CHAPTER 1: THE SELF FROM Socrates

VARIOUS PERSPECTIVE

Philosophy

 From the Greek words

- “Philos” which means love
- “Sophia” which means
wisdom
 In a broad sense, philosophy is
an activity people undertake
when they seek to understand
fundamental truths about
themselves, the world in which
they live, and their relationships
to the world and to each other.
 Way of thinking about
everything around us; about
the nature, the world, and the
society.  An ancient Greek, Philosopher,
 Seeking to know the truth Scholar, Teacher
 It is the study of the  One of the “big three”
fundamental nature of  Considered to be the main
knowledge source of Western Thought
 His works were only known
Philosophers through Plato’s writing (The
 Socrates Dialogues).
 Plato  Socrates Plato Aristotle
 St. Augustine of Hippo  A stonemason with sharp mind,
a brilliant debater and was
 Rene Descartes
idolized by many Athenians
 John Locke
 “The unexamined life is not
 David Hume
worth living”
 Immanuel Kant
 In the 5th century BCE, Athens
 Sigmund Freud
is a city state and democratic.
 Gilbert Ryle
 Athenians settle arguments by
 Patricia and Paul Churchland discussions and debate
 Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Socrate’s View of Human Nature

 The touching of the soul, may

mean helping the person to get
in touch with his true self.
  The true self is not the body nut
the soul.
 Virtue is inner goodness, and
real beauty is that of the soul
(Price, 2000).
The Socratic Method
 Also called The Dialectic
Method
 This method involves asking a
series of questions seeking to
find consistency and point out
contradiction
 The search for the
correct/proper definition of a
thing
 This allowed him to question
people’s belief and ideas,
exposing their misconceptions
and get them to touch their
souls.
The Goal of Socratic Method
 To make people think, seek,
and ask again and again
 To make them realize that they
do not know everything
 Learn to accept ignorance and
continue to learn and seek for
answers
Plato
 Plato’s real name is Aristocles
(428-348 BCE)
 He established a school known
as “The Academy”
 He wrote more than 20
Dialogues with Socrates as
protagonist in most of them.
 Plato’s metaphysics id known
as the “Theory of Forms”
Plato’s Theory of Love and Becoming
 “Allegory of the Cave”
 “Love is the force that paves the
way for all beings to ascend to
higher stages of self-realization
and perfection.”
 “Love is the way of knowing and
realizing the truth. Love is a
process of seeking higher
stages of being. The greater the
love, the more intellectual
component it will contain.”
Theory of Forms
 Forms in the mind is the reality
and object we sense is just a
manifestation of the “Forms”
 Forms refers to what are real,
they are not objects that are
encountered with the senses
but can only be gasped
intellectually.
Characteristics of Plato’s Forms
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 –
composed of changing, sensible
which are lesser entities and
therefore imperfect and flawed
2. The Realm of Forms –
composed of eternal things
which are permanent and
perfect. It is the source of all
reality and true knowledge.
Plato’s View of Human Nature
 Plato made use of Socrates’
dialectic method and
considered it an important tool
in discovering knowledge.
 Plato also believed that
knowledge lies within the
person’s soul.
 He believed that humans have
the immortal, rational soul which
is created in the image of the
divine.
 Plato described the soul as
having three components:
1. The Reason – rational and
is the motivation for
goodness and truth
2. The Spirited – non-rational
and is the will or the thrive
toward action. (neutral but
can be pulled to action)
3. The Appetites – irrational
and lean towards the desire
for pleasures of the body
St. Augustine of Hippo
 A Christian Philosopher
 Concerns mainly focuses with
God and man’s relationship
with God
Difference Between Christian
Philosophy and Greek Philosophy
 Christian Philosophy rely on
God’s commands and His
judgement determines what is
good and what is evil.
 Greek Philosophy believe that
man is innately good and
becomes evil through ignorance
what is good.
St. Augustine’s View of Human
Nature
 His thoughts focused on two
realms:
1. God as the source of all
reality and truth –
according to St.
Augustine without God
as the source of all truth,
man could never
understand eternal
truths.
2. The sinfulness of man -
according to St.
Augustine, the causes of
sin or evil is an act of
man’s freewill. Moral
goodness can only be
achieved through the
grace of God.

