POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE OF DAVAO DEL SUR

MacArthur Highway, Digos City, Philippines

Tel. No. (082) 237-3827 Telefax (082) 237-3827 website: www.pcds.edu.ph
LEARNING MODULE

I.COURSE INFORMATION
Course Name : Module in Understadning the Self
Course Instructor : Jesusa E. Trinidad, Ph.D.RST,RGC
No. of Units/Hours : 3 units per week
Prerequisite : No prerequisite Subject

II.COURSE POLICY/DESCRIPTION

This subject is Understanding the Self. This is offered to all the General Education
students to help the adolescents like you who struggle with identity crisis for are not yet sure of
who they are and what they want in life. Some of them need guidance, counseling and spiritual
direction after they become victims of abuse, neglect and abandonment. This the stage of their
life that they need to understand their self.

This is a 3-unit subject because we meet 3 hours per week or 50 – 54 hours of meetings
for the whole semester so we have 18 x 3 = 54 hours per semester. You will use this time to
answer your modules in the activity, application and assignment, answering tests or exercises
(oral or written), research or reporting. The time coverage and the lessons are divided into 5
Grading Periods: Preliminary, Pre-Midterm, Midterm, Pre-Final and Final Grading Periods. Try
to use this time allotted for each Grading Period productively and wisely. These are the
requirements of the subject. Remember that fulfilment of the requirements and attendance are
very important factors in passing this subject.

Each of your activity, exercise, test, class participation. etc. are graded so here is the
Grading System:
Please be guided about the following Grading System:
Distribution of Percentage in Periodic Grades DISTRIBUTION OF PERCENT IN FINAL GRADE
*Periodic Grades % AREAO OF COVERAGE FOR FINAL GRADE %
=Preliminary examination 20 TEST PERIODICAL EXAM (Total of Periodic Grade) 50
=Pre-Midterm Examination 20 ACTIVITIES, APPLICATIONS AND TEST EXERCIES 30
=Mid-Term Examination 20 ASSIGNMENTS, PROJECTS(RESEARCH/COLLAGE) 10
=Semi-Final Examination 20 ATTENDANCE 10
Total 100 TOTAL 100

III.COURSE OUTCOMES

At the end of the semester, you will be expected to:

1.Discuss the coverage and importance of the requirements of the subject including the Grading
System as well as the classroom rules and regulations;
2.Explain the purposes of this subject, why you understand yourself as an adolescent;
3.Identify and explain the nature of the self;
4.Identify and discuss the different notions of the self from the points- of- view from the
different various philosophers across time and place that contribute to the development of self;
5. Explore the different aspects of the self and identify; and
6. Identify and explain ways of managing and caring for the self to become a better person in
the workplace.

IV. LEARNING OUTCOMES

PRELIMINARY PERIOD
MODULE 1 – Defining the Self: Personal and Developmental Perspectives of Self and
Identity
Session 1 - Introduction
At the end of the semester, you will be expected to:
1.Discuss the coverage and importance of the requirements of the subject including the Grading
System as well as the classroom rules and regulations;
2.Explain the purposes of this subject in you as an adolescent;
3.Identify and explain the nature of the self;
4. Identify and discuss the different notions of the self from the points-of-view of the various
philosophers across time and place that contribute to the development of the self;
5. Examine yourself against the different views of self that were presented by the philosophers,
and
6.Describe the different ways by which society and culture shape the self

Introduction:
You have just entered another phase of your life which is college education. This
needs more focus, concentration, and enough time on the issues that you think which are very
important for your success. You need to attend your every meeting and submit all your
requirements in order for you to pass in this subject. You are required to take this subject because
you need to understand yourself better to help you on your journey towards the fulfillment of
your lifetime career.

Activity: How Well Do You Know About Yourself?

Answer the following questions honestly and write your answers on the blank provided within 15
minutes legibly:
1.Brief Description about Yourself
a. Your complete name, surname first Age Gender CP No.

b. Do you like your Name? Why? Why not?

c. How many brothers/sisters do you have? What is your rank(ika pila ka nga anak)
d. What is your greatest ambition in life?
How can you succeed in
this:________________________________________________
Why do you want to be successful in
this:______________________________________
2. What was your best performance in life?______________________________________
3.Your best experience(pinakamaayo):__________________________________________
Your worst experience (pinaka dimaayo):_______________________________________
4.Your bestTrait(pinakamaayo):______________________________________________
_ Your worst trait (pinaka dimaayo):____________________________________
5. Your best accomplishment/performance:_______________________________________
6. Your best talent:__________________________________________________________
6. What you want to be after 5 years from now?
__Take Licensure Exam __Take vacation __Take Masteral Degree __Apply for a job
7.Give 2 reasons why you are required to take Understanding the self.
1. 2.

ANALYSIS:
During the normal/regular time, this can be done through brainstorming, etc. …
During this PANDEMIC situation, try to find a time to reflect on your answers patiently.
1.Did you find it difficult or easy to answer the given questions above? Why?
2.What did you feel while answering the questions above? Why?
3.What was the best lesson that you learned from the activity above?

