UNIVERSITY OF CEBU

PSYCH| 1st Semester | A.Y. 2024-2025 | BSN- 1D

Bihag, Zeen Cloe A.

• He was the 1st thinker to focus on the full power of

CHAPTER 1: DEFINING THE SELF: PERSONAL reason on the human self: who we are, who we should be,
AND DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES ON and who we will become.
SELF AND IDENTITY • The soul strives for wisdom and perfection, and reason is
the soul’s tool to achieve an exalted state of life
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
• Our preoccupation with bodily needs such as food, drink,
• “Know thyself” sex, pleasure, material possessions, and wealth keep us
The self is perennially molds, shapes, and develops, Who
from attaining wisdom.
you are, Who you want to be, Who society wants you to be,
and Who you can be are some of the ideas we will explore.
The self is truly complex. SOCRATES- How to be Human
• Goodness or beauty is the most important of all.
PHILOSOPHY • A person can have a meaningful and happy life only if he
• Philia - love; Sophia – wisdom becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can
Philosophy employs the inquisitive mind to discover the be achieved through constant soul- searching.
ultimate causes, reasons, and principles of everything. • For him, this is best achieved when one tries to separate
- The nature of the self is a topic of interest the body from the soul as much as possible.
among philosophers.
- The philosophical framework for understanding the self was • The Socratic method, the so-called introspection, is a
heavily explored by ancient Greek philosophers Socrates method of carefully examining our thoughts and emotions -
and Plato. to gain self- knowledge.
- Philosophers agree that self-knowledge is a
pre-requisite to a happy and meaningful life. ➢ PLATO

Greek Philosophy Medieval Philosophy • Almost the same as Socrates with some add-ons
• Socrates • St. Augustine • The self consists of three parts: rational, spirit, and
• Plato appetitive soul.
• Aristotle Modern Philosophy
• Rene Descartes 1.Rational or reason is the divine essence that enables us to
• John Locke think deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a true
• David Hume understanding of eternal truths.
• Immanuel Kant • Gilbert Ryle
2.The spirit includes basic emotions such as love, anger,
• Sigmund Freud • Maurice Merleau Ponty
ambition, aggressiveness, and empathy.

3.The appetitive soul includes our basic biological needs

GREEK PHILOSOPHY
such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire.
➢ SOCRATES
• “ An unexamined life is not worth living” • These three elements of ourselves are in a
• For ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, the self is dynamic relationship with one another, sometimes in
synonymous with the soul (Psyche). conflict.
• The soul is immortal. Socrates believed that every
human possessed an immortal soul. • When conflict occurs, Plato believes that it is the
• Human life does not end at one’s death. responsibility of our Rational to sort things out and exert
• He explained that death is the departure of the control, restoring a harmonious relationship among the
soul for the eternal world. three elements of ourselves.

• Plato believes that genuine happiness can only

“Every human person is dualistic” be achieved by people who consistently make sure that
 Body their Rational is in control of their Spirits and Appetitive.
• imperfect and impermanent.
• belongs to ideal realm which is changeable. eternal, ➢ Aristotle
and immortal. transient and imperfect • For Aristotle, the body and soul are not two separate
elements but are one thing.
 Soul • The soul is simply the Form of the body and is not capable
• perfect and permanent. of existing without the body.
• belongs to physical realm which is unchanging, • The soul is that which makes a person a person. The soul
eternal, and immortal is the essence of the self.
• Without the body the soul cannot exist. The soul dies • The soul and body are independent of one another,
along with the body. and each can exist and function without the other.

Aristotle suggested that anything with life has a soul. • The self as a thinking entity is distinct from the self as
a physical body. In other words, the thinking self can
Three kinds of soul: exist independently of the physical body
1) Vegetative - the physical body; allows things to grow
➢ JOHN LOCKE
2) Sentient - sensual desires, feelings, and emotions
• Tabula rasa or blank slate
3) Rational - what makes us human; includes intellect
• He felt that the self, or personal identity, is constructed
that makes man know and understand things
primarily from sense experiences - or more specifically,
• Aristotle suggests that the rational nature of the self is to what we see, hear, smell, taste, and feel.
lead a good, flourishing, and fulfilling life • These experiences shape and mold the self throughout a
person's life.
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY • Self-consciousness is necessary to have a coherent
➢ ST. AUGUSTINE personal (self) “Tabula Rasa” identity or knowledge of the
•St. Augustine integrated the ideas of Plato and self as a person.
Christianity. • Consciousness is what makes possible our belief that we
• He developed a more unified perspective on the are the same identity in different situations.
body and soul. • Using the power of reason and introspection enables
• The soul is what governs and defines the human people to understand and achieve accurate conclusions
person or the self. about the self.
• The soul is an important element of man. • In essence, the self is a collection of memories organized
by“Tabula Rasa” consciousness.
• The soul is united with the body so that man may
be entire and complete.
➢ DAVID HUME
• The physical body is different from and inferior to
its inhabitant, the immortal soul. • There is no Self
• Augustine believed that God is transcendent and • What people experience is just a bundle or collection of
everything created by God, who is all good,is good. different perceptions, impressions, sensations, ideas,
• Therefore, the human person being a creation of thoughts, and images.
God is always geared towards the good. • There is no past nor future, only the present stimulation
• The self is known only through knowing God. provided by the environment.
• Self-knowledge is a consequence of the knowledge • The idea of personal identity is a result of imagination.
of God.
• For Augustine, "knowledge can only come by ➢ IMMANUEL KANT
seeing the truth that dwells within us.
“Knowing GOD, is to be united with God through faith and • We construct the Self
• It is the self that makes experiencing an intelligible world
knowing oneself.”
possible because it is the self that is actively organizing and
synthesizing all our thoughts and perceptions.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY
a. Internal world - thoughts, feelings
➢ RENE DESCARTE b. External world - events, situations, happenings
outside our control
• “I think, therefore, I am" • We synthesize both to create the self
• For him, the act of thinking about the self of being self- • In other words, the self constructs its own reality creating
conscious - is in itself proof that there is a self. a world that is familiar and predictable.
• For Descartes, the essence of the self- a thinking entity • Through our rationality, the self transcends sense
that doubts, understands, analyzes, questions, and reasons. experience.
• There are two dimensions of the self: the self as a
➢ SIGMUND FRUED
thinking entity and the self as a physical body
• Levels of the mind:
a) The thinking self (or soul) is the nonmaterial, a. Conscious mind
immortal, conscious being, and independent of the b. Preconscious mind
physical laws of the universe. c. Unconscious mind
• Provinces of the mind
b) The physical body is the material, mortal, non ⚬ ID
thinking entity, fully governed by the physical laws ⚬ Ego
of nature ⚬ Superego
 ➢ GILBERT RYLE
• The way we do things,defines the self.
• I act, therefore I am

➢ MAURICE MERLEAU- PONTY

• The Self is embodied subjectivity.
• All knowledge of ourselves and our world is based on
subjective experience.
• The self can never be truly objectified or known in a
completely objective sort of way.