The Role of Love

 St. Augustine is in
agreement with the Greeks
that man searches for
happiness.
  However, he stated that real 2. Deduction – the power to
happiness can only be found discover what is not known
in God. by progressing to an orderly
1. Love of physical objects – sin of way from what is already
greed known. Truth are arrived at
2. Love for other people – sin of using a step by step
jealousy process.
3. Love for the self – sin of pride
Descartes’ View of Human Nature
4. Love for God – real happiness

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)  “I think, therefore I am”.

 The cognitive aspect of human
nature is his basis for existence
of the self.

The Mind-Body Problem

 Soul/Mind (also the self) – a

substance that is separated
from the body.
 The body according to him, is
like a machine that is controlled
by the will and aided by the
mind.

John Locke (1632-1704)

 Known as the “Father of

Modern Philosophy”
 Introduced the Cartesian
Method
 Invented Analytic Geometry
 “Cogito ergo sum”

Descartes’ System

 He discovered that the human

mind has two powers:
1. Intuition – the ability to
apprehend direction of
certain truths.
  Born in Wrington, England
 Son of a Puritan Lawyer
 His interest is the acquisition of
knowledge
 Posteriori – knowledge results
from ideas produced by
experiences
 “Tabula rasa” – blank slate
Locke’s View of Human Nature
 “Nothing exists in the mind that
was not first in the senses”
 Humans have no innate ideas,
morals, religious and political
values and they come from
sense experiences.
 Morality has to do with choosing
or willing to do good.
Three Law According to Locke
1. Law of Opinion – where actions
praiseworthy are virtues and
those are not 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.
David Hume (17111-1776)
 Born in Edinburgh, Scotland
 At the time he was enrolled at
the University of Edinburgh, he
lost his faith.
 He discovered the limitations of
the mind and his optimism turn
into skepticism.
The Human Mind
 The mind receives materials
from the senses calls it
perceptions.
 Two types of perceptions:
1. Impressions – immediate
sensations of external
reality
2. Ideas – recollections of
impressions
 These two together make up
the content of the human mind.
Three Principles on How Ideas Relate
to One Another
1. The Principle of Resemblance –
sensing the likeness of current
experience to previous
experiences
2. The Principle of Contiguity –
associating an event to another
event
3. The Principle of Cause and
Effect – principle that all events
have sufficient causes. This
idea arises only when people
experience certain relation
between object thus it cannot
be a basis for knowledge
Hume’s View of Human Nature
 The part of the human nature is
what other philosophers called
 the soul; Hume termed it “the
self”.
 The self is also product of the
imagination
Kant’s View of Human Nature and the
 He also stated that there is no
Self
such thing as “personal identity”
behind perceptions and feeling
that come and go
 There is no
permanent/unchanging self
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
 From Konisberg in East Prussia
(presently Western Russia)
 The philosophy of David Hume
awakened and motivated him to
be the founder of German
Idealism
Kant’s View of the Mind
Structures of the Mind
 Kant argued that the mind
actively participates in knowing
the objects it experiences
 Instead of the mind conforming
to the world, it is the external
world that conforms to the mind
 He defined knowledge as a
result of human understanding
applied to sense experience
 When the self sees an object, it
tends to remember its
characteristics and applies on it,
the forms of time and space
 A self must exist or else there
could be no memory or
knowledge
 “Transcendental appreciation” –
the experience of the self and
its unity with objects
 People do not experience the
self directly but as a unity of all
impressions that are organized
by the mind through perceptions
 In the matter of God, Kant
stated the kingdom of God is
within man
 God is manifested in people’s
live therefore it is man’s duty to
move towards perfection
 An Austrian neurologist
 Considered to be one of the
pioneering figures in the field of
Psychology
 Focuses on the working of the
unconscious mind
(Psychoanalysis)
 Psychodynamic theory of Freud
tell that the workings of the
mind or one’s mental life
impacts strongly on the body
resulting in either emotional
 stability of psychological
dysfunctions
 Freud presented the
topography of the mind
 Three levels of the mind:
1. Id – pleasure principles
2. Ego – reality principle
3. Superego – moral principle
 two kinds of instincts that drive
individual behavior:
