BREAKDOWN FOR MID-TERMS power.

(GE 1 – Understanding the Self)

B. THE SYSTEMATIC APPROACH

I. THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL 1. Philo of Man - deals with the problem of man, his
PERSPECTIVES being-in-the-world, his being-with-others,
his death and his relation to the Absolute.
• Philosophy
(i.e., Is man immortal?).

- literally means “love of wisdom”, from the two 2. Metaphysics – deals with the question of being

Greek words: philein means to love, and sophia or existence (i.e., What is the meaning of our

which means wisdom. existence?)

3. Social Philo – tries to understand society in its
- Considered to be the progenitor of all forms of political and economic structures.
science, it technically is defined as a science 4. Philo of Religion – deals with the problem of
which seeks for the ultimate meaning of all God, His Essence and Existence. (i.e., Does
things in aid of man’s natural reason. God exist?)

• THE DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO PHILOSOPHY A. C. THE PRACTICAL APPROACH

The Historical Approach 1. Ethics – asks whether the human action is

good or bad.
1. Ancient Philosophy - surveys some great 2. Logic – the study of methods and principles
philosophers during the ancient Greek used to distinguish good from bad reasoning.
civilization. The three towering figures were
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
2. Medieval Philosophy - surveys the works of the • INSIGHT
Fathers of the Church and the Scholastic
- “Seeing with the Mind”
Fathers during the period of Christendom. St.
- Can be sharpened by means of a
Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, among others
“metaphor”
are the prominent figures.
- Can also come in the form of an
3. Modern Philosophy - surveys the works of
“abstraction”.
Rene Descartes (known as the Father of Modern
- It’s something only you can do.
Philosophy); Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David
Hume (considered as
• Philosophy is rooted through “lived experience” •
Empiricists) and Immanuel Kant, the colossal
figure of Modern Philosophy. Their works deal • EXPERIENCE - the life of the self – a dynamic
mainly with theory of knowledge or interrelation of the self and the other, be it
Epistemology. things, human beings, the environment, the
4. Contemporary Philosophy – surveys the world, grasped not objectively but from
different kinds of philosophies mostly within.
reactions to the modern philosophers’ over
Experience brings about TENSION (Imbalance
emphasis and reliance of man’s thinking
 within the self) which brings about Inquiry. ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS

• LEVELS OF INQUIRY i. SOCRATES

1. Common Sense – the generally accepted set

- “An Unexamined Life is not worth living!” - His
of regulative meanings and procedures to
being indicted was brought about by going to
particular circumstances. (i.e., I feel like peeing,
Athens engaging men - young and old to
I’ll therefore go to the Comfort
question about their presuppositions about
Room)
themselves. (He was like a “gadfly”) - Every man is
2. Scientific inquiry - is concerned with a
composed of body (imperfect) and soul (perfect)
particular need, treats the world as a means
- Proposed that if anyone didn’t attain full
in order to achieve a concrete end. For
awareness of who they are, they would not
example, I have a stomachache, I go to the
preserve their souls in the afterlife. (THE
doctor, and I take the prescribed medicine. 3.
WORST WAY TO DIE!)
Philosophical inquiry - an inquiry into the
ii. PLATO
coherence, sense of human life as a totality, as a
whole, comprehensive reality and ultimate / final
- Took in his former teacher’s teachings – stating
value. For example, I have a terminal case of
that the soul had three components and there
stomach cancer and I am given only 3 months to
can only be justice if they worked
live, so I ask “What is the meaning of my life?”
harmoniously with one another.
- Rational Soul (Intellect) - governs human
affairs/behavior.
• “sens de la vie” - (meaning of life) in French: - Spirited (Emotions) - this is the one that should be
“sens” can mean the direction of a river, the kept at bay.
texture of a cloth, the opening of a door, the - Appetitive - in charge of the base desires.
meaning of a word. Likewise, my life can
have a direction, a texture, openings
(possibilities), meaning. iii. ARISTOTLE

- He states that the man is a blank slate. - Tabula

HOW THEN DO WE PHILOSOPHIZE?
Rasa describes the idea that people begin life
1. Wonder (i.e., Plato) as a blank slate onto which
2. Doubt (i.e., Rene Descartes) experiences are mapped, forming a person. -
3. Limit Situations/Realities (Existentialists) 4. According to him, all human functions contribute
Metaphysical Uneasiness - is to be sure of to eudaimonia - the highest good humans could
one’s center (could also be known as strive toward – or a life 'well lived'.
conviction/claim) according to Gabriel - Happiness is an exclusively human good;
Marcel which is equivalent to Angst of Soren
Kierkegaard.
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHERS
 iv. SAINT AUGUSTINE - In the end, Descartes thought that the one
thing one cannot doubt is the existence of
- Man is of BIFURCATED Nature! the self.
- He believed that an aspect of man dwells in the
- Man in composed of two distinct entities: •
world and is imperfect and it continuously
seeks to united with the Divine! Mind (Cogito)- the thing that thinks • Body

