Understanding the Self - Topics 1-4

Understanding
the Self
JOJEAN MARIE D. PONDANG
Instructor

Module 1
The Self from the
Various Perspectives

Overview:
– In this module, you will journey to the very heart of this course: Philosophy as a
subject presents various philosophers offering multiple perspectives on just
about any topic including the self. Philosophically, discussion of the self is a
basic search for meaning and purpose in life. Determination, rationalization,
and identification of the self-set the direction from which an individual travel to
fulfill his or her purpose in life. The inability to define oneself leads to a lot of
contradictions within the self later on; hence, it is one of the many imperatives
in life to know oneself and to go on with the business of leading a life charted
by oneself.

AWARENESS
Write six adjectives that describe you in these post-its. Then make
sentences using these adjectives and write about yourself on this page.

Topic 1: The Self: Its
Nature and Significance

Perhaps the most critical issue that anyone can experience in a lifetime is to be in
conflict with one’s self. Indeed, it is ironic that one can be in conflict with his or her
self if such entity is one’s abode and refuge. Several junctures in our life as unique
individuals lead us to be in contradiction to our own desires, thinking, decisions,
goals, etc. But as we grow and mature we unfold and become one with our very
self. Such is a process of metamorphosis, a change that leads us to happiness and
self-determination. And so several thinkers and theorists have posited varied
insights as to what really is the self? What is its purpose?

The Nature of the Self
– There are varied technologies that can be considered synonymous with the ‘self’. It can be as
diverse as ‘self-awareness’, ‘consciousness’, ‘identity’, ‘self-esteem’, ‘self-concept’, ‘ego’ and
the like. But all of those terms and concepts direct us towards our ‘inner being’ and our ‘soul’.
It takes much intelligence and awareness to determine that there is a being inside of us who
experiences every undertaking that we have. The ‘self’ is thinking and a feeling being within
‘us’ and within ‘ourselves’. The self generally is the distinct identity which is a summation of
the experiences of an individual. The self is related to the awareness and consciousness of a
rational being.
– Our journey towards our life goals is a quest to determine what makes us happy, contented
and fulfilled. Such requires a deep understanding of the ‘self’ towards the achievement of self-
determination. The essence of our humanity and the meaning of our existence demand an
appreciation of who we are as a person, as a member of the community and as a member of a
larger institution of people. The same matters as this temporal life is geared towards a certain
meaning that all of us desire to understand in the process.

The Process of Discovering the
‘Self’
– Often, we struggle in our lifetime to search for our identity and our core
being. The greatest challenge happens during the period of adolescence
as we go through surge of hormonal imbalance. The search for our true
identity is a process of learning, relearning and unlearning the lessons
that we acquire from the teachings of life. Discovering and rediscovering
the self becomes a complex procedure that we need to undergo to
finally find our genuine self and individuality. This life learning is a
continuous flux, an unending adventure onto the realms of life’s
complexities. Everything that we embrace is this learning experience is
part of our meaningful evolutions.

Johari Window
– The Johari Window model was developed in 1955 at the University
of California Los Angeles by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham
who are both American psychologists. This model allows
participants to understand themselves well and their
corresponding relationships with the significant others through the
four quadrants determining traits relative to one’s self and other’s
judgment.

Understanding the Self - Topics 1-4

Determining the Four
Quadrants
– The Arena –These are the traits or descriptions that one sees in
the ‘self’ similar to that perceived by the significant others.
Example of this is ‘being outgoing and sociable’. This is also
known as the public self as it is evident to the self and others.
– Façade –These are traits that are known to the self but not to the
significant others. An example includes being emotional and
sensitive despite being a man. This quadrant is also known to be
the hidden quadrant as it covers those that we desire not to
expose to others.

Determining the Four
Quadrants
– Blind Spot –This includes traits that the subject is unaware of but
the significant others claims to be possessed by the subject. This
quadrant covers those that others perceive to characterize the
subject such as ‘being down to earth and soft-spoken.’
– Unknown –This quadrant covers traits that both parties do not
recognize and consider as comprising the subject traits. This is a
mystery that waits to unfold in the proper time. Such ideally
means that there is still much that needs to be discovered in the
individual self as we go through the process of discovering our
unique identity.