ABSRACTION:

The requirements of this subject

The following are the requirements of the subject: the answers to the activity (either
answer to questions or reporting), application (test either written or oral) and assignments (either
exercises, research). Another requirement is the attendance. These are the 2 most important
factors in passing the subjects and passing the subject is one requirements for you to finish your
degree because you cannot graduate without passing this subject.

Each of your activity, exercise, test, class participation are graded and your scores are
given the equivalent percentage through the use of the Tabulation Table and the distribution of
percentage are explained through the use of the Grading System on page 1, the course
policy/description.

The Grading System (Please refer to the Course Policy/ Description).

The Classroom Rules and Regulations:

Be punctual in attending your class and in the submission of your requirements. Honesty
is observed in answering the questions in the modules and in answering the test specifically in
the written bring home examinations. Be industrious in answering your requirements and do not
only depend on the answers of your classmates, parents and friends but do your best because
experience is the best teacher and do your works neatly and legibly.

Why do you study Understanding the Self?

1. It is a part of the school curriculum;
 2. It is one of the requirements of your degree for it is a fundamental course in the
General Education Curriculum;
3. It is designed to help you understand the nature of identity including factors that
influence and shape your personal identity;
4. It helps you prepare yourself for your lifetime career; and
5. It guides you to appreciate what life should mean for you to become a better per

But do you really know who and what you are?

In your activity, there were some word/s that were asked like your name. When you were
born, our parents enjoyed looking for the word that really fits to our names. Should we be named
after a famous celebrity, a respected policeman/ official in the community, a name of the saint.
Our names represent who we are. If we are named after a saint, do we become a saint or a
sinner? When we were born, our parents, asked what a baby is, a male or a female? This is
another aspect in us, our sex. God created man and woman for the sake of reproduction…How
do we behave as a male or a female, that is our gender. Are you really contented of your sex as a
male or a female. But why is it that there are males who behave like females and there are also
females who behave like a male? Our characteristics, our behavior, our talents and abilities, our
ambitions/ dreams/ desires, attitudes, values, experiences, performances and the like are very
important aspects of ourselves.

The nature of the self can be traced back to the ancient times, in the early philosophies of
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine who believed that
In addition, our bodies, each sought a better understanding of the nature of the self, with some
philosophers showing that there is no self such as Hume and Buddhist concept of anatta.
Seeking to achieve the same goal, the sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists followed
the early philosophical thoughts and developed the variety of approaches to understanding the
self. In psychology, Carl Rogers as the flexible and changing perception of personal identity. In
sociology, the looking glass self, Charles Horton Cooley and the theory of the social self by
George Herbert Mead are helpful in understanding how we view ourselves as we interact with
the social environment that includes the family, school, peer groups, and mass media.
Contemporary anthropologists believe that culture and self are complementary concepts to be
understood in relation to one another. This is summarized through the concept map

CONCEPT MAP
What is the Nature of the Self?

Philosophical
perspective

An Anthropological Sociological
Conceptualization perspective. The self
of self. The self as as a product of society
Who am
I?

SELF
The self in western
Psychological and eastern thought
perspective
 The Many Views of the Self

A search for answers to the nature of the self and qualities that define it can be traced
back to great philosophers during the ancient times. Over time, various disciplines offered their
own explanations. Each view in the figure above offers understanding and insights into
the nature of the self, and each can be helpful to young people to develop answers to the difficult
but essential questions: “Who am I?” and “What am I”

APPLICATION:
Please answer the questions honestly and briefly:
1.Describe the different aspects/elements of yourself as you look at yourself in front of the
mirror.
a. From whom do you inherit your physical traits, from your father or mother? Why?

b. From whom do you inherit your intellectual aspect, from your father or mother? Why?

c. From whom do you inherit your social aspect, from your father or mother? Why?

d. From whom do you inherit your religious aspect, from your father or mother? Why?

For your Assignment:

Draw your FAMILY TREE within the space provided below from the grandfather and
grandmother of your parents.
CLOSURE:

You have just finished the introduction about the importance and requirements, of the
subject, classroom rules and regulations, introduction of yourself as well as the introduction
about the study of the self. All of these are very relevant for the completion of your grades at the
end of this semester but there is a need of your focus and concentration in order for you to
succeed.

References:

Beilharz, Peter and Trevor Hogan. 2002. Social Self, Global Culture: An Introduction to
Sociological Ideas, New York: Oxford University Press.

Chaffee, John. 2015. The Philosopher’s Way: Thinking Critically About Profound Ideas. 5 th Ed.
Boston: Pearson.

David, Randolph. 2002. Nation, Self, and Citizenship: An Invitation to Philippine

SociologyDepertment, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
. University of the Philippines.

Ganeri, Jonardon 2012. The Self : Naturalism, Consciousness, and First-Person Stance. New York:
Oxford University Press.

