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CS101 – (UNDERSTANDING THE SELF) 1

A.Y. 2024 -2025

INTRODUCTION

- Understanding the Self is a fundamental topic in the General Education Curriculum for tertiary education.
The course is designed in dealing with personality, as well as the contributing factors that develop and
influence one’s identity. Issues regarding identifying the self is one of the most critical dilemma that young
one’s experience. Among the questions that are often ask and grapple is “Who am I?”
- This course is conceptualized to aid and guide students develop to become a critical thinker and have a
reflective attitude in probing issues concerning the self and identity for a better and proper understanding
one’s self. The course has three major parts:
- The first part enables students to understand and construct of the self from various disciplinal perspectives:
philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and psychology- as well as the more traditional division between the
East and the West.

PRELIMINARY CONTENTS
The Self from Various Perspectives

Chapter 1: Philosophical Perspective on Self

Chapter 2: Sociological Perspective of the Self

Chapter 3: Anthropological Perspective of the Self

Chapter 4: Psychological Perspective of the Self

Chapter 5: The Self in Western and Oriental/Eastern Thought

Words That Describe Me

Encircle at least three (3) words that describes you and make a sentence out of it.

Adaptive Self-Aware Tolerant Dependable Intelligent Fearless Compassionate

Hard Worker Capable with Hands Respectful Calm Humble Energetic Eccentric Clever

Creative Confidant Thoughtful Complex Realistic Cautious Balanced

Cooperative Shy Quiet Attentive Picky

This is me, the Owner

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The self from various perspective

