WEEK 1: SELF

“The life which is unexamined is not worth living.” - Plato

What is the self?

Definition:
- The self is the person that someone normally or truly is.
- The self refers to the total characteristics or qualities of a person both known and
unknown to others (but known to oneself).

Essential Reasons for Understanding the Self

1. You’ll understand yourself better.
Without self-understanding we will not be able to understand why we do the things we do or feel
the things we feel, and if things go wrong, we would know how to begin resolution.

2. You will have a better understanding of what affects your beliefs.

People who have a high degree of self-understanding know more deeply where their beliefs
come from and are more able to take a closer look at a bias and realize it is not a fact that
cannot be changed.

3. You will strengthen your critical thinking skills.

People who have a reasonable degree or self-understanding are able to identify the subjective
parts of themselves- like their feelings and opinions and you do their best to not let them play a
huge role in their critical thinking.

4. You’ll improve your decision-making.

People who understand themselves are familiar with analyzing because they analyze their
thoughts and feelings, and make a decision that fits them best.

5. You will get to know your strengths.

Taking the time and energy to look at our life gives us information about what we’re good at.
Knowing our strength also means we can choose to spend time improving them

6. You’ll discover your weaknesses.

If we want to improve, we have to know what to improve.
Knowing about our shortcomings is also an opportunity to practice self-compassion. This is an
important component to build a happy life.

7. You will have better listening skills.

When we don’t listen to ourselves and don’t understand our own thoughts and feelings, it is very
difficult to do that for others. People who understand themselves are good listeners because
they can recognize emotional triggers and biases that affect communication.
 8. You will have better self-regulation.
If we struggle with our reactions and feel bound to intense feelings, self regulation can help. To
self regulate, we need first to identify our emotions and what triggers them.

9. You will have more empathy.

We become aware that everyone’s feelings and beliefs come from their experiences.
You also become a better listener which is essential to practicing empathy.

10. You will become a better leader.

Since self-understanding leads to other skills like active listening, critical thinking, decision-
making, and empathy, it follows that self-understanding makes us good leaders because these
skills are the traits that good leaders must possess.

“Somehow we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
 WEEK 2: PHILOSOPHY AND SELF

What Philosophy Says About the Self

Socrates
- The self is a being composed of body and soul.
- The soul is man’s capacity for intelligence and character. It is a person’s conscious
personality.
- The soul is “that within us in virtue of which we are pronounced wise or foolish, good or
bad.”
- The soul’s activity is to know and to govern a person’s daily conduct.

Plato
- Man is composed of body and soul but the soul of the man is a non-material entity which
can exist apart from the body.

The Human Soul is Indestructible and has Three Parts:

1. Appetitive
- Desires for the things of the body, the appetites.
- Might lead us into a world of fantasy, and deceive us into thinking that certain pleasures
will bring us happiness.

2. Spiritual
- Drives us toward action.
- Makes man assert and experience abomination or anger.

3. Rational
- Seeks the true good of life by evaluating things according to their nature.
- Directs the passions to objects of love.

Aristotle’s View of the Self

- The body and soul of the self are in the state of unity. There is no dichotomy between
man’s body and soul.
- Man is a single essence of body and soul.
- The soul is formed to the body while the body is matter to the soul.

The self possesses a rational soul which has the ff. capacities:
1. Capacity for scientific thought.
2. Understanding the relationships of things.
3. Capacity to distinguish between different kinds of things.
4. Capacity for deliberation.

Two Parts of the Soul

1. Irrational
- Gives us the capacity for nutrition and sustains our biological needs.
- Also enables us to experience desires and fulfill these desires.
2. Rational
- Thinking and contemplation.
 WEEK 3: WHAT SCIENCE SAYS ABOUT THE SELF

Two Classifications of the Scientific Study of the Self

1. Physical Sciences
Focuses on biological factors that make up the human body, the underlying growth and
maturational mechanisms, and environmental influences that contribute to human
development.

2. Social Sciences
Are concerned with institutions, cultures and the interpersonal relationships of people
living in society.

Biological/Physiological Science
- The study of the human body from a physical perspective paved the way for a fuller
understanding of the self, as consciousness. A fundamental core of the self, is
influenced by inner dynamics and environments.

Neurophilosophy (Paul and Patricia Churchland)

- Is concerned with the association of the brain and the mind.
- In order to understand the workings of the human mind, people must first understand the
brain, its function, and wave activity.
- Human consciousness, worldviews, beliefs, and other attributes are distinctly connected
to brain physiology and functioning.

Maurice - Merleau Ponty

- Attempted to incorporate the physical and the psychological aspects of the self with his
theorem “We are our bodies.”
- For Merleau-Ponty, the union of mind and body is inextricable. There is no experience
that is not an embodied experience. There is never a moment in which we are separated
from our bodies. Our bodies open our existence to the world.

Psychoneuroimmunology
- Describes the shaping of the self as similar to how the human immune system functions.
The human body is made up of nucleotides, the composition of which makes up the
DNA.
- Individuals capitalize on their individual attributes and are likely to reject environmental
factors assumed to be harmful to the body and its well-being.

Social Sciences
- Are concerned with human functioning in the context of society and social institutions.

1. Psychology
Theoretical perspective that explain the self:
 A. Psychoanalysis
- Focuses on the “unconscious” as a core element of the self.
- Sigmund Freud likened the human psyche to an iceberg, whose small tip
represents the awareness of the individual and the large part submerged
underwater as the “unconscious,” influencing behavior unknown to the person.

B. Behaviorism
- Maintains that the study of behavior should be made from an observable and
measurable perspective.
- Largely attributes behavior to environment conditioning.

C. Humanistic Perspective
- Believes that every individual has the ability to reach self actualization and
transcendence, and that each person is inherently good or possesses something
that is good.
- Focuses on the strengths and inherently good nature of people.
- Man has a choice and free will and is able to overcome environmental
boundaries through human efforts.

2. Sociology
- Study of the collective behavior of people within society and focuses on the
problems encountered by individuals.
- It does not see a person on his or her own, but rather, on the impact of social
institutions and relationships within society on one’s thoughts, feelings, and
behavior.

3. Anthropology
- Is the study of human beings and their ancestors through time and space in
relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture.
- Examines the developmental advancements society has made and how they
have influenced people within that society.

4. Political Science
- Is concerned about the participation of individuals in establishing a government
and making political choices.
- One’s participation in government, ideologies, and advocacies are seen as
significant contributions to his or her own selfhood.

5. Economics
- Describes and analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods
and services.
- Economic activities affect peoples’ value systems and sense of self.