UNDERSTANDING

THE SELF
Ged 101
Introduction to Self-understanding

(1) provides a sense of purpose

(2) leads to healthier relationships

(3) helps harness your natural strength

(4) promotes confidence.

SELF
-Answering the question “Who I am?”
-refers to a person’s experience as a single, unitary, autonomous
being that is separate from others, experienced with continuity
through time and place.
-The self that people possess has profound implications for
their thoughts, emotional reactions, and behavior.
 SELF-CONCEPT
Answering the Question “Who am I?”

“The individual’s belief about himself or herself, including the

person’s attributes and who and what the self is”. (Baumeister, 1999)
 3 COMPONENTS OF SELF-CONCEPT

SELF-IMAGE
SELF-ESTEEM/
SELF-WORTH
IDEAL SELF
SELF-IMAGE
The view you have of yourself

A. The Twenty Statements Test (Kuhn, 1960

-this test is divided into two major groups: SOCIAL
ROLES and PERSONALITY TRAITS.
SELF-ESTEEM/
SELF-WORTH
- The extent to which you value yourself.

HIGH LOW
SELF-ESTEEM SELF-ESTEEM
 4 MAJOR FACTORS THAT
INFLUENCE OUR SELF-ESTEEM

✔ The reaction of others

✔ Comparison with others
✔ Social Roles
✔ Identification

-Harrill Self-esteem Inventory

-Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
IDEAL SELF
What you would like to be.
4 MAJOR FACTORS THAT AFFECTS IDEAL
SELF

The ways in which others (particularly significant to others)

react to us.
How we think we compare to others.
Our social roles.
The extent to which we identify with other people.
PERSONALITY
- “persona”, theatrical masks worn by Romans in Greek and Latin Drama.
- Also comes from the two Latin Words “per” and “sonare”, which literally means “to
sound through”.
- it is a relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency
and individuality to a person’s behavior (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008).
- is the conglomeration of the following components: physical self, intelligence, character
traits, attitudes, habits, interest, personal discipline, moral values, principles and
philosophies of life.
Determinants of the Personality
a. Environmental Factors

b. Biological Factors

- Hereditary

- Physical Features

- Brain

c. Situational Factors

d. Cultural Factors
Personality Traits
- Reflect people’s characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

States
- Temporary condition that they are experiencing for a short period of time.
FIVE-FACTOR
MODEL
 OPENNESS CONSCIENTIOUSNESS EXTRAVERSION
The tendency to The tendency to be The tendency to be
appreciate new art, careful, on-time for talkative, sociable, and to
ideas, values, appointments, to follow enjoy others; the
feelings and rules, and to be hard tendency to have a
behaviors. working. dominant style

AGREEABLENESS
The tendency to agree and
go along with others rather
than to assert one owns
opinions and choices.
NEUROTISM
The tendency to be frequently
experience negative emotions such as
anger, worry, and sadness, as well as
being interpersonally sensitive.
SELF ACCORDING TO
PHILOSOPHY
 -the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence,
especially when considered as an academic discipline

“PHILO” (love) “SOPHIA” (wisdom)

“Queen of all Sciences”

 - A philosopher from Athens, Greece and said to have the
greatest influence on European thought.

-According to the history he was not able to write any of

his teachings and life’s account instead, he is known from the writings
of his student Plato who became one of the greatest philosophers of his
time.

-He had a unique style of asking questions called Socratic Method.

- Delphic Oracle or “Know Thyself”

SOCRATES
SELF according to Socrates

- dichotomous, meaning composed of two things: physical

realm and ideal realm
- Human is composed of body and soul
- Also used the word “soul” to identify self as the self is the
immortal and unified entity that is consistent over time.
 - Student of Socrates and his real name is
Aristocles
- He was named Plato because of his
physical built which means
“wide/broad”.
- teacher of Aristotle and founder of the
Academy, best known as the author of
philosophical works of unparalleled
PLATO influence.
Theory of Forms
- Plato explained here that forms refers to “what is real”.
- They are not objects that are encountered with the senses but can only
be grasped intellectually.

It has the following characteristics:

1. The Forms are ageless and therefore are eternal.
2. The Forms are unchanging and therefore permanent.
3. The Forms are unmoving and indivisible.
Plato’s Dualism

1. The Realm of the Shadows

- It is composed of changing, ‘sensible’ things which are lesser entities and
therefore imperfect and flawed.

2. The Realm of Forms

- It is composed of eternal things which are permanent and perfect. It is the source
of al reality and true knowledge.
SELF according to Plato

- three-part of soul/self:
a. Reason enables human to think deeply, make wise choices and achieve a
true understanding of eternal truths. Also called as “divine essence”.

b. Physical Appetite is the basic biological needs of human being such as

hunger, thirst, and sexual desire.

c. spirit or passion is the basic emotions of human

being such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness and empathy.
Plato’s Theory of Love and Becoming

“Allegory of the Cave”

- According to Plato, “what people in the cave see are only shadows of reality which
they believe are real things and represents knowledge”.

“Theory of Being”
-According to Plato, in knowing the truth, the person must become the truth.