1. Eros or instinct – energy of
eros is called “libido”
2. Thanatos or death instinct –
behavior towards destruction
in a form of aggression and
violence
Freud’s View of Human Nature
 Repressed thought and
memories have enough psychic
energy to impose control on the
person’s consciousness
 Freud’s psychoanalysis sees a
man as a product of his past
that lies within his subconscious
 Man lives his life balancing the
forces of life and death
Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976)
 An English Philosopher
 Contradicted the Cartesian
Dualism
 In his book entitled, The
Concept of the Mind, he argues
that dualism “involves category
mistakes and is a philosophical
nonsense”
Ryle’s View of Human Nature
 Man is endowed with freewill
 He thought that freewill was
invented to answer the question
of whether an action deserves
praise or blame
 Freewill involves a moral
responsibility which further
assumes that man’s action must
be moral for it to be free
 Two types of knowledge:
 1. Knowing-that – an “empty
intellectualism” as it refers to
only knowing facts
2. Knowing-how – using facts
and perform it using skill or
technical abilities
 “Knowing” involves an ability
and not just intellect
Patricia and Paul Churchland
 A Canadian Philosopher
 Uses the application of
neurology to problems such as
the mind-body problem
 Man’s brain is responsible for
the identity known as the “self”
 Coined the term
“Neurophilosophy”
Neurophilosophy
 It is the study of philosophy of
the mind, the philosophy of
science, neuroscience and
psychology
 Aims to explore the relevance of
neuroscientific
experiments/studies to the
philosophy of the mind
 Brain-mind issue is the center of
this study
Churchland’s View of Human Nature
 Claims that man’s brain is
responsible for the identity
known as the self
 The biochemical properties of
the brain is really responsible
for man’s thoughts, feelings and
behavior
 Individual’s deviant thoughts,
feelings and actions comes
from abnormalities in the brain’s
anatomy and physiology
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961)
 A French Phenomenological
Philosopher
 He wrote books on perception,
art and political thought
 His philosophy emphasized the
human body as the primary site
of knowing the world
Merleau-Ponty’s View of Human
Nature
 He has been known as a
philosopher of the body
 The focus is on the relationship
between self-experience and
the experience of other people
 He developed the concept of
body-subject and contented that
perceptions occur existentially
 The consciousness, the world
and the human body are all
interconnected as they mutually
perceive the world
 The world is a field of
perception and human
consciousness assigns
meaning to the world
 The meaning assigned for a
particular object is subject to
change depending on the
perspective upon which it is
seen
 It is possible that one subject
may be perceived from various
perspectives
  Children imitate the behaviors if
people around them
 At this age, children start to
know the symbols
 The symbols are the bases of
CHAPTER 2: FROM THE communication. Ex. Language,
PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGY gestures, objects
Sociology 2. The Play Stage
3 to 7 years of age
 The scientific study of human  Skills at knowing and
social relations or group life understanding the symbols of
 Is a study of human communication is important for
interactions, the relationships socialization
that occur within the group and  Children begin to role play and
the results of these interactions pretend to be other people
 Role-taking is the process of
George Herbert Mead
mentally assuming the
 Born February 1863 in perspective of another and see
Massachusetts, USA how the person respond in a
 Graduated and taught grade given situation
school in Oberlin College 3. The Game Stage
 In 1887, he enrolled at Harvard 8 to 9 years of age
University and his main  The children begin to consider
interests were Philosophy and several tasks and various types
Psychology of relationships simultaneously
 Died of heart failure in 1931  Begins to see not only the own
perspective but also the
Mead’s Social Self perspective of other people
 “Generalized other” is the
Social Behaviorism
behavior of the person when he
 The power of the environment sees/considers other people in
in shaping human behavior the course of his actions
 Described the self as a Existence
“dimension of personality that is Stage Characteristics
of Self
made-up of the individual’s self- Preparatory Imitates
Stage
None
awareness and self-image” another
 Self cannot be separated from Play Stage Developing Role-taking
the society Game Generalized
Present
Stage other
Stages of Self Formation