Plato. 2012. Six Great Dialogues: Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Symposium, The Republic
Massachusetts: Courier Corporation

Online Research : Google, Facebook, Yahoo Mail, etc.

PRELIMINARY PERIOD
MODULE 1
Lesson 1
PART I – Defining the Self: Personal and Developmental Perspectives of Self and
Identity
At the end of Module 1, you will be expected to:

At the end of Module 1, Lesson 1, you will be expected to:

1. Explain why it is essential for you to understand yourself?
2. Identify and discuss the different notions of the self from the points-of-view of the various
philosophers across time and place that contribute to the development of the self; and
3. Examine yourself against the different views of self that were presented by the philosophers.

MODULE I
PART II
Lesson 1, Session 2
– The Self from the Various Philosophical Perspectives

INTRODUCTION:

Before we even had to be in any formal institution of learning, our parents taught us
how to write our names. Growing up, we were told to refer back to this name when talking
about ourselves. Our names represent who we are. When our teacher calls our names for an
attendance you say, present. Human beings attach names that are meaningful to birthed
progenies because names are supposed to designate us in the world. Some of us get baptized with
names like “beauty” or “lovely”. When our parents call our names, we were taught how to
respond to them because our names represent who we are. Whatever activity, test, assignment
and other important document, we always write our names so do not forget to write your name
legibly. Our names signify us. Death even cannot stop this both between the person and her/his
name. Names are inscribed even into one’s gravestone.

ACTIVITY:
Answer the following questions with enough perseverance as you can.
1.How would you characterize yourself?

2.Explain what makes yourself special from the rest.

3.Explain how yourself connected to your body?

4.How is yourself related to other selves?

5.What happen to yourself after you die?

ANALYSIS:
Were you able to answer the questions above with ease? Why? Which of the questions did you
find easiest to answer? Which ones are difficult? Why?
Questions Easy or difficult to answer? Why?
Can one truly know the self? Do you want to know about yourself?

ABSTRACTION:

This course tries to explore key concepts, issues and concerns regarding the self to arrive
at a better understanding of one’s self. It strives to meet this goal by looking at a variety of
explanations from the different disciplinal perspectives such as philosophy, psychology,
sociology, anthropology as well as from the Western and Eastern concepts of the self. The self is
sometimes referred to as the soul, ego, psyche, identity, I me, or being or it is the sense of who
you are.

The history of philosophy is replete with man and woman who inquired into the
fundamental nature of the self. Along with the question of the primary substratum that defines
the multiplicity of things in the world, the inquiry on the self has preoccupied the earliest
thinkers in the history of philosophy: The Greeks who were the ones who seriously questioned
myths and moved away from them in attempting to understand reality and respond to perennial
questions of curiosity, including the question of the self. The different perspectives and views of
the self can be seen understood by revising its prime movers and identity the most important
conjectures made by the philosophers from the ancient times to the contemporary period.

The different Philosophical Perspectives in the explanation of the Self

Philosopher Philosophical Perspective on the Self

Introduction: *They were preoccupied themselves with the question of the primary substratum,
Greek Thinkers or arche that explains the multiplicity of the things in the world. These men were
Pre-Socratics like concerned with explaining what the world is made up of and what explains, why this
Thales, Pythagoras, is so, what explains the changes that they observed around them.
Parmenides, *Tired of simply conceding to mythological accounts propounded by poet-
Heraclitus and theologians men finally endeavored to finally locate an explanation about the nature
Empedocles of change, the seeming permanence despite change and the unity of the world amidst
Poet-theologians like its diversity.
Homer and Hesiod

Philosopher Philosophical Perspective on the Self

SOCRATES A series of thinkers from all the Ancient Greek world who were
 disturbed by the same issue, a man came out to question
something else. This man was
Socrates who was concerned with the problem of the self. To him,
this becomes his life-long mission, the true task of the philosopher
is to know oneself.
Plato claimed in his dialogs that Socrates affirmed the
unexamined life is not worth living. During his trial for allegedly
corrupting the minds of the youth and for impiety, Socrates
declared without regret that his being indicted was brought about
by his going around Athens engaging men, young and old to
================= question their presuppositions about themselves and about the
Theory world particularly about who they are (Plato, 2012). Socrates took
================= it upon himself to serve as a “gadfly” that disturbed Athenian men
from their slumber and shook them off in order in order to reach
the truth and wisdom. Most men not fully aware of who they are
Know thy self. and the virtues that they were supposed to attain in order to
preserve their souls for the afterlife.
For Socrates, every man is composed of body and soul. This
means that the human person is dualistic, that is he is composed
of two important aspects of his personhood. For him, this means
that all individuals have an imperfect, impermanent aspect to him,
and the body while maintaining there is also a soul that is perfect
and permanent.