“LOVE”
-the way for all beings to ascend to higher stages of self-realization and perfection.
- It begins with a feeling or experience that there is something lacking.
- “the deeper the thought, the stronger is the love”.
 “Phaedrus”

“the soul is like a winged chariot drawn by two powerful horses: a white horse,
representing Spirit, and a black horse, embodying appetite. The charioteer is reason,
whose task is to guide the chariot to the eternal realm by controlling the two
independent-minded horses. Those charioteers who are successful in setting a true
course and ensuring that the two steeds work together in harmonious unity achieve true
wisdom and banquet with the gods. However, those charioteers who are unable to
control their horses and keep their chariot on track are destined to experience
personal, intellectual, and spiritual failure.”
 - He is considered as the last of the great ancient
philosophers whose ideas were greatly Platonic.
In melding philosophy and religious beliefs
together, Augustine has been characterized as
Christianity’s first theologian.

ST.
AUGUSTINE
SELF according to St. Augustine
- he described body as “snare” or “cage” of the soul
and said that the body is a “slave” of the soul
- he even characterized that “the soul makes war with the body”. Later on he
came to view the body as “spouse” of the soul, with both attached to one
another by a “natural appetite.”
- He concluded, “That the body is united with the soul, so that man may be
entire and complete, is a fact we recognize on the evidence of our own
nature
SELF according to St. Augustine
- according to him, human nature is composed of two realms:

a. God as the source of all reality and truth

b. The sinfulness of man
The Role Love
- It is finding of true happiness and according to St. Augustine “the real
happiness can be only found in God”.

Disordered Love
It is a love that results when man loves the wrong things which he believes will
give him happiness.

1. Love of physical objects leads to the sin of greed.

2. Love for other people is not lasting and excessive love for them is the sin of
jealousy.
3. Love for the self leads to the sin of pride.
4. Love for God is the supreme virtue and only through loving God can man fin
real happiness.
 A French philosopher, mathematician, and
considered the founder of modern philosophy.
He introduced the Cartesian Method and analytic
Geometry.
His famous principle the “cogito, ergo sum—“I think,
therefore I exist” established his philosophical views
on “true knowledge” and concept of self.

RENE
DESCARTES
Descartes’ System
-Through Math, he discovered that the human mind ahs two
powers:

a. Intuition or the ability to apprehend direction of certain

truths
b. Deduction or the power to discover what is known by
progressing in an orderly way from what is already
known.

Priori- these are the truths that can be discovered.

SELF according to Rene Descartes

- He declared that the essential self or the self as the thinking entity is radically different from the
physical body. The thinking self or soul is a non-material, immortal, conscious being, independent of
the physical laws of the universe while the physical body is a material, mortal, non-thinking entity,
fully governed by the physical laws of nature.
- He also maintained that the soul and the body are independent of one another and each can exist and
function without the other.
- He identified the physical self as part of nature, governed by the physical laws of the universe, and
available to scientific analysis and experimentation, and the conscious self (mind, soul) is a part of the
spiritual realm, independent of the physical laws of the universe, governed only by the laws of reason
and God’s will. And because it exists outside of the natural world of cause-and-effect, the conscious
self is able to exercise free will in the choices it makes.
 An English philosopher and physician and
famous in his concept of “Tabula Rasa” or
Blank Slate that assumes the nurture side of
human development.

JOHN LOCKE
“Enlightenment”
-at age of 57, he published this book that scope and limits of the
human mind which played a significant role in the new era of
thought.

Posteriori
- Objects that were experienced.

According to Locke, “nothing exists in the mind that was not first
in the senses”.
SELF according to John Locke
- The self, according to Locke is consciousness.
In his essay entitled On Personal Identity, he discussed the reflective analysis of how an individual may
experience the self in everyday living. He provided the following key points:
1. To discover the nature of personal identity, it is important to find out what it means to be a person.
2. A person is a thinking, intelligent being who has the abilities to reason and to reflect.
3. A person is also someone who considers themself to be the same thing in different times and different
places.
4. Consciousness as being aware that we are thinking—
always accompanies thinking and is an essential part of the thinking process.
5. Consciousness makes possible our belief that we are the same identity in different times and different
places.
According to Locke, moral goods depends on conformity or non-conformity of a
person’s behavior towards some law. There are 3 laws such as:

1. Law of Opinion
- Where actions that are praiseworthy are called virtues and those that are not are
called vice.

2. Civil Law
- Where right actions are enforced by people in authority.

3. Divine Law
- Set by God on the actions of man. This is deemed to be the true law for human
behavior. It is eternally true and the one law that man should always follow.
The bottom line of his theory on self is that self is not tied to any particular
body or substance. It only exists in other times and places because of the
memory of those experiences.
 He was a Scottish philosopher and also an empiricist.
His claim about self is quite controversial because he
assumed that there is no self.
In his essay entitled, “On Personal Identity” (1739)
he said that, if we carefully examine the contents of
[our] experience, we find that there are only two
distinct entities, "impressions" and "ideas".

DAVID HUME
Impressions are the basic sensations of our experience, the elemental data
of our minds: pain, pleasure, heat, cold, happiness, grief, fear, exhilaration,
and so on.

