GEN 002
people can persuade and manipulate you because you
MODULE#1 LESSON TITTLE: FROM THE PERSPECTIVE
OF PHILOSOPHY
Well known philosophers of all time: SOCRATES, PLATO,
ARISTOTLE but let us start with SOCRATES.
SOCRATES
Socrates is an ancient greek philosopher whose way of
life, character, and thoughts exerted a profound
influence on western philosophy.
His major contribution on 'SELF' is his concept he called
'KNOW THYSELF'. ‘Know Thyself’ was carved into stone
at the entrance to Apollo’s temple at Delphi in Greece.
According to Socrates:
 Knowing the self is enlightenment.
 Mastering oneself and others requires force.
 Self-knowledge alone eradicates misery.
 To know oneself is the beginning of wisdom.
 Self-knowledge alone eradicates misery
So, the question here now is what does it mean?
These mean when a person is fully aware of his/herself
it gives a sense of enlightenment. When a person has a
solid self-concept meaning that person know what he
wants what he does not want, what he likes, what he
does not like, what is acceptable and what is not
acceptable to her/him, it gives that person a power.
Even if a lot of people are persuading that person to do
something, that person can never be persuaded and
overpowered by anyone because he/she knows herself
and he/she has solid self-concept.
Why is it important to discover ourselves?
According to Socrates it eradicates misery which mean
it take you away from lots of confusion. It takes you
away from questioning yourself with such questions as
the following: What am I? who am I? What I like and
what I do not like? What is acceptable to me and what
is not? What is my identity? Am I a woman? Am I a
man? Am I a bisexual? Am a gay? a lesbian? I DO NOT
KNOW.
When you do not know yourself that much, a lot of
alone cannot decide on your own because you don't
know yourself.
According to Socrates we can only achieve self-
knowledge through SOCRATIC METHOD that is a
dialogue between soul and itself which mean it could be
yourself alone. When you actually having some ME
TIME, talking to yourself, reflecting to your experiences,
you discover and learn more about yourself but you
have to make sure that when you are talking to
yourself, it should be in private, not in public. Otherwise
people may think you are insane.
When you are talking to yourself, you have to be honest
and do not sugarcoat anything because if you do, its
useless. Accept and have an honest review of yourself.
In that way, you will gain more knowledge about
yourself which could eventually be your weapon
throughout.
ARISTOTLE
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher just like
Plato and Socrates.
He argued that self and body are inseparable meaning
self and body can never be separated. When the body
dies, the self also stops to exist.
PLATO
Plato was an ancient greek philosopher and a student of
Socrates. Plato's view of self, he is a dualist which mean
that there is both immaterial mind which is the soul and
the material body or our physical body.
Plato believed in the existence of the soul both before
and after birth. As a result, he felt that the soul or mind,
rather than the senses, acquires knowledge of the
forms. Needless to say, we should be more concerned
with our soul than with our bodies.
According to Plato the soul is divided into 3 major parts
that is the reason, the will which is the emotion,
passion, and spirit and last is the appetite which mean
our physical urges. According to Plato, these 3 has to
agree with one another because if not, people will
experience mental health conflict.
MODULE 2: PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGY

CHARLESHORTONCOOLEY

Charles Horton Cooley was a sociologist and his greatest

contribution was his concept he called 'Looking class
self'. According to him, a person's behavior and self-
esteem are influenced by their expectations of how
others will regard them.

The looking-glass self describes the process wherein

individuals base their sense of self on how they believe
others view them. Using social interaction as a type of
“mirror,” people use the judgments they receive from
others to measure their own worth, values, and
behavior.
In his Confessions, St. Augustine expands on this
concept to create a whole genre that critically examines
what it means to be a human. This identity is attained
by a two-step procedure: self-presentation followed by
self-realization.

People's perceptions of themselves, according to The individual can only find satisfaction and fullness in
Cooley, comprise "three main elements: the presence of the Omnipotent and Omniscient.

 An individual in a social situation imagines how

they appear to others.
 Those individual imagines others’ judgment of
that appearance.
 The individual develops feelings about and
responds to those perceived judgments.
RENEDESCARTES
Rene Descartes is an idealist. An idealist is someone
who bases their whole knowledge on their beliefs rather
than on facts or experiences.