PLATO Plato, Socrates’s student, basically took off from his

master and supported the idea that man is a dual nature of
body and soul. In addition, to what Socrates earlier exposed,
Plato added emphasis that there are three components of the
soul: the rational soul, the spirited soul and the appetitive
soul. In his Magnum opus, “The Republic” (Plato, 2000)
emphasizes that justice in the human person can only be
attained if the three parts of the soul are working
harmoniously with one another. The rational soul forged by
================= reason and intellect has to govern the affairs of the human
Theory person, the spirited part which is in charge of emotions should
================= be kept at bay, and the appetitive soul in charge of base
Theory of forms desires like eating, drinking, sleeping, and having sex are
Assessment controlled as well. When the ideal state is attained, then the
The physical world is human person’s soul becomes just and virtuous.
not really “real” world
because the ultimate
really exists beyond
the physical world.

AUGUSTINE Augustine’s view of the human person reflects the

entire spirit of the medieval world when it comes to man.
 Following the ancient view of Plato and infusing it with the
newfound doctrine of Christianity, Augustine agreed that
man is of bifurcated nature. An aspect and continuously
yearns to be with the Divine and the other is capable of
reaching immortality.
The body is bound to die on earth and the soul is
anticipate living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss in
communion with God. This is because the body can only
thrive in the imperfect reality that is the world, whereas the
================ souk can also stay after death in the eternal realm with the
Theory all-transcendent God. The goal of very human person is to
The body is bound to communion and bliss with the Divine by living his life on
die on earth and the earth in virtue.
soul is living
eternally.
THOMAS AQUINAS Thomas Aquinas, the most eminent thirteenth
century scholar and stalwart of the medieval philosophy,
appended something to this Christian view. Adapting some
ideas from Aristotle, Aquinas said that indeed, man is
composed of two parts: matter and form. Matter, or hyle in
Greek, refers to the “common stuff that makes up
everything in the universe. ‘man’s body is part of his
matter. Form on the order hand, or morphe in Greek refers
to the “ essence of a substance or thing. It is what makes it
what it is. In the case of the human person, the body of the
================ human person is something that he shares even with
Theory animals. The cells in man’s body are more or less akin to
The soul is what the cells of any other living, organic being in the world.
animates the body and However, what makes human person a human person and
what makes us not a dog, or a tiger is his soul, his essence. To Aquinas,
humans. just as in Aristotle, the soul is what animates the body; it is
what makes us humans.
HUME
David Hume, a Scottish philosopher, has a very
unique way of looking at man. As an empiricist who believe
that one can know only what comes from the senses and
experience, Hume argues that the self is nothing like what his
predecessors thought of it. The self is not an entity over and
beyond the physical body. One can rightly see here the
empiricism that runs through his veins. Empiricism is the
school of thought that espouse the idea that knowledge can
only be possible if it is sensed and experienced. Men can only
================ attain knowledge by experiencing. For example, jack knows
Theory that Jill is another human person not because he has her
================ soul. He knows she is just like him because he sees her, hears
Empiricism/Bundle her, and touches her.
Self of a person is a To David Hume, the self is nothing else but a bundle of
bundle or collection
impression. What are impression? For David Hume, if one
of perceptions that
tries to examine his experiences, he finds that they can all be
are moving very fast
categorized into two: impression and ideas. Impression are
and successive
the basic objects of our experience or sensation. They
manner so that it is
therefore form the core of our thoughts. When one touches
in perpetual flux.an ice cube, the cold sensation is an impression. Impressions
therefore are vivid because they are products of our direct
experience with the world while ideas are copies of
impressions so they are not as vivid and not a lively as our
impressions. According to Hume, our “self” is a bundle of
collections of different perceptions which succeed each other
with inconceivable rapidity and are perpetual flux and
movement. (Hume and Steinberg 1992). Men want to believe
that there is a unified, coherent self, a soul or mind just like
what the previous philosophers thought.
KANT Thinking of the “self” as a mere combination of
impressions was problematic for Immanuel Kant. Kant
recognizes the veracity of Hume’s account that everything starts
with perception and sensation of impressions. However, Kant
thinks that the thing that men perceive around them are not just
randomly infused into the human person without an organizing
principle that regulates the relationship of all these impression
that men get from the external world. Time and space, for
example, are ideas that one cannot find in the world, but is built
in our minds. Kant calls these the apparatuses of the mind.
Along with the different apparatuses of the mind goes the
Theory “self”. Without the self, one cannot organize the different
================ impression that one gets in relation to his own existence. Kant
= Theory of Self- therefore suggests that it is an actively engaged intelligence in
Consciousness man that synthesizes all knowledge and experience. Thus, the
self is not just what gives one his personality. In addition ,it is
also seat of knowledge acquisition for all human person.
RYLE Gilbert Ryle solves the mind-body dichotomy that has
been running for a long time in the history of thought by
blatantly denying the concept of an internal, non-physical
self. For Ryle, what truly matters is the behavior that a
person manifest in his da- to-day life.

