LESSON 1: KNOWING ONESELF, STRENGTH AND LIMITATIONS

As an individual, we commonly see other people’s manner of doing things, belief, and lifestyle.
Most of the time, we give comments and/or judgment on how they behave and react in certain
scenarios. However, it is observed that most people find it hard to make good and sound evaluation
towards their own behavior, traits and personality. In this lesson, we will try to know ourselves better
by having careful reflections on how we see ourselves as an individual and understanding our
characters particularly as young and late adolescent as part of the developmental stages of man.
Contrary to what you know that knowing yourself begins by understanding yourself alone, you
should also understand that knowing others can pave the way of knowing yourself better as they say
no man is an island.
In this module you will get to understand some philosophies discussing the principles of
knowing oneself and later have a clear perspective of your own personalities. Let's begin with defining
Self-Development.

SELF-DEVELOPMENT
The stages of man have many broad aspects covering different developmental tasks and
adjustments. As an adolescent, it is undeniable that during this year, you find it most important to
know yourselves deeper. You had experienced most of the time you find yourself asking ‘what do you
really want’ or ‘why do you really like doing these things or being with these people’.
You may find it odd that you are starting to ask yourself questions, but you’ve got to
understand that you are not the only person who experienced it. In other words, what you are
experiencing is just normal. Now that you are in your middle or late adolescence, we can say that you
may have discovered changes in your life, or in your behavior or attitude that compel you to discover
more.
Self-development is a process of discovering oneself by realizing one's potentials and
capabilities that are shaped over time either by studying in a formal school or through environmental
factors. Along this realization, an individual encounters gradual changes deep within him/her that may
help him/her overcome unacceptable practices or traits which lead him towards positive change for
his growth or self-fulfillment. It is also called personal development.
On the other hand, examining yourself, most specifically how you react on things, your belief,
traits, and values is one of the most complicated things to do in the world. You must understand,
though, that it is not that simple. In fact, it follows a process.
This lesson will be of great help for you to rediscover yourself better. Let us start by knowing
some concepts of understanding oneself.
KNOW THYSELF
According to the philosophical point of view, “An unexamined life is not worth living”, this is one
of the famous lines once uttered by one of the greatest philosophers of Ancient Greek, Socrates.
Know Thyself is an old maxim or aphorism which in time has been used in varied literature and
consequently gained different meanings. One of its meanings is recorded in the Greek encyclopaedia
of knowledge called “The Suda”.
Thomas Hobbes also discussed his own views about the maxim from which he used the phrase
“read thyself” in his famous work The Leviathan. He stressed that an individual could learn more by
studying others and that he/she can do this by engaging himself/herself to reading books. However,
Hobbes emphasized that a person learns more by studying oneself.
He further elaborated his views about know thyself from which he stated that a man who
investigates himself/herself and considers contemplating on what he/she did or what he/she thinks,
reasons, hopes and/or fears and to what grounds he/she feels all these can consequently learn how to
read and learn others’ thoughts and passions in similar occasions.
Thus, this statement leads us to the realization that knowing oneself is the open door that leads
us to knowing others better.
SELF-CONCEPT
Self-concept is one’s abstract and general idea about him/herself particularly toward his/her
unique personality and his/her own perception about his/her set of values, point of views and
behavior.
This theory began as Rene Descartes, the Father of Modern Philosophy, proposed his theory
that a person’s existence depends on his/her perception. Rene Descartes stated that mind is the seat
of consciousness.
This means that it is in the mind that we know everything about ourselves like our identity,
passion, interest, feelings, and/or intellect, thus everything that we are comes from the mind.
Self-concept theory has a lot of suppositions regarding how people learn to judge themselves.
Among these, Sincero named three aspects such as:
Self-concept is learned. This explains that no individual is born with self-concept. A person will
soon develop this as he/she grows old. This means that self-concept can only be acquired as soon as
the person learns how and so this indicates that self-concept is influenced by the person’s
environment and can be a product of the person’s socialization.
Self-concept is organized. This stresses out that one’s perception towards him/her is firm. This
means that a person may hear other people’s point of view regarding him/her but will keep on
believing that what he/she thinks of himself/herself is always the right one. Change on one’s
perceptions towards him/her, however, may also be possible but it takes time.
 Self-concept is dynamic. As an individual grows older, he/she continues to encounter problems
or challenges that may reveal his/her self-concept in that particular time or situation. A person will
definitely respond to the scenario based on his/her own insights and how he/she perceives
himself/herself in the situation. Thus, self-concept undergoes development as the person goes
through different experiences.
Aside from the philosophers above, Sigmund Freud who is a well-known psychologist,
neurologist and the creator of Psychoanalysis Theory and the father of psychoanalysis, proposed that
there are three components of personality within us: the Id, Ego and Superego that certainly play a
vital role of how we think of ourselves. Let’s tackle them one by one.
The Id. Freud explained that man's personality is driven by pleasure principle. This means that
the nature of Id is to satisfy man's desire without thinking much of the situation. This nature is being
developed at a young age or present from birth. To illustrate this idea let us take this as an example.
An infant will cry if he/she wants to be fed to satisfy his/her hunger. Definitely, an infant cannot exactly
explain what he/she really wants. Also, infants do grab things and would want to get things on their
hands not minding if they hurt or if they are important or not. All they want is to get them for they
want them. This is the nature of Id, when the Id wants it, the rest are no longer important. However,
this instinct is controlled by the ego and superego as these aspects are developed in man’s life later
on.
The Ego. This is the second component of the personality that is developed at approximately
the age of three. This operates according to reality which makes it possible for the Id to work in a
more proper and satisfactory ways. The ego will give a more socially accepted means of getting the
desires and wants of a person without getting to hurt others feelings. In other words, it is the job of
the ego to provide a man some guidelines on how to behave accordingly while he fulfilled his
pleasure.
This component of our personality is manifested whenever we try to satisfy our cravings
without compromising our self-image to others.
The Superego. Freud believed that this aspect of man begins to manifest as a child turns 5. This
is the last component of personality which holds our moral judgments or concept of right and wrong
that are believed to be acquired from the family and the environment.
This personality is developed as man learns the culture of distinguishing right from wrong
based on the set of guidelines and standards that are known to people which might have been
probably imposed by the people in the community like parents, teachers, elders or the community as
a whole. Therefore, superego directs a man’s life in order for him to avoid hurting others.