To put it more simply, the way you imagine other
people perceiving you affects the way you feel about
yourself, which in turn affects your attitude and even
your appearance. And you may change the way you
present yourself depending on who you’re trying to
impress or fit in with.
In addition, similarly to Mead, sociologist Charles
Horton Cooley felt that our self-images are formed by
our interactions with others. He was especially
concerned in how our significant others change us as
people. A Significant Other is someone whose ideas we
value and who can affect our thinking, particularly
about ourselves. Anyone may be a significant other,
whether a parent, sibling, spouse, or closest friend.
That only means if the person thinks that you are
significant to him or her, your thoughts/opinion matters
to them and you eventually influence their actions but if
a person do not consider you as significant to them then
your opinion/thoughts do not matter to them as a
result, you do not influence their actions and behaviors.
COGITO ERGO SUM is the famous concept of Rene
Descartes. Cogito Ergu Sum means I THINK THEREFORE I
AM. This concept means that if a person is capable of
thinking/doubting/rationalizing, it means you are
existing.
Despite the fact that the mind and body are physically
linked, they are cognitively separate and serve separate
functions.
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD.
The social self, according to Mead's idea, comes from
social interactions such as seeing and engaging with
others, responding to others' judgments about oneself,
and internalizing external opinions and internal
sentiments about oneself.

Three activities develop the self:
1. Language helps people build their sense of self by
allowing them to communicate with one another via
symbols, gestures, words, and sounds. Others' attitudes
and views on an issue or a person are communicated via
language. Language is used to express emotions such as
anger, happiness, and perplexity.
2. Play allows people to build their sense of self by
allowing them to play different roles, pretend, and
communicate their expectations of others. Role-playing
helps to promote self-awareness in children. A person
may absorb others' perspectives and gain an awareness
of how others feel about themselves and others in a
range of social circumstances through role-playing.
3. Games help people build their sense of self by
helping them to comprehend and follow the rules of the
game. Understanding that there are rules to follow to
win a game or be successful at an activity helps to
develop oneself.
MODULE 3: SELF: FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF
ANTHROPOLOGY
ANTHROPOLOGY
Anthropology is the scientific study of human origins,
evolution, and how we interact with one another, both
within our own culture and with individuals from other
civilizations.
The study of what makes humans human is known as
anthropology. Anthropologists use a wide approach
called holism to examine the many distinct facets of the
human experience. They use archaeology to go back
hundreds or thousands of years to understand how
human cultures lived and what was significant to them.
MODULE 4: SELF FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF
PHSYCOLOGY BY WILLIAM JAMES
WILLIAMJAMES
James theorized the components of the self, which he
divided into two categories: “Me” and “I.”
When a person talks about their own experiences, they
refer to themselves as "Me." The "I," on the other hand,
is the portion of the self that understands who they are
and what they have achieved in life.
The Me Self is divided into three parts, according to
James
1. The material self consists of what belongs to a
person, such as the body, family, clothes, or money.
(anything that belongs to you is your material self)
Example: I have a long blond hair. I have branded
clothes etc.
2. The social self marks who you are in a specific social
situation. We tend to change our actions, thoughts,
emotions, words, and mannerisms based on the current
social situation or the people with whom we are
interacting.
For example, we act differently when at work as
opposed to when out with friends, as do we when
talking to our boss as opposed to a coworker.
To put this in a public situation, we tend to behave
professionally in the class and we tend to show our
crazy side or other side at home or to the people we are
comfortable with.
3. Finally, our spiritual self is who we are at our core,
including our personality, values, and conscience. Our
spiritual self typically remains relatively stable
throughout our lifetime (Green, 1997).
R E A L S E L F VS I D E A L S E L F

REAL SELF refers to who you really are. Your physical

description, social roles, personal traits and existential
statements.

Example: I am fat, have lots of pimples. I am a student, I

am introvert.

IDEAL SELF is image you wanted to be. It includes all the

things you wanted or wish to possess.

Example: I wanted to be a little bit taller, I wanted to be

an Engineer, I wanted to be just like Kendal Jenner who
has a perfect body.