For Ryle, looking for and trying to understand a self as

if really exists is like visiting your friend’s university and
looking for the “university”. One can roam around the
============= campus, visit the library and the football field, and meet the
Theory administrator and faculty and still end up not finding the
================ university. This is because the campus, the people, the
 Self is not an entity systems, and territory all form the university. Ryle suggest
but the convenient that the “self” is not an entity one can locate and analyze but
name that people use simply the convenient name that people use to refer to all the
to refer to all the behavior that people make.
behaviors that people
make.
MERLEAU-PONTY Merleau-Ponty is a phenomenologist who asserts that the
mind-body bifurcation that has been going on for a long time is a
futile endeavor and an invalid problem. Unlike Ryle who simply
denies the “self”, Merleau-Ponty instead says that the mind and
body are so intertwined that they cannot be separated from one
another. One cannot find any experience that is not an embodied
experience. All experience is embodied. One’s body in his
opening toward his existence to the world. Because of these
bodies, men are in the world. Merleau-Ponty dismisses the
================ Cartesian Dualism that has spelled so much devastation in the
Theory history of man. For him, the Cartesion problem is nothing else
but plain misunderstanding. The living body, his thoughts,
emotion, and experiences are all one.
Existentialism

APPLICATION AND ASSESSMENT:

In your own words, state what the “self” is for each of the following philosophers. After
doing so, explain how your concept of “self” is compatible with how they conceived of the
“self”.

Self according to each of the Explain how your concept of self is compatible
philosophers with their concept
1.SOCRATES:

2.PLATO:

3.AUGUSTINE:

4.DESCARTES:
 5.HUME:

6.KANT:

7.RYLE:

8.MERLEUA-PONTY

Closure:
You finished Module 1, Lesson 1 and you are about to study the Module 1, Lesson 2.
The same thing that you are going to do. Always attend your class and submit all the
needed requirements.

References:

Beilharz, Peter and Trevor Hogan. 2002. Social Self, Global Culture: An Introduction to
Sociological Ideas, New York: Oxford University Press.

Chaffee, John. 2015. The Philosopher’s Way: Thinking Critically About Profound Ideas. 5 th Ed.
Boston: Pearson.

David, Randolph. 2002. Nation, Self, and Citizenship: An Invitation to Philippine

SociologyDepertment, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
. University of the Philippines.

Ganeri, Jonardon 2012. The Self : Naturalism, Consciousness, and First-Person Stance. New York:
Oxford University Press.

Plato. 2012. Six Great Dialogues: Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Symposium, The Republic
Massachusetts: Courier Corporation
Online Research : Google, Facebook, Yahoo Mail, etc.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
MODULE 1
PART 1 --Defining the Self: Personal and Developmental Perspectives on Self
and Identity
LESSON 2
At the end of Module 1, Lesson 2, you will be expected to:
1.Explain the relationship between and among the self, society, and culture;
2. Describe and discuss the different ways by which society and culture shape the self;
3.Compare and contrast how the self can be influenced by the different institutions in
the society; and
4. Examine one’s self against the different views of self that you have learned.

MODULE 1
LESSON 2, Session 3
=The Self, Society, and Culture

INTRODUCTION

Across time and history, the self has been debated, discussed, and fruitfully or otherwise
conceptualized by different thinkers in philosophy. Eventually, with the advent of the social
science, it became possible for new ways and paradigms to reexamine the true nature of the self.
People but a half on speculative debates on the relationship between the body and soul,
eventually renamed body and the since sixth century BC between the relationship of these two
components of the human person. Thinkers just settled on the idea that there are two components
of the human person and whatever relationship these two have is less important than the fact that
there is a self. The debate shifted into another locus of discussion. Given the new ways of
knowing and the growth of the social sciences, it became possible for new approaches to the
examination of the self to come to the fore one of the loci, if not the most

important axis of analysis is the relationship between the self and external world. What is the
relationship between external reality and the self? In the famous Tarzan story, the little boy
named Tarzan was left in the middle of the forest. Growing up, he never had an interaction with
any other human being but apes and other animals. Tarzan grew up acting strangely like apes and
unlike human persons. Tarzan became an animal, in effect. His sole interaction with them made
him just like one of them. Disappointedly, human person will not develop as human persons
without intervention. The story, which was supposed to be based on real life, challenges the
long-standing notion of human persons being special and being particular kind of being in the
spectrum of living entities. After all, our selves are not special because of the soul infused into
us. We may be gifted with intellect and the capacity to rationalize things but at the end of the
day, our growth and development and consequentially, our selves are truly products of our
interaction with external reality.
How much of you are essential? How much of who you are now a product pf your
society, community, and family? Has your choice of school affected yourself now? Had you
been born into a different family and schooled in a different college, how much of who you are
now would change?

ACITIVY:
My Self Through the Years
Paste a picture of you when you were in elementary, in high school and now that
you in college. Below the picture, list down your salient characteristics that your
remember
My Elementary Self My High School Self My College Self

ANALYSIS:
After having examined your “self” in its different stages, fill out the table below.
Please write your answers legibly.
Similarities in all stages of Differences in my “self” Possible reasons for the
my “self” across the three stages of differences in me.
life.
ABSTRACTION:

What Is the Self?