ASSESSMENT TIME!
WORKLOAD 1.1 Think of it!
Directions: Respond to the following
queries with all honesty.

Topic 2: Philosophical
Perspective of the Self

How did ancient thinkers
view a human being?

Who were those curious
enough to study how human
beings perceive themselves?

Different Perspectives in the
Explanation of Self
– Socrates
– Socrates was a Greek philosopher and one of the very few individuals who
shaped Western thought (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017). However,
unlike the other philosophers during his time, Socrates never wrote anything.
Knowledge about Socrates us through second-hand information from the
writings of his student Plato (another of the most influential Western thinkers)
and historian Xenophon (The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017).

Explanation of Self
– Socrates was known for his method of inquiry in testing an idea. This is called
the Socratic Method whereby an idea was tested by asking a series of questions
to determine underlying beliefs and the extent of knowledge to guide the
person toward better understanding (Maxwell, 2015). Socrates was described to
have gone about in Athens questioning everyday views and popular Athenians
beliefs. This apparently offended the leaders in his time. He was then accused
of impiety of lack of reverence for the gods and for corrupting the minds of the
youth. At 70 years old, Socrates was sentenced to death by drinking a cup of
poison hemlock (Brickhouse & Smith, 2002).

Explanation of Self
Plato
– Plato was the student of Socrates. He wrote the Socratic Dialogue where
Socrates was the main character and speaker. Plato’s philosophical method wad
what he identified as, “collection and division” (Phaedrus, 265e; Smith, 2017).
In this method, the philosopher would “collect” all the generic ideas that
seemed to have common characteristics and then divided them into different
kinds until the subdivision of ideas became specific. He is best known for Theory
of Forms that asserted the physical world is not really the “real” world because
the ultimate reality exists beyond the physical world.

Explanation of Self
Three parts of the soul according to Plato are:
The appetitive (sensual) The element that enjoys sensual experiences, such as
food, drink, and sex.
The rational (reasoning) The element that forbids the person to enjoy the sensual
experiences; the part that loves truth, hence, should rule over the other parts of
the soul through the use of reason.
The spirited (feeling) The element that is inclined toward reason but understands
the demand of passion; the part that loves honor and victory.

Explanation of Self
St. Augustine: The self has an immortal soul.
– The African philosopher, Augustine, is regarded as a saint (i.e., St. Augustine of
Hippo) in the Catholic Church. He integrates the ideas of Plato and teachings of
Christianity. Augustine believes that the physical body is radically different from
and inferior to its inhabitant, the immortal soul. As his thinking matured, he
developed a more unified perspective on the body and soul.

Explanation of Self
Rene Descartes
– French philosopher Rene Descartes is the father of modern philosophy. He has
brought an entirely new perspective to philosophy and the self. He wants to
penetrate the nature of reasoning process and understand its relationship to
the human self. The Latin phrase Cogito ergo sum –“I think therefore I am. Is the
keystone of Descartes’ concept of self. For him, the act of thinking about the
self –of being self-conscious –is in itself proof that there is a self. He is confident
that no rational person will doubt his or her own existence as a conscious
thinking entity –while we are aware of thinking about ourselves. For Descartes,
this is the essence of the human self –a thinking entity that doubts,
understands, analyzes, questions, and reasons.

Explanation of Self
John Locke
– For English philosopher John Locke, the human mind at birth is tabula rasa or a
black slate. He feels that the self. Or personal identity, is constructed primarily from
sense experience –or more specifically what people see, hear, smell. Taste and feel.
These experiences shape and mold the self throughout a person’s life. For Locke,
conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys to
understanding the self. Locke believes that the essence of the self is its conscious
awareness of itself as a thinking, reasoning and reflecting identity. He contends that
consciousness accompanies thinking and makes possible the concept people have of
a self. Self-consciousness is necessary to have a coherent personal (self) identity or
knowledge of the self as a person. Consciousness is what makes identity of a person
similar in different situations.