1. The Preparatory Stage Mead’s Theory of the Self

0 to 2 years old
  The self is not present at birth
but begins as a central
character in a child’s world
 Children see themselves as the
center of their “universe”
 As the child grow and mature,
they begin to see other people
and now concerned about
people’s reactions
 Significant others is the family
who play a major role in the
formation of the self
The “I” and “Me”
I self
 When the person initiates or
performs a social action, the
self functions as a subject
 It represents the individual
identity based on the response
in his own experience
 Ex.:
- I am 20 years old
- I am this. I am that
Me self
 When the person takes the role
of the other, the self function as
an object
 It represents learned behaviors,
attitudes and expectations of
others and of society
 Ex.:
- Students around school
voted for me
- They chose me as class
president
Ex. If you accidentally put your hand to
the fire then your “I self” express how
you react to the pain
But the “me self” expresses how to
choose to express that pain and your
reaction will be conditioned by:
a. Who you are: male or female;
adult or child
b. Where you are: at home or
public place, alone or with
friends or strangers
Charles Horton Cooley
 Was an American Sociologist
 Made use of the
sociopsychological approach to
understanding how societies
work
 People learn who they are
through their social interaction
with people
 Our view of ourselves comes
from contemplation of personal
qualities and by the impression
and perception of others
 Looking-glass self or the self
that is a product of social
interaction
Three Phases of Developing a Self
1. People imagine how they
present themselves to other
2. People imagine how others
evaluate them
3. People develop some sort of
feeling about themselves as a
result of those impressions
I am not what I think I am
I am not what You think I am
I am what I think You think I am
Erving Goffman
  A Canadian-American
sociologist
 Known for his development of
Modern American Sociology
 One of his popular work was
The Presentation of the Self in
Everyday Life
 He observed that people learn
to slant their presentation of
themselves in order to create
preferred appearances and
satisfy particular audience

Impression Management

 The process of altering how the

person presents himself to other
 Similarities of social interaction
to a theatrical presentation
 Also termed as dramaturgical
approach
 Ex. A food waiter conceal his
anger towards rude customer

Face-work

 Another aspect of the self

 Is the need to maintain proper
image of the self to continue
social interaction
 Helps achieve success in
interpersonal communication
 Ex. Poise
  Also called physical
anthropology
 Is the study of the past and
present evolution of the human
species and is especially
concerned with understanding
the causes of present human
CHAPTER 3: FROM THE
diversity
PERSPECTIVE OF
ANTHROPOLOGY Linguistic Anthropology
Anthropology  Studies the role of language in
the social lives of individuals
 Is a field of social sciences that
and communities
focuses on the study of man
 Explores how language shapes
 This field includes man’s
communication and how
physical/biological
language and modes of
characteristics, his social
communication change over
relationships and the influences
time
of his culture from the dawn of
civilization up to the present  An essential part of human
communication is language
 Makes the person aware that
what he is maybe determined  Language is a system of
by his past and present communication used by a
condition particular country or community
 Archaeology, Biological  Language identifies a group of
Anthropology, Linguistic people
Anthropology and Cultural  Linguistic Anthropologist’s
Anthropology – subfields interest focuses on using
language as a means to
Archaeology discover a group’s manner of
social interaction and his
 The study of the ancient and
worldview
recent human past through
 English is the universal
material remains
language
 Archaeological records consists
of artifacts, architecture, Cultural Anthropology
biofacts, and cultural
landscapes  It is the study of human
 Focus on the past and how it cultures, their beliefs, practices,
may have contributed to the values, ideas, technologies,
present economies and other domains
of social and cognitive
Biological organization
 Culture is described as a group
of people’s way of life. It
 includes their behaviors,
beliefs, values and symbols
that they accept (usually
unconsciously) that are socially
transmitted through
communication and imitation
from generation to generation
Theory of Cultural Determinism
 A belief that the culture in
which we are raised
determines who we are at
emotional and behavioral
levels
 Positive implication of this
theory suggests that human
beings can be shaped/formed
to have the kind of life they
prefer it further means that
there is no limit placed on the
human ability to be or to do
whatever they set their minds
and hearts into
 Negative implication is that
people have no control over
what they learn. They blindly
accept the learning their
cultures exposed them to.
Human beings are seen as
helpless and so only what their
culture instructs them to do
Theory of Cultural Relativism
 Is the ability to understand a
culture on its own terms and not
to make judgements using the
standards of one’s own
 The goal of this is promote
understanding of cultural
practices that are not typically
part of one’s own culture.
 It leads to the view that no one
culture is superior than another
culture when compared to
systems of morality, law,
politics, etc.
Cultures may manifest itself in
people through:
1. Symbols
- Are the words, gestures,
pictures or objects that have
a recognized/accepted
meaning in a particular
culture
- Symbols are considered the
most superficial level of
culture
- Symbols can be shared or
copied by other cultures
who find them also fitting
their own culture
2. Heroes
- Are persons form the past
or present who have
characteristics that are
important in a culture
- They may be real or
fictitious and are models for
behavior
3. Rituals
- Are activities (may be
religious or social)
participated in by a group of
people for the fulfillment of
desired objectives and are
considered to be socially
essential
4. Values
- Are considered to be the
core of every culture
- Values are unconscious
and can neither be
discussed nor be directly
observed but only be
inferred from the way
 people act and react to
circumstances and
situations
- Values involve human
tendencies/preferences
towards good or bad, right
or wrong