Chapter 1
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St. Augustin with knowing nothing and that is susceptible
 The development of the self is achieved to stimulation and accumulation of learning
through self-presentation and self-realization. from the experiences, failures, references, and
 Do not be afraid in accepting your sinfulness. observations of the person.
 The realization of the wasted self is achieving
through his conversion to the faith. David Hume
 His journey of understanding the self is  He claimed that there cannot be persisting idea
through religion. of the self, that the idea of the self is derived
 people is in need to establish their from impressions.
relationship with god through being virtuous,  Impressions are subjective, temporary,
but at the same time, to be able to stand by on provisional and even skewed and therefore
what we think is true, who we think we are cannot be persisting
from our own understanding and solely  For Hume, all we know about ourselves are
defined by us alone although people may say just bundles of temporary impressions.
differently.
happy sad
Rene Descartes
 Father of modern philosophy
IMPRESSION
 He claimed that we cannot really rely on our cold
senses because our sense/perception can often warm
deceive us.
 There are times when we hear something approachable
when in fact there is nothing.
 Everything must be subjective to doubt.
Immanuel Kant
“COGITO ERGO SUM”
- I think therefore I am  Kant argued that the awareness of different
- I doubt therefore I exist emotions that we have, impressions and
behavior is only a part of our self.
HUMAN RATIONALITY  He said that to fully understand who we are, a
- We need reason in order to evaluate our certain level of consciousness or sense that
thoughts and actions. uses our intuition which synthesizes all the
- We need reasons in order to exist and continue experiences, impressions and perceptions of
to survive the generations to come. ourselves will pave the way to define and
- we as a rational being should focus on the know who we really are.
mind and explained that the more we think
and doubt what we perceived from our senses Transcendental Apperception
and the answer that came from such thinking - is an essence of our consciousness that
or doubting leads to better understanding of provides basis for understanding and
ourselves. establishing the notion of “self.”
- by synthesizing one’s accumulation of
John Locke experiences, intuition and imagination goes.
Which means that this idea goes beyond what
 He is considered to be the father of Classical
we experience but still able to become aware
liberalism
of.
 opposed the idea that only reason is the source - With that in mind and following the idea of
of knowledge of the self. Kant about Self, we can say that we are not
 His work on the self is most represented by only an object that perceives and reacts to
the concept “Tabula Rasa” which means a whatever it is that we are experiencing, we
Blank Slate. He believed that the experiences also have the capabilities to understand
and perceptions of a person is important in the beyond those experiences and be able to think
establishment of who that person can become. and have a clear identification who we are and
 He stated that a person is born Impressions establish a sense of self that is unique and
loving Cold approachable sad warm happy 9 distinct from others.
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Sigmund Freud
Chapter 2
 Is a Psychologist and Physician, he is also known
as the father of psychoanalysis and is known for
his work on human nature and the unconscious.
Sociological Perspective of the Self
 Freud believed that man has different constructs
of personality that interacts with each other. - Sociology, or the study of how human society is
 Along with his concept of the different levels of established, its structure and how it works, the
consciousness provides an idea how a person people’s interaction with each other and the effects
develops a sense of self. they have to one another is an aspect in which we
have to consider with regards to the development of
Aspects of Personality a person.
a.) ID - also known as the child aspect of a person,
The ID’s attention is on satisfaction of one’s - It is also important to understand that the
needs and self-gratification. It is driven by the establishment of the “Self” based on social
pleasure principle. structures could give us a better understanding of
b.) EGO - Sometimes known as the Police or the who we are and provide reasons how our
mediator between id and superego. It operates interactions can affect us as a person.
within the boundaries of reality; primary function
is to maintain the impulses of the ID to an George Herbert Mead and the Social Self,
acceptable degree.
- George Herbert Mead is an American Sociologist,
c.) SUPEREGO - is the conscience of the one’s
personality, Superego has the inclination to he is considered as the Father of American
uphold justice and do what is morally right and pragmatism, and one of the pioneers in the field of
socially acceptable actions. The superego is social psychology because of his contributions on
involved in the notion of right or wrong that is the development of the person relating to various
imparted to us by our parents or people that tool social factors.
care for us during childhood.
- Mead rejected the idea of biological determination
He also believed that we are a by-product of our of the self which proposes that an individual already
experiences in the past. And that are actions are driven has an established self from the moment he is born.
by the idea of resisting or avoiding pain, and are molded For him, the notion of a person with regards to who
from our need for pleasure or being happy. they are develops from one’s social interaction with
other people.
Gilbert Ryle
 said that self is the behavior presented by the - He reiterated that the process of establishing the self
person, that the behavior that we show, emotions is through the construction and reconstruction of the
and actions are the reflection of our mind and as idea of who we are as a person during the process
such is the manifestation of who we are. of social experience.
 To him, once we encounter others, their
The “I” and the “Me”
perceptions of what we do, how we act, and the
way we behave will then result to the - Mead proposes that there are two components of the
understanding of other people and establishing of self which the person has, these components are the
who we are. His explanation of self is further “I” and the “Me”.
exemplified in his “ghost in the machine” view. - The “Me” are the characteristics, behavior, and or
This view said the man is a complex machine actions done by a person that follows the
with different functioning parts, and the
“generalized others” that person interacts with,
intelligence, and other characteristics or
while
behavior of man is represented by the ghost in the
said machine. - the “I” is the reaction of the individual to the
attitude of others, as well as the manifestation of the
 the idea of Ryle is saying that the things that we
individuality of the person.
do, how we behave and react and all other
components like the way we talk, walk, and look
is generally who we are as a person.
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Chapter 3
Mead’s Three Role-playing Stages of Self
Development
Anthropological Perspective of the Self
Mead proposed that there a three stages in which a
person has to go through for one to develop one’s self. The Self and the Person in Contemporary Anthropology
These stages are the Preparation/Language Stage, Play Anthropology and Its Sub-disciplines
stage, and Game stage.
- The academic discipline of anthropology, or “four-
1. The Preparatory Stage (Birth – 2 years Old) – field” anthropology, studies human species and its
According to Mead, during this stage the infant immediate ancestors includes four main sub disciplines
simply imitates the actions and behaviors of the or subfields - sociocultural, archeological, biological and
people that the infant interacts with. Because linguistic anthropology. Each sub discipline studies
the child is only mimicking what he or she adaptation, the process which organisms cope with the
observes from his or her environment their environmental. Anthropology is a systematic exploration
actions are only the reflection of what they can of human biological and cultural diversity.
remember without any intention or meaning
The Sub disciplines of Anthropology
behind their actions or behavior.
1. Cultural Anthropology
2. The Play Stage (2 – 6 years old) – for the Play
- Cultural anthropology is the study of human society
stage, it is the time where children begin to
and culture which describes, analyzes, interprets and
interact with other with which certain rules
explains social and cultural similarities and differences.
apply, these rules often time does not adhere to
It explores the diversity of the present and the past.
any set or standards but rather are rules that are Ethnography and ethnology are two different activities
set by the children themselves. Also, this is the which can study and interpret cultural diversity.
stage where the child practices real life
situations through pretend play and is the onset Ethnography requires fieldwork to collect data, often
of self- consciousness. The development of the descriptive and specific to group. On the other hand,
self in this stage occurs through the preliminary ethnology uses data collected by a series of researches,
experiences that serves as practice for the child. usually synthetic and comparative.
2. Archeological Anthropology