Ideas are copies of impressions that include thoughts and images that are
built up from our primary impressions through a variety of relationships, but
because they are derivative copies of impressions, they are once removed
from reality.
In examining the patterns of thinking, Hume formulated 3 principles
on how ideas relate to one another.

1. The principle of Resemblance

- our ideas are copies of our impressions, making clear that it applies
only to the relation between simple ideas and simple impressions.

2. The principle of Contiguity

-
3. The principle of Cause and Effect
- It is only arise when people experience certain relations between
objects thus it cannot be a basis for knowledge.
SELF according to David Hume

The self that is being experienced by an individual is nothing but a kind of

fictional self. Human created an imaginary creature which is not real.
“Fictional self” is created to unify the mental events and introduce order
into an individual lives, but this “self” has no real existence.
 A British analytical philosopher. He was an important
figure in the field of Linguistic Analysis which
focused on the solving of philosophical puzzles
through an analysis of language.
His ideas was contradicted with Cartesian Dualism.

GILBERY RYLE
Category Mistake
- It is involved in the mind-body problem; is how a
non-material substance (mind) can influence a physical,
material body.
- as something independent of the physical body: a
purely mental entity existing in time but not space.
- He stigmatized the mind as “Ghost in the Machine”.
SELF according to Gilbert Ryle

The self is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency or

disposition for a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances.
He also mentioned that man is endowed with free will.
 2 Types of Knowledge

A. ‘Knowing-that’
- It refers to the information; considered as ‘empty intellectualism’
- It involves an ability and not just an intellect.

B. ‘Knowing How’
- Using facts in the performance of some skill or technical abilities.
 A well-known Australian psychologist and considered
as the “Father and Founder of Psychoanalysis”. His
influence in Psychology and therapy is dominant and
popular in the 20th to 21st century.

SIGMUND FREUD
SELF according to Sigmund Freud

The dualistic view of self by Freud involves the conscious self and
unconscious self.

• The conscious self is governed by reality principle. Here, the self is

rational, practical, and appropriate to the social environment. It has the
task of controlling the constant pressures of the unconscious self, as its
primitive impulses continually seek for immediate discharge.
• The unconscious self is governed by pleasure principle. It is the self
that is aggressive, destructive, unrealistic and instinctual.
 The three levels of the mind are:
1. Id. This is primarily based on the pleasure principle. It demands immediate
satisfaction and is not hindered by societal expectations.

2. Ego. The structure that is primarily based on the reality principle. This mediates
between the impulses of the id and restraints of the superego.

3. Superego. This is primarily dependent on learning the difference between right

and wrong, thus it is called moral principle. Morality of actions is largely dependent
on childhood upbringing particularly on rewards and punishments.
 A German Philosopher who made great contribution to
the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Kant
is widely regarded as the greatest philosopher of the
modern period.

IMMANUEL
KANT
SELF according to Immanuel Kant

It is the self that makes consciousness for the person to make sense of everything. It is the
one that help every individual gain insight and knowledge.
If the self failed to do this synthesizing function, there would be a chaotic and
insignificant collection of sensations.
the self is the product of reason, a regulative principle because the self regulates
experience by making unified experience possible and unlike Hume, Kant’s self is not the
object of consciousness, but it makes the consciousness understandable and unique.
For Kant, the kingdom of God is within man. God is
manifested in people’s lives therefore it is man’s duty to move
towards perfection. Kant emphasized that people should
always see duty as a divine command (Price, 2000).
 An American philosopher interested in the fields of philosophy
of mind, philosophy of science, cognitive neurobiology,
epistemology, and perception.

PAUL & PATRICIA

CHURCHLAND
SELF according to Churchland

NEUROPHILOSOPHY
- It was coined by Patricia Churchland, the modern scientific inquiry looks into the
application of neurology to age-old problems in philosophy.
- The philosophy of neuroscience is the study of the philosophy of science,
neuroscience, and psychology.
- It aims to explore the relevance of neurolinguistic experiments/studies to the
philosophy of the mind.
Patricia Churchland claimed that man’s brain is responsible for the identity known as self. The
biochemical properties of the brain according to this philosophy of neuroscience is really responsible for
man’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Paul Churchland is one of the many philosophers and psychologists that viewed the self from a
materialistic point of view, contending that in the final analysis mental states are identical with, reducible
to, or explainable in terms of physical brain states. This assumption was made due to the physiological
processes of the body that directly affecting the mental state of the person. The advent of sophisticated
technology and scientific research gives hope to understand the connection between the physical body
and the mind/brain relationship that integrated in the self.
 A French philosopher and phenomenologist.
According to him, the world and the sense of self are
emergent phenomena in the ongoing process of man’s
becoming.

MAURICE
MERLEAU-MONTY
SELF according to Monty

According to him, the division between the “mind” and the “body” is a
product of confused thinking. The self is experienced as a unity in which
the mental and physical are seamlessly woven together. This unity is the
primary experience of selves and begin to doubt it when an individual
use their minds to concoct abstract notions of a separate mind and body.