The self, in contemporary literature and even common sense, is commonly defined by the
following characteristics: “(Stevens 1996). By separate, it is meant that the self distinct from
other selves. The self is always unique and has its own identity. One cannot be another person.
Even twins are distinct from each other. Second, self is also self-contained and independent
because in itself it can exist. Its distinctness allows it to be self-contained with its own thoughts,
characteristics, and volition. It does not require any other self for it to exist. It is consistent
because it has a personality that is enduring and therefore can be expected to persist for quite
some time. Its consistency allows it to be studied, describe, and measured. Consistency also
means that a particular self’s traits, characteristics, tendencies, and potentialities are more or less
the same. Self is unitary in that it is the center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a
certain person. It is like the chief command post in an individual where all processes, emotions,
and thoughts converge. Finally, the self is private. Each person sorts out information, feelings
and emotion, and thought processes within the self. This whole process is never accessible to
anyone but the self.

This las characteristic of the self being private suggest that he self is isolated from the
external world.

it lives within its own world. However, we also see that this potential clash between the self and
the external reality is the reason for the self to have a clear understanding of what it might be,
what it can be, and what it will be. From this perspective then, one can see that the self is always
at the mercy of external circumstances that bump and collide with it. it is ever-changing and
dynamic, allowing external influences to take part in its shaping. The concern then of this lesson
is in understanding the vibrant relationship between self and external reality. This perspective is
known as the social constructionist perspective. “social constructionists argue for a merged view
of “person” and “their social context” where the boundaries of one cannot easily be separated
from the boundaries of the other” (Stevens 1996).

Social constructivists argue that the self should not be seen as a static entity that stays
constant through and through. Rather, the self has to be seen as something that is in unceasing
flux, in a constant struggle with external reality and is malleable in its identity subjected to
influences here and there. Having these perspective considered should draw one into concluding
that the self is truly multifaceted.

Consider a body named Jon. Jon is a math professor at a

Catholic university for more than a decade now. Jon has a beautiful wife whom he met in
college, Joan. Joan was Jon’s first and last girlfriend. Apart whom being a husband, Jon is also
blessed with two doting kids, a son and a daughter. He also something serves in the church too as
a lector and a commentator. As a man of different roles, one can expect Jon to change and adjust
his behaviors, ways, and even language depending on his social situation. When Jon is in the
university, he conducts himself in a matter that befits his title as a professor. As a husband, Jon
can be intimate and touchy. Joan considers him sweet, something that his students will never
conceive him to be. His kids fear him. As a father, Jon can be stern. As a lector an commentator,
on the other hand, his church mates knew him as a guy who is calm, all-smiles, and always ready
to lend a helping hand to anyone in need. This short story is not new most of us. We ourselves
play different roles, act in different ways depending on our circumstances. Are we being
hypocritical in doing so? Are we even conscious of our shifting selves? According to what we
have so far, this is not only normal but it also is acceptable and expected. The self is capable of
morphing and fitting itself into any circumstances it finds itself in.

The Self and Culture

Remaining the same person and turning chameleon by adapting to one’s context seems
paradoxical. However, the French Anthropologist Marcel Mauss has an explanation for this
phenomena. According to him, every self has two faces: the personne and moi. Moi refers to a
person’s who he is, his body, and his basic identity and his biological givenness. Moi is a
person’s basic identity while personne, on the other hand, is composed of the social concepts of
what it means to be who he is. Personne has much to do with what it means to live in a particular
institution, a particular family, a particular religion, a particular nationality, and how to behave
given expectations and influences from others.

In the story above, Jon might have a moi but certainly, he has to shift personne from time
to time to adapt to his social situation. He knows who he is and more or less, he is confident that
he has unified, coherent self. However, at some point , he has to sport his stem professorial look.
Another day, he has to be doting but strict father that he is. Inside his bedroom, he can play
goody with his wife, Joan. In all this and more, Jon retains who he is, his being Jon—his moi—
that part of him that is stable and static all throughout.
 This dynamic and capacity for different personne can be illustrated better cross-
culturally. An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) adjusting to Filipino becomes. A lot of Filipinos
has in another country is a very good case study. In the Philippines, many people unabashedly
violate jaywalking rules. A common Filipino treats road, even national ones, as basically his
and so just merely crosses whenever and whatever. When the same Filipino visits another
country with strict traffic rules, say Singapore, you will notice how suddenly law abiding the said
Filipino becomes. A lot of Filipinos has anecdotally confirmed this observation. Just the same
malleability can be seen in how some men transform into sweet, docile guys when trying to woe
and court a particular woman and suddenly just change rapidly after hearing a sweet “yes”.

In the Philippines, Filipinos tend to consider their territory as part of who they are. This
includes considering their immediate surrounding as a part of them, thus the perennial “tapat ko,
linis ko”. Most Filipinos probably do not consider national roads as something external to who
they are. In a foreign country, a Filipino recognizes he is in a foreign territory where nothing
technically belongs to him. He has to follow the rules or else he will be apprehended.