3. The Game Stage (6-9 years old) – The final - reconstructs, describes and interprets human behavior
stage of self-development according to Mead and cultural patterns through material remains. These
where are characterized by the ability of the materials remain such as plant, animal and ancient
garbage provides stories about utilization and actions.
children to recognize the rules of the game and
Ethnography (based on field work) Ethnology (based on
be able to identify their roles and the roles of
cross-cultural comparison)
the others that is playing with them. With this,
the children at this stage learns the implications 3. Biological, or Physical Anthropology
of their actions as well as the understanding or
- focuses on these special interest, human evolution as
taking into account how one can take into
revealed by the fossil, human genetics, human growth
account the view point of the society on the
and development, human biological plasticity and the
attitudes and actions. biology, evolution, behavior and social life of monkeys,
apes and other nonhuman primates.
4. Linguistic Anthropology
- studies language in its social and cultural context across
space and over time. Universal features of language are
analyzed and association between language and culture
are evaluated. It also studies how speech changes in
social situations and over time.
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Chapter 4
The Self-Embedded in the Culture

- Culture refers to customary behavior and Psychological Perspective of the Self

beliefs that are passed on through enculturation
- Psychology has various ways of understanding a
(Kottak, 2008), wherein enculturation is the
person and the therapist way of helping people understand
social process which culture is learned and
themselves. Self by definition is a reference by an
transmitted.
individual to the same individual person. Having its own or
single character as a person, referring to the person as
- Culture is a social process that is learned and same individual.
passes from generation to the next. Culture
depends on images, which have a specific - The psychology of studying self is about either the
significance and incentive for individuals who cognitive and affective representation of one's identity or
share a culture. Cultural traditions take regular the subject of experience. The earliest formulation of the
marvels, including organic desires, and self in modern psychology forms the distinction between
transforming them specifically headings. the self as I, the person knower, and the self as Me, the
person that is known.
Everybody is cultured. “The Self and It Selves”
Social orders are coordinated and designed
through predominant monetary powers, social William James, a psychologist, has introduced in his
examples, key images and core values. Cultural document The Principles of Psychology (1890) a numerous
mean of adjustment have been urgent in human concepts and distinction of self.
evolution. Cultures oblige people, yet the For James, his main concepts of self are the “me-
activities of people can change cultures. self” and the “I-self”. The “me-self” is the phenomenal self,
the experienced self or the self as known. It is the self that
- Csordas (1999) elaborated that the human body has experience the phenomena and who had known the
is not essential for anthropological study but situation. The “I-self” is the self-thought or the self-knower.
the paradigm of embodiment can be explored
in the understanding culture and the self. The James had claimed that the understanding of Self can be
body is not an object to be studied in relation to separated into three categories:
culture, but is to be considered as the subject of “1. Its constituents;
culture, or in other words as the existential
ground of culture. On the other hand, 2. The feeling and emotions they arouse – Self-feelings;

