UNDERSTANDING SELF
Philosophical self- examines the idea of the self a conceptual level.
- Defines the essential qualities that make one person
distinct from all others.
# The self-according to Ancient Philosophers
1. SOCRATES (496-399) -He examines our existence in the universe.
- “An unexamined life is not worth living” -advice
- He was the first philosophers who ever engaged in a
methodological questioning the self.
DUALISTIC 2 PARTS TO SOCRATES
1. BODY- imperfect and impermanent aspect to him and that is
body.
2. SOUL- Immortal one
Dictom- is a short statement
1st dictom-“Ignorance is the beginning of wisdom”
2. PLATO (428-348)- A classical Greek philosphers, mathematician and a
student of Socrates.
- the self is an immortal in a mortal “penshable body”
(mahanaw)
IMMORTAL SOUL- the soul is of such and indestructible nature that not even
evil can destroy it.
#The soul has a tripartile nature (consist 3 parts)
The components of the soul
1. Rational soul (mind)- governs our intellect and reasoning.
-it enables man to think, to reflect and
analyze.
2. Spirited soul (feelings)- in charge of emotions
- It makes an asserts and experience determination and
anger.
3. Appetitive soul (tired, stressed)- in charge of basic desires and
having sex are controlled well.
- Drives man to thunger, thirst, and physical risk.
3. ARISTOTLE (384-522 B.C)- The self is composed of body and soul, mind and
matter, sense and intellect, passion and reason.
1. REASON (intellectual)- is a supreme in a human person and so should
govern all lifes activities.
2. SENSE (5 senses)- Is lower nature of a human person.
Wisdom- is the true knowledge
Virtue- doing what I best for you
Theory of “Golden Mean” – Not to extreme, not to much, not to excel but in
moderation”–“living life in moderation”
THE SELF ACCORDING TO MODERN PHILOSOPHERS
1. RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650)
- A father of modern philosophers
- The meditations of first philosophy, he claims that there
is so much that we should doubt but in the end,
Descartes thought that the only thing that one cannot
doubt is the existence of the self.
- He also said that if one doubts oneself, that only proves
that there is a doubting self.
- His famous line, “Cogito Ergo Sum” it means “think,
therefore, I am “
- He viewed the human person as having a body and mind.
- Body- he called it as the “exlenza”
- Kind- he called it as the “Cogito”
In Descartes view, the body is nothing else but a machine that is attached to
the mind.
2. JOHN LOCKE (1631-1709)
- Locke explained that at birth, the (human) mind is tabula
rosa “blank state”
- Impression during infancy have very important and
lasting consequences.
- He argued that the “associations of ideas” that
individuals make when young are more important that
those made later because they are the foundation of life.
- Locke emphasized that “freedom of individuals to author
their own soul”.
- Like st. Augustine and st. Thomas Aquinas, locke believes
that “God’s property”
- The chief and set by our creator for us species and as
individuals is survival
- With arrival as the end, every human person has the right
to life, liberty, health and property.
“whatever your mindset is that manifest everything”
“I think therefore, I am”
“if you think that, it will happen”
3. IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)
- According to kant, a human person has an,
- inner self-consist of his/her psychological state, and
rational intellect.
- Outer self- a human person sense and they physical
world.
- Kant sees the self as prone to corruption, life is a
constant struggle between beauty and pleasure,
between the inner and outer self.
- If Descartes is known for his “I think, therefore, I am.”
Kant is known for his supreme principle of morality, the
Kantian categorical imperative.
- “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at
the same time will that it should become a natural law”
#THE SELF ACCORDING TO CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHERS
[Link] merteau-Ponty (1908-1961)
- According to him, self is an inextricable union between mind and
body.
-There is no experience that is not an embodied experience.
- everything that we experience in this world, experience of joy,
sadness, love, bemorse happens with our bodies.
- there is never a moment in which we are seperated from our bodies
as if it is a clothing that we can shed off.
- the mind and the body are so intertwined that we cannot
distinguisehed where the work of the mind ends and where the work of the
body begins.
[Link] Ryle (1900-1976)
-Ryle believes that “the working of the mind are not distinct from the
actions of the body but are one and the same.
-The mind is the mysterious entity that controls the material
workings of the body.
- another teaching of ryle that related to understanding and
developing your self is the distinction among;
A. Knowing how (technical ability)
B. Knowing that (facts and propositions)
C. Knowing what (acquaintance with things and persons)
[Link] Churchland (1942- )
-he adheres to “materialism”, the belief that nothing except matter
exist.
-he asserts that since the mind can’t be experienced by our senses
then the mind doesn’t really exist.
-it is the physical brain and not the mind that give us our sense of
self.
THE SELF ACCORDING TO MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHERS.
[Link]. Augustine(354-430 A.D.)
-Another study about the self can be seen in the works of st.
Augustine.
-he was an influential christian theologian from nomidia.
-Augustine view of self reflects the entirely to one’s spirituality.
-he followed plato’s view and infused it with the doctrine of
christianity.
-He believed that there are two aspects of man.
Body Soul
The body is bound to And the soul desires
die on earth. to be with God.
-Augstine believed that all knwoledge leads to God only pure heart
can see God.
-For him, love of GOD, faith in hm, and understanding of his gospel
will ultimately lead to happiness.
[Link]. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
-he was the most famous 13 century scholar of the medieval
philosophy.
-He also joined and added something to the christian view.
-Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of 2 parts
Matter Form
Common stuff that Essence of substance
makes up everything of a thing
in the universe
-To Aquinas, the soul is what animates the body it is what makes us
human.
THE SELF FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
SOCIALIZATION
- it is a whole and lifetime process by which people learn the values,
attitudes and behaviors that are appropriate and expected by their culture
and community.
- it is the process of internalizing the norms of society which
influence one's beliefs, actions and behavior.
- the process of socialization helps shape a person's image.
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD (1863-1931)
- a sociologist who claims that the self is not there at birth. This
means that the self is not based or inherited traits and other biological
factors.
- the biological self is not the self.
- "the self is something which has a development; it is not initially
there, at birth, but arises in the process of social experience and activity, that
is, develops in the given individual as a result of his relations to the process as
a whole and to other individuals within the process."
-other people play a significant role in how we view ourselves.
Mead explains, however, that the influence is restricted only to a
"significant others" and at certain periods.
-Significant others- are people who play important roles in the life of
a person such as parents, teachers, friends.
-Mead further explains that the influence of the "significant others"
takes place only at a certain period in our life.
- Mead further explains that the influence of the "significant others"
takes place only at a certain period in our life and gain a new understanding
of society, the "generalized other." They act based on personal beliefs and
also on what society expects of them.
-- Mead talks about our personality as
the "I" and the "me".
The "I"- is the natural, existential aspect of the self.
The "me"- is the socialized "me" of the "cultured self."
CHARLES COOLEY (1864-1929)
- He explains how we develop our sense of self or self image by his
looking-glass self theory.
-Based on his theory, we learn to view ourselves as we think others
view us.
#According to Cooley, there are three (3) steps in the formation of the
looking glass self:
1. We imagine how we appear to others.
2. We imagine how others judge our appearance.
3. We develop feelings about and responses to these
judgments.
-We are not influenced by other people's opinion per se. We are
influenced by our own imaginations or perceptions or opinions on how
others see us.
- This means that we are actively engaged in defining our self-image
or self-concept using our past experiences to aid us in interpreting others'
responses.
My sense of self is largely based on how I believe other people regard me.
"Does my teacher think I am competent at this activity?"
"What do my friends think that I am good at?"
"Do my parents believe I am worthy of love?"