In these varied examples, we have seen how language has something to do with culture.
It is a part of culture and has a tremendous effect in our crafting of the self. This might be one of
the reasons why cultural divide spells out differences in how one regards of oneself. In one
research, it was found that North Americans are likely to attribute being unique to themselves
and claim that they are better than most people in doing what they love doing. Japanese, on the
other hand, have been seen to display a degree of modesty. If a self is born into a particular
society or culture, the self will have to adjust according to its exposure.

The Self and the Development of the Social World.

So how people actively produce their social worlds? How do children growing up
become social beings? How can a boy turn out to just be like an ape? How do twins coming out
from the same mother turn out to be terribly different when given up for adoption? More than
his givenness (personality, tendencies, and propensities, among others), one is believed to be in
active participation in the shaping of the self. Most often, we think the human persons are just
passive in the whole process of the shaping of selves. That men and women are born with
particularities that they can no loner change. Recent studies, however, that men and women in
their growth and development engage actively in the shaping of the self. The unending terrain of
metamorphosis of the self is mediated by language. “Language as both a publicly shared and
privately utilized symbol system is the site where the individual and the social make and remake
each other” (Schwartz, White, and Lutz, 1943).

Mead and Vygotsky

 For Mead and Vygotsky, the sway that human persons develop is with the
use of language acquisition and interaction with others. The way that we process information is
normally a form of an internal dialogue in our head. Those who deliberate about moral
dilemmas undergo this internal dialog. “Should I do this or that?” “But if I do and so cognitive
and emotional development of a child is always a mimicry of how it is done in the social world,
in the external reality where he is in.

Both Vygotsky and Mead treat the human mind as something that is made, constituted
through language as experienced in the external world and as encountered in dialogues with
others. A young child internalizes values, norms, practices, and social beliefs and more through
exposure to these dialogues that will eventually become part of his individual world. For Mead,
this takes place as a child assumes the “other” through

language and role-play. A child conceptualizes his notion of “self” through

this. Can you notice how little children are fond of playing role-play with their toys? How they
make scripts and dialogs for their toys as they play with them? According to Mead, it is through
this that a child delineates the “I” form the rest. Vygotsky, for his part child internalizes real-life
dialogs that he has had with others, with his family, his primary caregiver, or his playmates.
They apply this to their mental and practical problems along with the social or cultural infusions
brought about by the said dialogs. Can you notice how children eventually become what they
watch? How children can easily adapt ways of cartoon characters they are exposed to?

Self in Families

Apart from the anthropological and psychological basis for the relationship between the
self and the social world, the sociological likewise struggled to understand the real connection
between the two concepts. In doing so, sociologists focus on the different institutions or powers
at play in the society. Among these, the most prominent is the family. While every child is born
with certain givenness, disposition coming from his parents’ genes and general condition from
 his parents’ genes and general condition of life, the impact of
one’s family is still deemed as a given in understanding the self. The kind of family that we ae
born in, the resources available to us (human, spiritual, economic), and the kind of development
that we will have will certainly affect us as we go through life. As a matter of evolutionary fact,
human persons are one of those beings whose importance of family cannot be denied. Human
beings are beings virtually helpless and the dependency period of a human baby to its parents for
nurturing is relatively longer than most other animals. Learning therefore is critical in our
capacity to actualize our potential of becoming humans. In trying to achieve the goal of
becoming a fully realized human, a child enters a system of relationships of which is the family.

Human persons learn the ways of living and therefore their selfhood by being in a family.
It is what a family initiates a person to become that serves as the basis for this person’s progress.
Babies internalize ways and styles that they observe from their family. By imitating, for
example, the language of its primary agents of rearing its family, babies learn the language. The
same is true for ways of behaving. Notice how kids reared in a respectful environment becomes
respectful as well and the converse if raised in a converse family. Internalizing behavior may
either be conscious or unconscious. Table manners or ways of speaking to elders are things that
are possible to teach and therefore, are consciously learned by kids. Some behaviors and
attitudes, on the other hand, may be indirectly taught through reward and punishments. Others,
such as sexual behavior or how to confront emotions, are learned through subtle means, like the
tone of the voice on intonation of the models. It is then clear at this point that those who develop
and eventually grow to become adult who still did not learn simple matters like basic manners of
conduct failed in internalizing duo to parental or familial failure to initiate them into the world.

Without a family, biological and sociologically, a person may not even survive or
become a human person. Go back to the Tarzan example. In more ways than one, the survival of
Tarzan in the midst of the forest is already a miracle. His being a fully human person with a
sense of selfhood is a different story though. The usual teleserye plot of kids getting swapped in
the hospital and getting reared by a different family gives an obvious manifestation of the point
being made in this section. One is who he is become of his family for the most part.

