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Lesson-1 Building Identity The Construction of The Self

Chapter 1 explores the construction of the self through various philosophical perspectives, emphasizing that the self is dynamic and shaped by experiences. Key philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Kant, and Hume provide differing views on the essence of self, ranging from the duality of body and soul to the idea of self as a collection of impressions. The chapter encourages reflection on personal identity and the nature of existence, highlighting the importance of understanding the self in relation to knowledge, virtue, and moral obligation.

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Maj Myrielle
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37 views43 pages

Lesson-1 Building Identity The Construction of The Self

Chapter 1 explores the construction of the self through various philosophical perspectives, emphasizing that the self is dynamic and shaped by experiences. Key philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Kant, and Hume provide differing views on the essence of self, ranging from the duality of body and soul to the idea of self as a collection of impressions. The chapter encourages reflection on personal identity and the nature of existence, highlighting the importance of understanding the self in relation to knowledge, virtue, and moral obligation.

Uploaded by

Maj Myrielle
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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UNDERSTANDING

THE SELF
Chapter 1: Building Identity: The
Construction of the Self
Learning Objectives
•Discuss the different representations
of the Self Across Disciplines and
Perspectives.
•Explain why it is essential to
understand the self.
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
• How would you characterize yourself?
• What makes you stand out from the rest? What
makes yourself special?
• How has your self transformed itself?
• How is your self related to other selves?
• What will happen to yourself after you die?
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

•Try to imagine the life of a child who


grows up in the city or in the
province..
•Try to imagine what her life would be
if she had grown up under
circumstances.
INTRODUCTION
•A name is not the person itself no
matter how intimately bound it is with
the bearer.
•It is only a signifier.
•The self is something that a person
perennially molds, shapes, and
develops.
•The self is not static.
The Philosophical Construction of Self
•Philosophy of man is a being or self
and its ultimate reason for being.
•A comprehensive study of truth
•Philosophy comes from the Greek
word Philo meaning “love of “ and
the Latin word Sophia meaning
“wisdom”
The Philosophical Construction of Self

•Philosophy comes from the


Greek word Philo meaning “love
of “ and the Latin word Sophia
meaning “wisdom”
The Philosophical Construction of Self

•Philosophy means “the love


of wisdom” and the search
of truth.
The Philosophical Construction of Self

•“In the olden days men who


were concerned with the
search for truth were called
Philosophers” Pythagoras
The Philosophical Construction of Self

• Philosophers were sophists or


wandering scholars.
•Philosophy helps us to better
understand the self as a human
person
Religious

Moral Spiritual
MAN

The Crown
of

Emotional Creation
Rational
& Political

Physical
& Social
The Philosophical Construction
of Self
•The early philosophers had the
idea that the proper way to
solve the problem of man- the
self, is to first inquire and
discover the true nature of man.
SOCRATES
• First Philosopher who ever
engaged in a systematic
questioning about the self.
• Concerned about the problem of
the self
• For Socrates, every man is
composed of: body and soul -
dualistic
a. Body (imperfect and
impermanent)
b. Soul(perfect and permanent)
SOCRATES
•Socratic Method
A method of inquiry by
answering questions with
another question.
The two processes of the Socratic Method
a.The ironic process
- To make the seeker of knowledge, clear his mind for
action. It removes from his mind prejudice and leads to
the humble and sincere confession of ignorance.
b. The maieutic
- Draws truth out of the pupils’ mind which is done by
means of dialogue or conversation.
For instance, the learners wish to know the nature of
virtue.
a. The ironic process
-Socrates would use IP to clear the minds of the learners’
unclear and wrong notions already formed in their minds.
b. The maieutic process
-Socrates would apply MP by engaging the learners in a
dialogue.
-To Socrates, true knowledge is
virtue and virtue is courage- that
courage is a virtue and virtue is
reason.
•For Socrates, the soul is the intellectual and moral
personality of humans.
•“The soul is the essence of human person” it is the
essence of humans to think and will.
•The “soul or “The Self” is the responsible agent in
knowing and acting rightly or wrongly.
•The soul is the person’s true self.
•Good life is the ultimate goal of
Socrates’s philosophy.
•The good life is attained through the
acquisition of knowledge, wisdom,
virtue.
•To attained good life; we need to
examine our life.
•Once a human person discover the truth
then a person does what she /he thinks
the right thing to do.
•One’s true self should not be identified with what:
1. one owns
2. social status
3. reputation
4. even with one’s body
•It is the state of the soul, the person’s
inner being which determines the quality
one’s life.
•Knowledge, wisdom, and virtue that
make life meaningful.
•Therefore the true self is the one
who lived in accordance with
knowledge, wisdom and virtue.
Let’s check your understanding!
What is self according to Socrates?
PLATO- THE IDEAL PERFECT
- ManMAN
in his original state was pure
soul which is not tied to the body. A
soul exists and could exist apart
from the body.
PLATO- THE IDEAL PERFECT MAN
For Plato, the soul has three
components
1. Rational soul-reason and
intellect
2. Spirited soul- emotion
3. Appetitive soul- desires;
eating, drinking, sex
When this ideal state is attained,
then the human person’s soul
,becomes just and virtuous.
PLATO- THE IDEAL PERFECT MAN
- A soul is imprisoned in a body or soma
- Soul is the essence of man. What makes a man a man.
- Man’s body is an unfortunate accident and does not
belong to his essence.
- Man’s body belongs to the world of the senses, a world
of things (subject) perishable and temporal, dependent
on the soul which leads, commands, and opposes it.
PLATO- THE IDEAL PERFECT MAN
✓To Plato, the soul can exist without a body.
✓What makes a man perfect is the perfection
of his soul, his essence, and his importance.
KANT’S HUMAN RATIONALITY

