CHAPTER 1 - THE SELF FROM VARIOUS
PERSPECTIVES
Philosophical Perspective:
“Know Thyself”
- First an Imperative and then a
requirement.
Socrates
“I know that I do not know”
The Soul:
- Is the core essence of a living being, but
argued against its having a separate
existence
- If a knife had a soul, the act of cutting
would be that the soul because ‘cutting’ is
the essence of what it is to be a knife.
ü Man must look at himself
ü Two fundamental questions:
1. To find what?
2. By what means?
By what means? How?
 The knowledge of oneself can be achieved
only through SOCRATIC method, that is the
dialogue between the soul and itself, or
between a student and his teacher.
 Socrates is as often in the role of
“questioner”.
 Socrates questions because he knows
nothing, has nothing to learn, but it can help
its followers to discover the truths they have
in them.
 Without this work on yourself, life is
worthless according to Socrates:
“An unexamined life is not worth living”
“ You have to know yourself to improve your life”
Socrates’ Idea of the self:
1. The soul is immortal
2. The care of the soul is the task of philosophy
3. Virtue is necessary to attain happiness
“The goal of Life is to be HAPPY
- How do we become happy?
- A virtuous man is a happy man, and that
virtue alone is the one and only supreme
good that will secure happiness.
- Virtue: moral excellence (courage,
temperance, prudence and justice)
- Death is a trivial matter.
Plato
- “Only a self-controlled man, then, will
knew himself and will be capable of
looking to see what he actually knows and
what he doesn’t know”.
About Plato
- He was the student of Socrates
- Ideal self should be like a philosopher,
rational and wise, seeking knowledge.
For Plato, the PSYCHE is composed of 3 elements:
Tripartite Soul
- Rational/ Logical
 Seeks truth and is swayed by facts
and arguments
- Spirited/ Emotional
 How feelings fuel your actions
- Appetitive/ Physical Desire
 Drives you to eat, have sex, and
protect yourself
“The ideal self or individual would be one in so far
that the mind rules over spirit and appetite
- Be a self-controlled man.
St. Augustine
- All knowledge leads to God
About St. Augustine:
- The sense of self is relation to God, both
in his recognition of Gid’s love and his
response to it “achieved through self”
presentation, then self-realization
- One could not achieve inner peace
without finding God’s love
“ You have made us Yourself, O Lord, and our
heart is restless until it finds rest in You”
- St. Augustine
 About Locke

- “Tabula Rasa” – knowledge is derived

from experience.
- Personal identity (the self) “depend on the
Rene Descartes consciousness, not on the substance nor
on the soul”
Cogito ergo sum in English - Self-identity is not based on the soul: One
“I think therefore I am” soul may have various personalities.
Rationalism: reason rather than experience - Self-identity founded on the body
substance: as the body may change while
Rene Descartes’ Claims about the self: the person remains the same.
1. It is constant; it is not prone to change,
and it is not affected by time. David Hume
2. Only the immaterial soul remains the - “All knowledge is derived from human
same throughout time senses”
3. The immaterial soul id the source of our
identity. Hume’s Assumption:
- Abandoned the concept of the self and of
Distinctions between the body and the soul: the soul.
- His impression of what we might call the
Soul Body self is our constant shifting impressions of
the world we live In which disappear
It is a conscious It is a material when we sleep.
thinking substance substance that change
that is unaffected by through time. Impressions- are everything that originate from
time. our senses.

It is known only to It can be doubted; the Ideas – are just feeble image of thinking and
itself (only you know public can correct reasoning based on our impressions.
your own mental claims about the
event and others body.
cannot correct your Immanuel Kant
mental states. - “All our knowledge begins with the sense,
proceeds then to the understanding, and
It is not made up of It is made up of ends with reason. There is nothing higher
parts. It views the physical, quantifiable than reason.
entirely of itself with visible parts.
no hidden or separate Kant Assumptions:
compartments. If is - The ‘self’ is transcendental
both conscious and - The self is outside the body, and does not
aware of itself at the have the qualities of the body.
same time - It is knowledge that bridges the “self” and
the material things together.

Apperception;
John Locke - How we mentally assimilate new ideas
into old ones.
- “Human mind birth is a tabula rasa, which
- Occurring through rational reasoning, it’s
means that knowledge is derived from
how we make sense of new things.
experience”