CHAPTER 4: FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology
 A filed of social sciences that
deals with the description,
explanation, prediction, and
control of behavior (Ciccareli
and Meyer, 2006)
 It further believes that the world
of material things including
people exists independently of
the perceiving human mind
 Nature vs Nature Controversy
 Concept of the Self
Willian James (1842-1910)
 American Philosopher and
Psychologist
 He was professor of psychology
and philosophy at Harvard
University and was known for
being one of the great
pragmatists.
 He is also known for his Theory
of the Self. He wrote many
articles on both philosophy and
psychology and published
several books, one of which is
The Principles of Psychology in
1980. It is in this book where his
theory of the self is explained.
The “Me” and the “I”
Five Characteristics of Thoughts
1. All human thoughts are owned
by some personal self.
2. All thoughts are constantly
changing or are never static.
3. There is a continuity of thoughts
as its focus shift from one object
to another.
4. Thoughts deal with objects that
are different from and
independent of consciousness
itself.
5. Consciousness can focus on
particular objects and not
others.
James believed that the self is made
up of two parts: the I self and the Me
self
 Me Self – a separate object or
individual that the person refers
to when discussing or
describing their personal
experiences. The Empirical
Self.
 I Self – is the self that knows
and recognizes who they are
and what they have done. The
Pure Ego or the thinking self.
3 Components of the Me Self
1. Material Self
 Consists of things and
objects that belong to the
person or entities that a
person belongs to.
 Bodily Self – parts of the
body
 Extracorporeal Self – any
material possessions that
extends our body
 The more attached and
identified the person is to
his material things, the
more he will be affected
if any of them changes.
2. Social Self
  Refers to who the person creates conflict and
is in particular situation. prevents the
 The person chooses the development of the
self that would smoothly person’s sense of self
adapt to the social  Individuality – too much
situation for him to fit in. individuality results in
3. Spiritual Self distant and estrange
 Refers to the self that is feelings towards family
more concrete or and other people.
permanent when  In this theory, Murray
compared to the material stated a balance should
and social selves. be maintained between
 This self is the most these two forces.
subjective and intimate - Differentiated Self
part of the self.  Has the ability to
 Includes introspection separate feelings and
(self-observation) thoughts
 Person recognizes he
Other Selves in Psychology has his own personality
1. Global and Differentiated Self- therefore he endowed
Models with unique
 Global self is the product characteristics not
of all experiences that found in other members
of the group
person had in the
society which shows  A person can attain
what kind of person he self-fulfillment by
is. separating himself from
- Murray Bowen (1913-1990) the group, live his own
 American Psychiatrist life and fulfill his destiny
and Professor of  Being free from the
Psychiatry influence of other a
 He was among those person allows him to
who developed the define himself
Family Therapy/  A person can be who
Systematic Therapy truly he is by