Gender and the Self

Another important aspect of the self is gender. Gender is one of those loci of the self that
is subject to alteration, change, and development. We have seen in the past years how people
fought hard for the right to express, validate and assert their gender expression. Many
conservatives may frown upon this and insist on the biological. However, from the point-of-
view of the sciences and the self, it is important to give one the leeway to find, express, and live
his identity. This forms part of selfhood that one cannot just dismiss. One maneuvers into the
society and identities himself as who he is by also taking note of gender identities. A wonder
anecdote about Leo Tolstoy’s wife that can solidity this point is narrated below:

Sonia Tolstoy, the wife of the famous Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, wrote when she
was twenty-one, “I am nothing but a miserable crushed worm, whom no one wants, whom
no one loves, a useless creature with morning sickness, and a big belly, two rotten teeth, and
a bad temper, a battered sense of dignity, and a love which nobody wants and which nearly
drives me insane.” A few years later she wrote, “It makes me laugh to read over this diary.
It’s so full of contradictions, and one would think that I was such an unhappy woman. Yet
is there a happier woman than I? (Tolstoy 1975)

This account illustrates that our gender partly determines how we see ourselves in the
world. Oftentimes, society forces a particular identity unto us depending on our sex and/or
gender. In the Philippines, husbands for the most part are expected to provide for the family.
The eldest man in a family is expected to head the family and hold it in. Slight modifications
have been on the way due to feminism and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
activism but for the most part, patriarchy has remained to be at work.

Nancy Chodorow, a feminist, argues that because mothers take the role of taking care of
children, there is a tendency for girls to imitate the same and reproduce the same kind of
mentality of women as care providers in the family. The way that little girls are given dolls
instead of guns or any other toys or are encouraged to play with makeshift kitchen also reinforces
the notion of what roles they should take and the selves they should develop. In the boarding
schools for girls, young women are encouraged to act like fine ladies, are trained to behave in a
fashion that befits status as women in society.

Men on the other hand are taught early on how to behave like a man. This normally
includes holding one’s emotion, being tough, fatalistic not to worry about danger, and admiration
for hard physical labor. Masculinity is learning by integrating a young boy in a society. In the
Philippines, young boys had to undergo circumcision not just for the original, clinical purpose or
hygiene, but also to assert their manliness in the society. Circumcision plays another social role
by initiating young boys into manhood.

The gendered self is then shaped within a particular context of time and space. The sense
of self that is being taught makes sure that an individual fits in the particular environment. This
is dangerous and detrimental in the goal of truly finding one’s self, self-determination, and
growth of the self. Gender has to be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated
by culture and the society.

APPLICATION AND ASSESSMENT

Answer the following questions cogently but honestly. Write your answers in the space
provided after each question legibly.

1. How you describe yourself?

 2. What are the influences of family in your development as an individual?

3. Think of a time when you felt you were your “true self,” What made you think you were
truly who are during this time of your life?

4. Following the questions above, can you provide a time when you felt you were not living
your “true self”? Why did you have to live a life like that? What did you do about it?

5. What social pressures help shape your sel;f? Would you have wanted it otherwise?

6. What aspects of your self do you think may be changed or you would like to change?

CLOSURE:

You have just finished MODULE 1, Lesson 2. Did you have perfect attendance. Did you
comply your requirements? As I told you, that attendance and completion of the requirements are
very important factors in order for you to pass in your subject. If so, continue your good works.
And you are now about to start the next lessons for the Pre-Midterm Period

References:

Beilharz, Peter and Trevor Hogan. 2002. Social Self, Global Culture: An Introduction to
Sociological Ideas, New York: Oxford University Press.
Chaffee, John. 2015. The Philosopher’s Way: Thinking Critically About Profound Ideas. 5 th Ed.
Boston: Pearson.

David, Randolph. 2002. Nation, Self, and Citizenship: An Invitation to Philippine

Sociology Depertment, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
. University of the Philippines.

Ganeri, Jonardon 2012. The Self : Naturalism, Consciousness, and First-Person Stance. New York:
Oxford University Press.

Plato. 2012. Six Great Dialogues: Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Symposium, The Republic
Massachusetts: Courier Corporation

Online Research : Google, Facebook, Yahoo Mail, etc.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.YOU ARE ALL REQUIRED TO ANSWER MODULE 1, SESSION 1 & WRITE YOUR
FULL NAME UNDER ACTIVITY, ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION.
DEADLINE : FIRST WEEK OF SEPTEMBER, 2021

2. ADD 1 LESSON MORE TO ANSWER, SELECT ONE (SESSION 2 OR 3).

WRITE YOUR FULL NAME UNDER ACTIVITY, ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION.
DEADLINE: SECOND WEEK OF SEPTEMBER , 2021

3. USE ONLY DARK BLACK BALL PEN AND WRITE LEGIBLY.

4. SEND YOUR ANSWERS ONLY THROUGH YOUR GROUP CHAT AND MY PM.

5. PLEASE FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS STRICTLY.

THANK YOU.

Your instructor: Dr. J. E. Trinidad