- The body is bound to die on earth while the (Extenza) - the extension; known as a
soul anticipates to live in eternity in God’s machine.
realm filled with eternal bliss! - Man, therefore, is a THINKING THING.
- This can be achieved by living a life of virtue!

vii. DAVID HUME

v. SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS
- “The Self Is nothing but a bundle of
- Man is composed of two parts: MATTER & expressions”
FORM! - An Empiricist who believed that one can
- Matter, hyle in Greek, refers to the common only know from senses and experiences. -
things that make up everything in this Can be categorized into two:
Universe (Man’s body is a part of this!) 1. Impressions - basic objects of our
- Form or morphe, refers to the essence of a experience/situation.
thing! 2. Idea - a weaker version of the impression
- Therefore, just like Aristotle’s philosophy, it is since you haven’t experienced it
the soul (essence) that makes us human. directly.
viii. IMMANUEL KANT

- “Apparatuses of the Mind”

MODERN PHILOSOPHERS
- Adhered to Hume’s philosophy,
• Anthropocentric Approach however Kant thinks that the things that
men perceive around them are not just
- Known as the “human-centered” approach
randomly Infused into the human person
wherein it is ethically believed that humans
without organizing principles.
alone possess intrinsic value.
- Man synthesizes therefore all
knowledge and experience which
would then give him his overall
vi. RENE DESCARTES
personality and identity of who he is.

- “I Think Therefore I Am!”

- The “Father of Modern Philosophy”! - The
central concept of his philosophy is DOUBT (To ix. THOMAS HOBBES
prove something is true, it must pass through
The Test of Doubt) - People are all equal in terms of status
but then often leads to conflict
 (ABSOLUTE FREEDOM). - Here, because God is infinite and man is finite,
- The natural condition of mankind, the individual is alone in angst - in fear and
according to Hobbes, is a state of war in trembling
which life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, - He asserted that human beings must make
and short” because individuals are in a choices based on free will despite their
“war of all against all”. anxiety
- STATE OF NATURE - a hypothetical world
devoid of any law, order, and political
structure. xii. JEAN-PAUL SARTRES
- In order to survive, a contract, therefore
must be made = MORALITY! - If there is no designer (i.e., God), there is no
intrinsic essence of human life, therefore there
can be no human nature (what
x. JOHN LOCKE humans are supposed to be).
- Instead, we must invent our purpose, our
- Man is a POLITICAL ANIMAL own “essence”.
- He also believed in the concept of - Claimed that we are “radically free” - Realizing
TABULA RASA we are free to choose means that we are entirely
- We humans are not inherently good nor responsible for our lives, which creates angst. (To
evil. (Thus, he is able to rationalize) deny it means “Bad Faith”)
- He went against the idea of the State of - Thus, we must live authentically.
Nature thus he concludes that man
therefore is capable of bettering
himself. xiii. GILBERT RYLE
THE CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHERS
- Challenged Rene Descartes’ Idea of Dualism
• Existentialism - A philosophical theory or (a.k.a. “The Ghost in the Machine).
approach which emphasizes the existence of - To him, what makes a person is his day-to
the individual person as a free and responsible day life and what he makes of it.
agent determining their own development - Mental acts are not at all distinct from bodily
through acts of the will. actions.

“EXISTENCE” precedes “ESSENCE”

xiv. MERLEAU-PONTY

xi. SØREN KIERKEGAARD - He states that the mind and body are so
intertwined that they cannot be separated
- The Father of Existentialism from one another.
- Throughout his life, he saw many - All experience is embodied. One’s body is I his
inconsistencies that would lead him to this opening toward his existence to the world.
constant “Either/Or” Situation.
 - The living body, his thoughts, emotions, and culturally. (ex. Filipinos in the Philippines VS.
experiences are all one. Abroad)

• If a self is born into a particular society or culture,

the self will have to adjust according to its
II. THE SELF, SOCIETY & CULTURE
exposure.

• What is the SELF?

- SEPARATE, SELF-CONTAINED, INDEPENDENT, THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL
CONSISTENT, UNITARY, AND PRIVATE. WORLD

The self is always unique and has its own • For Mead and Vygotsky. the way that human
identity. persons develop is with the use of language
acquisition and interaction with others.
The self is also self-contained and independent
because in itself it can exist. • The way that we process information is
normally a form of an internal dialogue in
It is consistent because it has a personality that
our head.
is enduring and therefore can be expected to
persist for quite some time. • Both Vygotsky (who focused on
development through inter-dialogue with
The self ls unitary in that it is the center of all others) and Mead (focused on play as the
experiences and thoughts that run through a center of development) treat the human
certain person. mind as something that is made, constituted
through language as experienced in the
Finally. the self Is private - each person sorts out
external world and' as encountered in dialogs
information, feelings and emotions, and thought
with others.
processes is never accessible to anyone.

THE SELF IN FAMILIES

THE SELF & CULTURE

• Regardless if we have our own biological

• According to Mauss, every self has two
dispositions (what we’re born with), the kind of
faces: “personne” and “moi”.
family and upbringing that we’re born with
• Moi refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his
along with these sources
body, and his basic identity, his
available to us (human, spiritual,
biological givenness. economic, etc.) can surely affect us
• Personne, on the other hand, is composed of through our lives.
the social concepts of what it means to be • Human persons learn the ways of living
who he is.
and therefore their selfhood being in a
• This dynamics and capacity for different family.
personne can be illustrated better cross • Without a family, biologically and
 sociologically, a person may not even ➢ SELF-SCHEMA by Carl Rogers
survive or became a human person.