Explanation of Self
David Hume
– Scottish philosopher David Hume suggests that if people carefully examine their
sense experience through the process of introspection, they will discover that
there is no self. According to Hume, what people experience is just a bundle or
collection of different perceptions. Hume maintains that if people carefully
examine the contents of their experience, they will find that there are only
distinct entities: impressions and ideas. Impressions are the basic sensations of
people’s experience such as hate, love, joy, grief, pain, cold, and heat.

Explanation of Self
Immanuel Kant
– He asserted that it is the human mind which creates experiences. These experiences
are similar among human on the level of abstraction as we share important
characteristics that resemble in specific points of interests. Human experiences
make up our persona according to logical effects provided by certain causes.
Evidently, the development of individuality and the self is a result of unique human
experiences as it forges significant learning within the person. More so, Kant said
that every person has an inner and outer self which comprises the consciousness.
According to Kant, the intellect as well as the psychological state of a being is what
we call as the inner self while the other self is made of the senses and the physical
self. Largely, the object of the inner self is the ‘soul’ while the outer self is directed
to the ‘body’.

Explanation of Self
– Sigmund Freud
– Sigmund Freud (/frɔɪd/ FROYD; German: [ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt]; born Sigismund
Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist
and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating
psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.

Explanation of Self
Gilbert Ryle
– Gilbert Ryle was a British philosopher, principally known for his critique of
Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase "ghost in the machine." He
was a representative of the generation of British ordinary language
philosophers who shared Ludwig Wittgenstein's approach to philosophical
problems. Ryle initially showed some interest in modern German philosophy,
but in his paper ‘Systematically misleading expressions’ (1931) he announced
his conversion to the new linguistic philosophy. He further developed his views
in his most original early paper, ‘Categories’ (1937).

Explanation of Self
Paul Montgomery
– Paul Montgomery Churchland (1942-) was from Vancouver, Canada. He is a modern-
day philosopher whose studies greatly focuses on the working of the brain. He
argued that nothing but matter exists, which is also known as materialism. Paul
hypothesized that the human consciousness can be explained through the neural
networks communicating through its hub in the brain which is the thalamus. As we
begin to use empirical evidence to describe how our brains and bodies function we
learn to determine how we feel and how certain situations affects us. Churchland
believes that many are unaware of the appropriate terms to determine the exact
emotions and sentiments that they are undertaking. Hence, this leads to confusion
as to how we understand ourselves.

Explanation of Self
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
– Merleau-Ponty, a French philosopher wrote the book Phénoménologie de la
perception [Phenomenology of Perception, PP] in 1945. In this book, he expounded
his thesis on “The Primacy of Perception” where he revealed how the body is
central to one’s perception. As an existentialist, he argued that perception is the
determinant of one’s consciousness. It is our prejudice that creates the perception
that we have in our mind. This is the “primacy of perception” where he said “there
is harmony between what we aim at and what is given, between intention and
performance”. The same provides an explanation as to Merleau-Ponty’s claim that
“consciousness is primarily not a matter of “I think that” but og “I can”. Hence in
this argument, it shows how action is required in the formation of self-perception as
well as self-concept.

WORKLOAD 2.2 EXAMINE IT!
Directions: Elaborate on your relevant insights about the
following philosophical statements. State in your own words
with the minimum of 5-8 sentences only
1. “Know thyself”
2. “I think; therefore, I am”
3. “Nothing but matters exists”
4. “We are ghost in the machine”

Topic 3: Sociology
Perspective –The Self as a
Product of Society

Sociology
– Sociology as a scientific study of social groups and human relationships
generates new insights into the interconnectedness between the self and other
people. Hence, sociologist offer theories to explain how the self emerges as a
product of social experience. The looking glass self by Charles Horton Cooley
and the theory of the social self by George Herbert Mead are helpful in
understanding how a person views himself or herself as he or she interacts with
the social environment that includes family, school, peer groups, and mass
media.

