DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

COURSE MATERIAL (Video Transcript)

First Term, AY 2020-2021

Course Code UTS

Course Description Understanding the Self
Prerequisite None
Credits 3 units; 54 hours (Lecture)
Mode of Delivery Online
Week Number 2 lesson 1
Lesson/Topic The Modern Spark
Micro-Learning At the end of the lesson, students must be able to:
Outcomes • Identify the different perspective of a man in his society
• Initiates discussion concerning the view of a man
• Create their own perspective of what is a man
Assessment Measures Do it yourself worksheet
Video Transcript Hi, everyone! Good day. I am Cedrix Von Alesna from the
Department of Communication and Humanities. Welcome to our
second video lecture entitled The Modern Spark.

The Modern Spark will cover ideas by Philosophers in the Modern

Era. In this lesson we will be talking about philosophers like
Francis Bacon, Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin
Heidegger.

In the eyes of Bacon, we humans are full of prejudices. But in his

philosophy, prejudices are seen through different spectrums.
Bacon call this, the idols of the mind. We humans have four idols
of the mind namely, idols of the cave, idols of the tribe, idols of the
marketplace, and idols of the theatre. The idols of the cave serve
as our personal biases. It is our preferences, our like, our dislikes,
our favourite colour, and our favourite food. The idols of the tribe
are biases from our tribe, community, or family. What are things
you like because of your upbringing. Do you like your food salty
because it how your parents cook at home? Or you prefer your
adobo dry because that is how it was done in my home. The idol
of the marketplace is biases we acquired through language and
interaction. What is the meaning of the word for you? Is “pangit”
an insult or are nickname? Some biases we have are brought by
such interactions, and change of meaning because of said
interactions. The last idol, is the idol of the theatre. This idol is the
biases from systems of though, from education, religions, dogmas
and principles. Things are important because of the knowledge we
have acquired or because of the faith that we believe into. I
understand this better because I have learned it or this belief is
precious because that is what I am part of. Values changes and the

Ethics | Overview of Philosophy 1

 importance are altered because of such prejudices. Someone,
something, or some idea is precious not because it is important but
we see and think it is important, and Bacon is reminding us not to
be narrow minded simply because of our biases.

Video Transcript Bacon highlighted the idea of prejudices, but in Kierkegaard’s

(contd.) philosophy, he shifted the conversations on to the stages of life we
humans go through. The first stage is the aesthetic stage, it is the
stage where what is important for us is what is good, but during
this stage what is good, is what is pleasurable to us. Kierkegaard
sees the aesthetic stage as our self-centred stage and the stage we
“I” am the priority. The second stage is the ethical stage, this is the
stage where we start to feel responsible towards others. From the
prioritization of the “I” toward the importance of the “We”. The
ethical stage is where we start to reciprocate the feeling of concern
not just for us but for others. The third stage is the religious stage.
In this stage we transcend the idea of the “I” and the idea of the
“We”. Kierkegaard sees the religious stage as the selfless stage. We
do not prioritize ourselves but instead we are willing to put
ourselves on the line for the sake of others. I am an instrument to
your success and happiness.

Stages of life was Kierkegaard’s bread and butter, but Nietzsche

shifted the conversation to types of human. For Nietzsche, a
person can either be a sheep, a camel, a lion or a child. The sheep
can be described as a follower. They love conformity, comfort,
routines, and safety and their identity is merely a reflection from
others. The camel on the other hand shares a lot of similarities with
the sheep. Like the sheep, the camel is also a follower of the
conformities of society, however the camel does not like comfort,
instead it pushes itself to the limits and its best of abilities to
achieve it. But all achievements the camel chase for are all with in
what it follows and all its conformities. The lion is the destroyer of
the conformities that it followed and the cage it was once
comfortable in. The lion is reactive and a strong commentator of
the cage. It challenges the conformities it followed but the problem
is the lion does not hold on any principles in life. If the sheep and
camel simply follow the conformities being offered to them, and
the lion reacts and hate to such conformities but is unable to have
any principles, the child is the ideal types in the eyes Nietzsche. A
person that is not blinded by conformities and is capable of
building and owning its own principles in life. The child is the
manifestation of independence, its ultimate goal is to make itself
accountable to the principles that it makes, it follows, and it
believes in. The child will not conform and will be willing to
change his principles if it really is not helpful.

Understanding the Self | Paradigm of the Old 2

Heidegger sees that we human go through so many things in life.
When we are born in this world, we are thrown-into-the-world
because we are unable to choose where we are born, or who we
are when we are born. We are incapable of choosing your living
condition or circumstance, and because of this, we do not feel “at
home” in the world. Because we are being-in-the-world and are
geared towards death, we sometimes feel an uncanny, and
uncertainty in what we do and where we are going. Heidegger
calls this unease feeling as angst or existential anxiety. When angst
sinks in in our lives, we either sink ourselves into the everydayness
of our life or we entertain and explores such uneasiness. Heidegger
defines everydayness as our action which leads into being
consumed by our everyday routines, activities, and the busyness
of everyday life, and if we do this every day, we become more
ambiguous of who we are and we lost grip of our identity. If we
start exploring the uneasiness that we feel, we slowly entertain and
understand why are we feeling this, why am I sad? Such questions
help us understand who we truly are. Heidegger believes that a
person consumed by the ambiguity of life becomes a Dasman and
a person who discovers the authenticity of who they are becomes
a Dasein. We are all equals, we feel angst, we are thrown-in-the-
world, and we are beings-in-the-world. But what differentiates us
from each other is how do we journey is such feelings. Are you
busy continuing your life as usual or are you asking yourself what
should I pursue in life?

With all of these, the next topics we are going to explore are
questions on life, happiness, and love? And that is where our next
lesson is heading. For now, we have talk about Bacon’s Idols of the
Mind, Kierkegaard’s Stages of Life, Nietzsche’s types of humans
and Heidegger’s Dasein and Dasman. I hope you learn something
from this lecture-discussion video. For enrichment, feel free to
study Handouts via LMS or communicate with your instructors
for questions. Likewise, please be reminded of the due date of your
activity worksheet available and accessible via LMS or other
platforms provided by your instructors. Enjoy learning and keep
safe everyone!
-end of video transcript-

Department of Psychology

Understanding the Self | Paradigm of the Old 3