Cabbage View)
 Named after Proteus – the shape –shifter of Greek mythology (green tree, a blind man, blinding fire) depending on the
situation demanding him to change forms
 Like an artichoke or cabbage, as the layers are removed, one finds there is no central core, this view agrees that we are
nothing but layers and finds this reasonable and healthy
 This idea says that humans are many layers that function at various times in life
 Life is such that we need to be able to react in many different ways
 This is consistent with the idea that there are no moral absolutes or certain truth
 Existentialism (self-created self)
- emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice
- views that humans define their own meaning in life
- views that man is able to make rational decisions despite his existence in an irrational universe
 We have no fixed essence as human beings
 We live in the moment and create our own self’s moment by moment
 As we choose our path, we are accountable for our choices
 “You create a self for yourself.” Mitchell, 1995
 “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” (From “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley
– 19th cent)
 Life has no inherent meaning – no core to give purpose or direction. You can be anything you want to be. But you
have no one to blame but yourself. Mitchell, 1995
 You are the master of your fate