The Looking-Glass Self
– The looking-glass self describes the process wherein individuals base their
sense of self on how they believe others view them. Using social interaction as a
type of “mirror,” people use the judgments they receive from others to measure
their own worth, values, and behavior. According to Self, Symbols, & Society,
Cooley’s theory is notable because it suggests that self-concept is built not in
solitude, but rather within social settings. In this way, society and individuals are
not separate, but rather two complementary aspects of the same phenomenon.

Core Assumptions
According to Society in Focus, the process of discovering the looking-glass self
occurs in three steps:
– An individual in a social situation imagines how they appear to others.
– That individual imagines others’ judgment of that appearance.
– The individual develops feelings about and responds to those perceived
judgments.

Development of Self
– According to Mead, three activities develop the self: language, play, and games.
– In the preparatory stage (0-3 years old) Language develops self by allowing
individuals to respond to each other through symbols, gestures, words, and sounds.
Language conveys others' attitudes and opinions toward a subject or the person.
Emotions, such as anger, happiness, and confusion, are conveyed through language.
– During the play stage (3 to 5 years old) Play develops self by allowing individuals to
take on different roles, pretend, and express expectation of others. Play develops
one's self-consciousness through role-playing. During role-play, a person is able to
internalize the perspective of others and develop an understanding of how others
feel about themselves and others in a variety of social situations.

Development of Self
– In the game stage (begins in the early school years; above 8 or 9 years old)
Games develop self by allowing individuals to understand and adhere to the
rules of the activity. Self is developed by understanding that there are rules in
which one must abide by in order to win the game or be successful at an
activity.

THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF
MODERN
AND POST MODERN SOCIETIES
– Gerry Lanuza’s (2004) article, “The Constitution of the Self”, discusses the
relationship between societies and the individual. According to him, in modern
societies the attainment and stability of self-identity are freely chosen. It is no
longer restricted by customs and traditions.

SYNTHESIS
– The looking-glass self, a concept introduced by Charles Horton Cooley, describes the
development of one’s self and identity through interactions with others.
– Mead suggests that the self has two divisions: The I and the me. The I is the
subjective element and the active side of the self, whereas the me is the objective
element of the self.
– According to Mead, the self passes through three stages of development:
preparatory, play and game.
– According to Lanuza, self-identity continuously changes due to the demands of
multitude of social contexts, new information technologies, and globalization.
– Buadrillard explains that individuals achieve self-identity through prestige symbols
that they consume.

Topic 4: Concepts of Self –
Eastern & Western
Philosophy

Buddhism
– The basic doctrines of early Buddhism, which remain common to all Buddhism,
include the four noble truths: existence is suffering ( dukhka ); suffering has a
cause, namely craving and attachment ( trishna ); there is a cessation of
suffering, which is nirvana ; and there is a path to the cessation of suffering, the
eightfold path of right views, right resolve, right speech, right action, right
livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Buddhism
characteristically describes reality in terms of process and relation rather than
entity or substance.

Hinduism
– major world religion originating on the Indian subcontinent and comprising
several and varied systems of philosophy, belief, and ritual. Although the name
Hinduism is relatively new, having been coined by British writers in the first
decades of the 19th century, it refers to a rich cumulative tradition of texts and
practices, some of which date to the 2nd millennium BCE or possibly earlier. If
the Indus valley civilization (3rd–2nd millennium BCE) was the earliest source of
these traditions, as some scholars hold, then Hinduism is the oldest living
religion on Earth

General nature of Hinduism
– More strikingly than any other major religious community, Hindus accept—and
indeed celebrate—the organic, multileveled, and sometimes pluralistic nature
of their traditions. This expansiveness is made possible by the widely shared
Hindu view that truth or reality cannot be encapsulated in any creedal
formulation, a perspective expressed in the Hindu prayer “May good thoughts
come to us from all sides.” Thus, Hinduism maintains that truth must be sought
in multiple sources, not dogmatically proclaimed.