 Came up with the differentiating himself
concept of Differentiated from unwanted
influences in from
Self by observing his
own family others and taking an
identity that is
- 2 Forces Affecting the
Person prescribed by family or
society
 Togetherness – too
much togetherness
  Enables the person to
develop and sustain his
unique identity, makes
his own decision and
accept responsibility for
his behavior and still be
able to stay emotionally
connected with his
family and friends.
2. Real and Idea Self Concept
- Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
 American psychologists
who proposed the
personality theory
known as the Person-
Centered Theory
 He stated that the term
self-concept is used to
refer to how a person
thinks about or
perceives himself
- 2 Types of Self-Concept
 Real Self-Concept –
refers to all information
and perception the
person has about
himself.
 Ideal Self-Concept – is
the model version the
person has of himself
- Self-Discrepancy Theory
 Individuals compare
their “actual” self to
internalized standards or
the “ideal/ought self”.
Inconsistencies between
“actual”, “ideal”
(idealized version of
yourself created from life
experiences) and
“ought” (who persons
feel they should be or
should become) are
associated with
emotional discomforts.
Self-discrepancy is the
gap between two of
these self-
representations that lead
to negative emotions.
3. Multiple and Unified Selves
 Multiple Selves Theory
suggests that there
exists in the individual
different aspects of the
self. It makes sense that
the self is a while made
up of the parts.
 Unified Self-Identity of a
person consists in the
continuity of
consciousness. What
makes me “me” is the
network of the
memories, hopes,
expectations, fantasies,
convictions and other
thoughts that constitute
my own consciousness.
4. True and False Selves
 True self – the self is
seen as creative,
spontaneously
experiencing each day of
their lives, appreciating
being alive, real,
integrated and connected
to the whole of existence
 Aware of who he is
 False self – a mask that
hides the true person for
fear of the pain of
rejection and failure.
 It enables the person to
form superficial but
 productive social with full awareness of his
relationships. behavior.
5. Self as Proactive and Agentic 2. Forethought person’s
 Alberta Bandura (1925- anticipation of likely outcomes
present) is the proponent of his behavior.
of the personality theory 3. Self-Reactiveness process in
as The Social Cognitive which the person is motivated
Theory and regulates his behavior as
 In his theory, the person he observes his progress in
is seen as proactive and achieving his goals.
agentic which means that 4. Self-Reflectiveness person
he has capacity to looking inward and evaluating
exercise control over his his motivations, values, life
life goals and other people’s effect
 Is acting in advance of a on him.
future situation, rather 5. Self-regulation allows the
than just reacting. person to set goals that are
 It means taking control better and higher than the
and making things former, challenging his
happen rather than just capabilities and making him a
adjusting to a situation or wiser and self-actualized
waiting for something to individual.
happen.
 Behaves like an agent,
assuming no
responsibility for actions
or their consequences
only following the orders
of someone in authority.