• Self. identity. and self-concept are not

fixed in one time frame (thus they are
GENDER AND THE SELF
active/ever-changing).

• Gender is one of those loci of the self that is • The concept of self-schema therefore
subject to alteration, change, and was coined by Carl Rogers which is
development. define as organized system or collection of

• Our gender partly determines how we knowledge about who we are.

see ourselves in the world. • The schema is not limited to the

• There is a distinction between masculinity example above. it may also include your
Interests, work, course, age, name, and
and femininity (how men and women
physical characteristics, among others.
should behave as defined by social
constructs). • It has the tendency to change over time as

• Gender has to be personally discovered well.

and asserted and not dictated by culture

and the society.
➢ OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES OF THE
SELF
III. THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCT 1. Id, Ego, & Superego - Theorized by
Sigmund Freud which states that the
➢ “I AM WHO I AM” interaction of the three develops the
behavior of the person.
2. Symbolic Interactionism - The self is
• William James (1890), one of the earliest created and developed through
Psychologists defined the self as having human interaction
two aspects - the “I“, which is the thinking, 3. The Private and Public Self - According to
acting, and feeling self; and the “Me“ Carver and Scheier (1981), there are two
which is the physical types of self - the “PRIVATE“ which contains
characteristics as well as psychological your own standards, thoughts and feelings;
and the “PUBLIC“ Self
capabilities that makes who you are. • Carl
commonly geared toward having a
Rogers uses the same terms - with the “I“
good presentation of yourself to others.
being the one who acts and decides; and the
“Me“ as what you think or feel about yourself
as an object.
THREE MAJOR BASIS REGARDING SYMBOLIC
INTERACTIONISM
 1. We do not create ourselves out of learn about ourselves, the
nothing. appropriateness of our behaviors, as well as
2. Whether we like to admit it or not. we our social status by comparing aspects of
actually need others to affirm and ourselves with other people.
reinforce who we think we are. • Social comparison also entails what is called self-
3. What we think is important to us may also
evaluation maintenance theory, which states
have been influenced by what is important
that we can feel threatened when someone
in our social or historical
out-performs us, especially when that person is
context.
close to us.

Social Interaction and Group affiliation,

therefore, are vital factors in creating our self
concept especially in the aspect of providing us IT COULD LEAD TO THIS…
with 'our social identity '~ or our perception
Narcissism is a “trait characterized by an overly
of who we are based on our membership to
level of high self-esteem, self-admiration, and self-
certain groups (Jhangiani and Terry 2014).
centeredness”.
IV. THE SELF IN WESTERN AND EASTERN THOUGHTS
“SELF-AWARENESS”
➢ Here are some of the Eastern thoughts
• It presents us with other three self
schemas:
• Confucianism - The cultivated self in
1. The Actual Self - who you are at the moment 2. Confucianism is what some scholars call a
The Ideal Self - who you like to be 3. The Ought Self “subdued self” wherein personal needs are
- who you think you should be repressed (subdued) for the good of many.

Example: An example Is that you are a student • Taoism - The self is not just an extension of
who is interested in basketball but is the family or the community; it is part of the
academically challenged in most of your universe, one of the forms and
subjects (The Actual Self) Your Ideal Self may manifestations of the Tao (Ho 1995).
want to be a part of the Varsity Team, but you • Buddhism - The self is seen as an illusion,
ought to pass your subjects as a responsible
born out of ignorance, of trying to hold
student.
and control things, or human-centered
needs; thus, the self is also the 'source of
• This can be positive or negative.
all these sufferings (SOLUTION: Forget
• It can also have an impact to your self esteem about the self to get Nirvana).
especially when you are in different groups
(by means of using social
comparison). THE WEST VERSUS THE EAST IN DEFINING THE SELF
• According to the' Social comparison theory, we
 ➢ THE WESTERN VIEWS/CULTURE For questions, please post them in Google
Classroom or message us in our Group Chats.

- One can also describe that the Western

thought looks at the world in dualities
(Creator and creation etc.)
- Individualistic Culture
- By valuing the individual, Westerners may
seem to have loose associations or even
loyalty to their groups (Competitive in
Nature).
- Straightforward when it comes to
communication
- Value Equality even when they see that the
individual can rise above everything else.

➢ THE EASTERN VIEWS/CULTURE

- On the other hand, the Eastern perspective

sees the other person as part of yourself as
well as the things you may create. a drama
in which everyone is interconnected with
their specific roles.
- Collectivistic Culture
- Value Cooperation
- They would also be more compromising and
they tend to go round the bush in
explaining things. hoping that the other
person would “feel” what they really want
to say (Qingxue 2003).
- Hierarchical Culture

GOD BLESS AND I PRAY FOR YOUR SUCCESS!