The five tensile strands
– Across the sweep of Indian religious history, at least five elements have given
shape to the Hindu religious tradition: doctrine, practice, society, story, and
devotion. These five elements, to adopt a typical Hindu metaphor, are
understood as relating to one another as strands in an elaborate braid.
Moreover, each strand develops out of a history of conversation, elaboration,
and challenge. Hence, in looking for what makes the tradition cohere, it is
sometimes better to locate central points of tension than to expect clear
agreements on Hindu thought and practice.

TAOISM
– Taoism (also known as Daoism) is a Chinese philosophy attributed to Lao Tzu (c.
500 BCE) which contributed to the folk religion of the people primarily in the
rural areas of China and became the official religion of the country under the
Tang Dynasty. Taoism is therefore both a philosophy and a religion. It
emphasizes doing what is natural and "going with the flow" in accordance with
the Tao (or Dao), a cosmic force which flows through all things and binds and
releases them.

Origins
– The historian Sima Qian (145-86 BCE) tells the story of Lao-Tzu, a curator at the
Royal Library in the state of Chu, who was a natural philosopher. Lao-Tzu
believed in the harmony of all things and that people could live easily together
if they only considered each other's feelings once in a while and recognized that
their self-interest was not always in the interest of others. Lao-Tzu grew
impatient with people and with the corruption he saw in government, which
caused the people so much pain and misery. He was so frustrated by his
inability to change people's behavior that he decided to go into exile.

Yin-Yang Thought
– A good reason to believe that Lao-Tzu was not the author of the Tao-Te-Ching is
that the core philosophy of Taoism grew up from the peasant class during the
Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BCE) long before the accepted dates for Lao-Tzu.
During the Shang era, the practice of divination became more popular through
the reading of oracle bones which would tell one's future. Reading oracle bones
led to a written text called the I-Ching (c. 1250-1150 BCE), the Book of Changes,
which is a book still available today providing a reader with interpretations for
certain hexagrams which supposedly tell the future.

Taoism & Confucianism
– The philosophy of Taoism grew into a religion of the peasant classes of the
Shang Dynasty, who lived closely with nature. Their observations of the natural
world influenced their philosophy, and one of the things they incorporated was
the concept of eternity. The tree which seemed to die came back to life in the
spring season and the grass grew again. They concluded that when people died
they went somewhere else where they continued to live, they did not just
disappear. Everyone's ancestor who had ever died still lived on in another place
and in the presence of the gods; Confucians believed in this same concept and
revered their ancestors as part of their daily practices.

Taoism
– Taoism significantly influenced Chinese culture from the Shang Dynasty
forward. The recognition that all things and all people are connected is
expressed in the development of the arts, which reflect the people's
understanding of their place in the universe and their obligation to each other.
During the Tang Dynasty, Taoism became the state religion under the reign of
the emperor Xuanzong because he believed it would create harmonious
balance in his subjects and, for a while, he was correct. Xuanzong's rule is still
considered one of the most prosperous and stable in the history of China and
the high point of the Tang Dynasty.
–

CONFUCIANISM
– Confucianism identifies personality as a product of one’s upbringing and
environment. This shows that the individual is a social being which makes us
social animals. In this doctrine it is believed that every person is born with four
beginnings which lead to the formation as of self. It includes the following
components which are the perfection of virtues that is founf innately in the
heart of every human:

CONFUCIANISM
– Heart of compassion;
– Heart of righteousness;
– Heart of propriety; and
– Heart of wisdom

Congratulations! You did it!
Tap your shoulder or give yourself a treat for a job
well done.

REFERENCES
Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. SE, 18: 1-64.
Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id. SE, 19: 1-66..
Magalona, E. et al. 2018. Understanding the Self. Mindshapers Co., Inc.: Manila.
Miontilla. M. & Ramirez, N. 2018 Understanding the Self. C&E Publishing, Inc:
Quezon City.

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