3. The actions to which they prompt – Self-seeking and self-

- Geertz (1973) described culture as "a system of preservation (James, 1890, p162)
inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic
forms by means of which men communicate,
perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about A.) The Material Self is constituted by our bodies,
and attitudes toward life" clothes, immediate family and home. It is in this
that we attached more deeply into and therefore
- The interpretation of the symbols in each we are most affected by because of the investment
culture is essential which gives meaning to we give to these things.
one’s action. Each culture has its own symbols B.) The Social Self is based on our interactions
and has its own meaning; one must need to with society and the reaction of people towards us.
comprehend those meanings keeping in mind It is our social self that thought to have multiple
the end goal to understand the culture. divergence or different version of ourselves. It
varies as to how we present ourselves to a
particular social group. The most intimate self,
C.) The spiritual self - It is the most intimate
because it is more satisfying for the person that
they have the ability to argue and discriminate
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one’s moral sensibility, conscience and indomitable will.

Conception of Self Thus Gergen argued that having a flexible sense of

self allows for multiple “selves”. That it is up to the the self
Carl Rogers, had come up with his conception of self to define himself as warm or cold, dominant or submissive,
through the intervention he used for his client, the Person- sexy or plain.
centered therapy.
According to Kenneth Gergen, proponent of Postmodern
It is a non-directive intervention because it believes that all Psychology, the individual has many potential selves. He
people have the potential to solve their own problems. carries within him the capacity to identify himself, whether
Rogers believe that people must be fully honest with warm or cold, dominant or submissive, sexy or plain. How
themselves in order to have personal discovery on oneself. we bring ourselves in every situation will help him get
In this concept of self, he had come up with three sides of a through for a day.
triangle. Therefore, maybe it is healthy to have many mask. Multiple
a. The Perceived Self (Self-worth - how the person sees self selfhood is part of what it means to be human, and forcing
& others sees them) oneself to stick to one self-concept maybe unhealthy.

b. The Real Self (Self Image - How the person really is) True Self and Fake Self

c. The Ideal Self (How the person would like to be) True Self, as rooted from early infancy is called the
simple being. The sense of self based on spontaneous
Concept of Unified and Multiple Self authentic experience and feeling of being alive, having “real
self”. Example, as a baby we react base on our sense of
As DanielCW (2016) wrote in his article
reality. The baby reacted spontaneously based on our
“Psychoanalysis vs Postmodern Psychology” he has
instinctual sense.
emphasized how Freud perceived person as a unified beings
and concept of multiple “selves” Fake Self, is our defense facade. Overlaying or
contradicting the original sense of self. Problem would be
In Freud’s concept, he argued that mind is divided
we might build false set of relationship through concealing
into three connected but distinct parts. The Id, Ego and
a barren emptiness behind an independent-seeming façade.
Super Ego. Id as the center of primitive, animalistic
impulses (sex, food & comfort) following the pleasure
principle. Superego as the center for ethical imperative. The
one that reminds the self of what is right of wrong following
morality principle. And the Ego as the moderator between
these two which was driven by rationality principle. And
then also, Freud has stated two important division of mind,
the conscious and unconscious. Conscious are the thoughts
that we are aware of. And Unconscious as thoughts that we
are not aware of. (DanielCW, 2016)
Although, Freud has argued that self has a multiple
parts, he still believed that ultimately we are a Unified
beings (At least, when we are healthy). Ego remains at the
helm of mind, guiding the Id and Superego and staying at
the center.
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Chapter 5
The Self in Western and Oriental/Eastern Thought
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ACTIVITY 1

“Who a re you?”
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ACTIVITY 2

A Portrait of Yourself
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“Who are you?”

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