- Man can create for himself the


good and the rational being.
- He attests that moral obligation is
universal and excuses no one.
- It is the supreme and
fundamental law of human
nature.
KANT’S HUMAN RATIONALITY

- The moral obligation is called


Duty.
- Human rationality makes the
person “autonomous” moral
being .
KANT’S HUMAN RATIONALITY
- Human reason gives the person the capacity to make
judgment regarding the good.
- The moral “ought” pertains to the supreme and
fundamental moral principles that govern the
goodness of an action.
- Morality must be the basic respect for human
dignity.
KANT’S HUMAN RATIONALITY

Therefore, human reason gives the person the


capacity to make judgment regarding the good.
CONFUCIAN THOUGHT
- Confucius professed that the family is the
bases of ideal government and that there
should be a strong solidarity among the family
members.
- Kindness, uprightness, decency, wisdom and
faithfulness
- “The Golden Rule” “Do unto others what you
would want others do unto you”
CONFUCIAN THOUGHT

- Politicians and rulers should be


exemplary models of the citizens.
- Human nature is essentially good.
- Man can be honest and
trustworthy, and humane to others.
ST. AUGUSTINE PHILOSOPHY OF
MAN
St. Augustine’s philosophy of man
harmonizes and puts together to a
wonderful blend and unity, the
wisdom of Greek philosophy, and the
desired truth from Sacred Writings.
ST. AUGUSTINE PHILOSOPHY OF
MAN
➢ To Augustin, life is a dialectic
movement toward love.
➢Virtue is the art of living rightly and
well.
➢Man is capable of living rightly and
well.
➢If you love God, then love others too.
DAVID HUME ON THE SELF
• An Empiricist who believes that one
can know only what comes from the
senses and experiences.

• The self is not an entity over and


beyond the physical body

• To Hume, the self is nothing else but


a bundle of impressions.
DAVID HUME ON THE SELF
• Impressions are the basic objects of
our experience or sensation

• The idea of the self is simply an idea


and there is no guarantee that it
exists in reality

• It’s simply a combination of all


experiences with a particular person.
RENE DESCARTES
• Father of Modern Philosophy/cogito
ergo sum / “ I think therefore I am.

• The cogito “the thing that thinks-


mind, the extension of the mind is-
body.

• Conceived that a human person has


body and mind.

• Descartes’s view that the body is like


a machine that is attached to the
RENE DESCARTES
• The only thing that one cannot
doubt is the existence of self

• The mind is superior to the


body for it is the mind that
mental states occur.

• The mind is the real self


JOHN LOCKE
➢ human mind at birth is a blank
paper or tabula rasa
➢In the blank paper, experience
makes its imprint.
➢External objects imprint in
everyone’s senses and are
conveyed to the mind- perception
JOHN LOCKE
➢ In effect sensations furnish the
mind with all the contents and
nothing exist in the mind that was
perceived by the senses.

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