#LEC1 2.

Plato (the ideal perfect man)

PART 1 • Men in his original state was pure soul which is not
THE VARIOUS SELF tied by the body. A soul exists and could exists apart
from the body.
-CHAPTER1: BUILDING IDENTITY: the construction of the
self 3 Faculties of the soul

-CHAPTER2: The social self - Reason (intellect and will)

-CHAPTER 3: The self-embedded in culture - Passion (drives and emotion)

-CHAPTER4: The psychological construction of the self - Appetite (sensual part)

THE CONSTRUCTION OF SELF

The human nature of man is made up of many 3. Kant (human rationality)

components that unified and harmonized in the self-
• Man can create for himself the good and the rational
physical, intellectual, moral, social, political, religious,
being
aesthetics, sensual, sexual, and economics.
• Moral obligation is universal and it is called duty

• Moral law is rooted in human rationality

COMPONENTS
• Human reason gives the person the capacity to make
good judgment

4. Confucius (Confucian thought)

• Family is the bases of strong government

• Man must have virtue of kindness, uprightness,

decency, wisdom and faithfulness

• (golden rule) "do unto others what you would want

others do unto you"
Every each of these gives value in the identity of an
individual
5. St. Augustine (Philosophy of man)
The early philosophers had the ideas that the proper
way to solve the problem of the man the self, is to first •Live is a dialectic movement toward love.
inquire and discover the true nature of man
• Virtue is the order of love
1. Socrates
• A wicked life is turning away from love
(Ironic and maieutic processes)
• If one loves God, it means to love others and to love
•Ironic process is to clear the seeker of knowledge, oneself and never to do any harm to others.
clear his mind for action
• Ethics are love and justice
• Maieutic process draws truth out of the pupil's mind
which is done by means of dialogue or conversation
 6. Descartes (thinking thing)
•A person's existence depends on how he perceives
himself.
• "I" is defined as thinking thing
• Human beings are combinations of mind and body
such that the mind's choices can cause modes of motion
in the body, and motions in certain body organs.
7. Hume (on the self)
•Careful analysis on the notion of self or mind supposed
to be an unchanging non material substance within
everyone.
8. John Locke
(The representative realism)
• Human mind at birth is a blank paper or 'tabularasa'
•Representative realism that one perceives object
indirectly by means of representation or idea of
perception of objects
- Primary qualities
- Secondary qualities
Schema
• Are mental concept by which one organizes one's
world
• A person can immediately understand information,
style, skills, performances which are consistent to one's
schema.
• The self-schema that makes one's self-concept will
assist one to organize and recall one's experiences
The sense of self is central to all people's lives. At times,
they tend to see themselves at center stage and tend to
overestimate the extent to which others notice them
(spotlight effect)
Understanding the self requires deeper analysis in
knowing the human person. It involves a body of
information on the many aspects of behavior, thinking,
experiences, and attitudes as he goes about life.
RECAP
• To SOCRATES, true knowledge is virtue and virtue is
courage that courage is virtue and virtue is reason
• To PLATO, soul can exist without a body. What makes
man perfect is the perfection of his soul-his essence and
his importance
• To KANT, human reason gives the person the capacity
to make judgment regarding the good
• To ST. AUGUSTINE, man is capable of living rightly and
well. A virtuous life is dynamism of the will and which is
dynamism of love
• To DESCARTES, human beings are combinations of
mind and body such that mind's choices can cause
modes of motion in the body.
• To HUME, the self is not any one impression but
several impressions and ideas.
•To
LOCKE, nothing exists in the mind that was perceived by
the senses
#LEC2
CHAPTER 2 -Building Identity: The Social Self
SELF is a psychological construct that people create in
order to assist themselves and the world better.
At times, they may not consciously think about
themselves very much, yet how they understand their
sense of selves is closely tied to how they understand
the world around them or their relationship with others.
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF THE SELF
>Looking Glass Self (Charles Horton Cooley)
>Social Behaviorism (George Herbert Mead)
>Dramaturgical analysis of the self (Serving Goffman)
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF THE SELF
-The idea about the self that is used in defining a
person who he is points to the central part of the
socialization process.
The self represents ideas regarding the characteristics,
behavior and qualities of a person.
It is usual to hear from others phrases such as: "I am
proud of myself", "Losing my control", "hating myself",
"loving myself", and "talking to myself"
These conceptions represent the awareness of a
person of who he is and that he is unique being apart
from other beings and is the same person across time.
The idea that a person is a distinct one, bounded and
coherent being gives the latter a feeling of psychic
wholeness.
LOOKING GLASS SELF (Charles Horton Cooley, 1864-
1929)
Looking Glass Self is a process by which a person
develops his self-image based on how others treat
him/her.
Just as a person cannot see him/herself without a
mirror, so with self-image which cannot be seen unless
others react to a person's behavior.
Cooley said that people change or develop their
respective concept as they engage in social interaction.
He also suggested that looking Glass Self is a life-long
mental process and is characterized by 3 phases.
1st Phase -How one imagines how he appears to
others.
2nd Phase- How one imagines how others will judge his
appearance.
3rd Phase- is the development of emotional reaction
based on what one perceives others judgement to be
such as pride or shame.
Looking Glass Self does not only provide description of
who a person is, it is also responsible for the evaluation
of oneself (self-esteem* and personal efficacy**)
*Self-esteem- belief that one is good and valuable to
others
**Personal efficacy- belief that he can rise above
obstacles and challenge and eventually achieved his
goals.
SOCIAL BEHAVIORISM (George Herbert Mead, 1863-
1931)
First: He viewed self as the central concept of; self-
awareness and self-efficacy.
Second: Social experience is the exchange of symbols
Third: All social experiences are composed of "I" and
"Me"
"I" (as subject) the self is active and spontaneous
"Me" (as object) a person imagines himself as how
others perceive him.
A person initiates an action (I) and continues the action
according to how others judge his action (me).
According to Mead, children develop their self-concept
in 3 stages.
✓Preparatory stage (0-2years old)
✓Play stage (3years old)
✓Game stage (7 years old onwards)
1st Stage: PREPARATORY
-They simply imitate others without knowing the
meaning of their actions.

2nd Stage: PLAY STAGE

-They begin to take roles of significant others. Along

the process, they internalize the values and attitudes of
their parents and eventually incorporate them to their
own personality.

3rd Stage: GAME STAGE

-Children play the roles of the people who do not have

close relationship with them but influence the
children's internalization of values in the society.

-In this stage, they learn values of the society as a

whole.

DRAMATIRGUCAL ANALYSIS, Social Action Theory

(Erving Goffman, 1922-1982)

As people interact, they behave like actors by following

a script that they have learned from their parents,
teachers and friends.

His performance includes the way he talks, the way he

dresses, and the way he projects according to the
setting of the drama(situation).

As a person represents himself, he reveals pieces of

information about himself others-consciously or
unconsciously.