Bandura’s (1989) Theory of

Reciprocal Causation

 In his Triadic Reciprocal

Causation Paradigm, he
explains further how human
beings are affected by the
interaction among environment,
events, behavior and personal
factors (Feist & Feist, 2008)

Features of Human Agency

1. Intentionality actions performed

by the person intentionally or
CHAPTER 5: THE SELF IN
WESTERN AND EASTERN
THOUGHT
Individualist Self
 A person sees himself as
capable of living his own life,
doing the things that he would
love to do, making his own
mistakes and learning from his
experiences.
 This is the individual who is
aware of his rights and the
limitations of his freedom in the
extant society.
Collective Self
 In the culture of the East, the
development of a collective self
is ingrained into the individual.
 Collective self is the group self
to which the person belongs to.
Cultural Perceptions of Self
 Eastern and Western dichotomy
wherein eastern is called
Orientals represents ASIA and
western represents the
EUROPE and NORTHERN
AMERICA.
Eastern Thoughts of Self
Confucianism
 Code of conduct, of how one
should properly act according to
their relationship with other
people harmonious social life.
 Self-cultivation is seen as the
ultimate purpose of life, but the
characteristics of a chun-tzu, a
man of virtue or noble character
is still embedded in his/her
social relationship
 The cultivated self is a subdued
self – it is conditioned to
respond to perceptions, not of
its own needs and aspirations,
but of SOCIAL
REQUIREMENTS AND
OBLIGATIONS wherein the
personal needs are repressed
for the good of many, making
maintaining order and balance
in society.
Taoism
 It is living in the way of the Tao
or the universe. However,
Taoism rejects having one
definition of what is the Tao is.
 The self is not just an extension
of the family or the community;
it is a part of the universe, one
of the forms and manifestation
of the Tao.
 The ideal self is selflessness
but this is not forgetting about
the self, it is living a balanced-
life with society and nature,
being open and accepting the
change.
Buddhism
 The self is seen as an illusion,
born out of ignorance, of trying
to hold and control things, or
human-centeredness, thus the
self is also the source of all
these suffering;
 It is therefore our quest to forget
about the self, forget the
cravings of the self, break the
attachments you have with the
world, and to renounce the self
 which is the cause of all
suffering and in doing so attain
the stater of Nirvana.
Confucianism and Taoism – the
person, in striving to a better person,
does not create a self above the other
people or nature but a self that is
beneficial to his/her community as well
as in order and in harmony with
everything else.
As for Buddhism, the self, with all its
connection and selfish ideas, is totally
taken, not just out of the center of the
picture, but out of the whole picture as
a whole.
Western Thoughts of Self
 Western perspective does not
discount the role of environment
and society in the formation of
the self but the focus is always
looking towards the self. You
compare yourself in order to be
better, you create associations
and bask in the glory of that
group for your self-esteem; you
put PROMACY IN
DEVELOPING YOURSELF.
 Western thought looks at the
worlds in dualities wherein you
are distinct from the other
person, the creator is separate
from the object he/she created.
Differences of Western and Eastern
Thoughts
In which the self is distinguished and
acknowledge.
 On the other hand, the Eastern
perspectives sees the other
person as part of yourself as
well as the things you may
create, a drama in which
everyone is interconnected with
their specific roles.
 Americans, for example, talk
more about their personal
attributes when describing
themselves while Asians in
general would talk about their
social roles or the social
situations that invoked certain
traits that the deem positive for
their self.
 Evaluation of the self also
differs as Americans would
highlight their personal
achievements while Asians
would rather keep a low profile
as promoting the self can be
seen as boastfulness that
disrupts social relationships;
 The Western culture then is
what we would call an
individualistic culture since their
focus is on the person;
 Asian culture, on the other
hand, is called collectivism
culture as the group and social
relations is given more
importance than individual
needs and wants.
 By valuing the individual,
Westerners may seem to have
loose associations or even
loyalty to their groups.
 Competition is the name of the
game and they are more likely
straightforward and forceful in
their communication as well as
decision-making;
 Eastern or oriental persons look
after the welfare of their groups
and values cooperation. They
 would also be more
compromising and they would
also be more compromising and
they tend to go around the bush
in explaining things, hoping that
the other person would “feel”
what they really want to say.
 Westerners also emphasize
more on the value of the
equality even if they see that
the individual can rise above
everything else; they also
promote ideals “fair” competition
and protect the individual;
 As Asians, with their collective
regard, puts more emphasis on
hierarchy- as the culture wants
to keep things in harmony and
in order.

As for the Philippines

 Filipinos can also consider the

colonization experience for
differences and similarities with
our Asian neighbors;
 We might also find variation
among provinces and regions
due to geographical conditions;
 With social media, migration,
and intermarriages, variety
between the Westerners and
Asian perceptions may either be
blurred or highlighted, whereas
conflict is inevitable in diversity,
peace is also possible through
the understanding of where
each of us is coming from.