Kant’s Two Concepts of the self:
Inners self
- The “self” by which you are aware of
alterations in your own state . This
includes your rational intellect and
psychological state, such as moods,
feelings, sensations and pain.
Outer self
- Includes your senses and the physical
world. It gathers information from the
external world through the senses, which
the inner self intercepts and coherently
expresses.
Sigmund Freud
- “Wish fulfillment is the road to
unconscious’
Three levels of human psyche:
1. Conscious
2. Preconscious
3. Unconscious
Freud’s Assumption of human psyche:
- An individual gets motivated by the
unseen forces, controlled by the conscious
and rational thought.
ID
- Unconscious energy that drives us to
satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives.
- ID operates on the pleasure principle,
demanding immediate gratification.
EGO
- The boss “executive” of the conscious.
- Its job is to mediate the desires of the ID
to Superego
- Called the “Reality Principle”.
SUPEREGO
- Part of personality that represents our
internalized ideals.
- Standards of judgement or our morals
- - Embodied Subjectivity
Gilbert Ryle
- “I act, therefore I am”
Ryle’s Assumption
- Rejected Descartes’ notion that mental
states are separable from physical states.
- There is NO hidden identity or ghost called
“soul’ inside the mind.
Where then do we get our sense of self?
- It is from our behaviors and actions
For example:
- You thinks= yourself as the kind person
because of your acts of kindness.
- Your actions define your own concept of
“self”.
Paul Churchland
- “The physical brain NOT the imaginary
mind gives us our sense of self”
Churchland’s Assumption:
- Stands on a materialistic view of the belief
that nothing but MATTER exists.
- If something can be seen, felt, tasted,
heard, touched or seen, then it exists.
- It is technically wrong to say that
depressed people are out of their minds
because neuroscientist found that brain
activity, and even brain shape, appears to
be associated with severe mood disorder.
- If the mind were a separate entity, the
depressed individual should retain
personality despite the damage to the
brain.
“ The sense of originated from the brain itself,
and that this “self” is a product of
electrochemical signals produced by the brain”
Maurice Merleau- Ponty
- “Physical body is an important part of the
self”
Maurice-Ponty Assumption
- The body is the primary site of knowing
the world
Embody: a verb that means to give to the body
Subjectivity: states of being a subject, an entity
that possesses conscious experiences (feelings,
belief and desires).
Object: a subject that acts upon or affects some
entity.
- A subject therefore exists can take actions
and cause real effects (or an object).
- Mind and body are intrinsically motivated.
- The body acts what the mind perceives as
a unified one.
Summary:
1. Plato – knowing that you don’t know
2. Socrates – doing good, tripartite self
 Rational
 Spirited
 Appetitive
3. St. Augustine – Knowing God to know
yourself.
4. Rene Descartes- I think, therefore I am
5. John Locke- The self is based on human
experience
6. David Hume – Impression and Ideas
7. Immanuel Kant- Inner and Outer Self
8. Sigmund Frued – ID, EGO, SUPEREGO
9. Gilbert Ryle- I act, therefore I am
10. Paul Churchland- Physical brain and self
11. Merleau-Ponty – Physical body and self
Philosophers:
1. Socrates- “I know that I do not know”
2. Plato- “Only a self-controlled man, then,
will know himself and will be capable of
looking to see what he actually know and
what he doesn’t know”.
3. St. Augustine- “All knowledge leads to
GOD”
4. Rene Descartes- “I think, therefore I am”
5. John Locke- “Human minds birth is a
tabula rasa, which means that knowledge
is derived from experience.
6. David Hume- “All knowledge derived from
human senses”
7. Immanuel Kant- “All our knowledge
begins with the sense, proceeds then to
understanding, and end with reason.
There is nothing higher than reason.”
8. Sigmund Freud – ID, EGO, SUPEREGO
9. Gilbert Ryle- I act, therefore I am
10. Paul Churchland – “Physical brain Not the
imaginary mind gives us our sense of self
11. Maurice Merleau-Ponty- “Physical body is
an important part of the self”
CHAPTER 2: SOCIOLOGY AND THE SELF
Sociology
- It is a branch of social science that focuses
on the study of social life, social change,
and the social causes and sonsequences of
human behavior.
You fell about agents of Socialization
- Pressured
- Overwhelmed
- Stressed out
- Guided
- Driven
- Motivated
Agents of Socialization
Family
- Learn norms, values and beliefs
- Learn to develop relationship
- Acquire self-image
- Obtain social class
School
- More impersonal relationship
- Hidden Curriculum-unofficial skills
children are taught in preparation for life
- Extracurricular Activities
Peer Group
- Composed of individuals of roughly the
same age and interests.
- Provide sense of belonging
- Peer pressure
- Independence, freedom to express
yourself
- Relationship with opposite/ same sex
Mass media
- Methods of communication to reach the
general population
- Either helps sustain status quo or moves
society towards change
- Display role model to imitate
- Teach Values
- Show achievement, success, and hard
work
Religion
- Influence mortality
 - Ideas about dress, speech, and manner - Preparatory stage
that are appropriate - Play stage
- Influences beliefs about sexuality. - Game stage

Are significant individuals, group, or institution
that influences our sense of self and the
behaviors, norms, and values that help us
function in society.
Mead’s Theory of the self
George Herbert Mead
- A sociologist from the late 1800s, is well
known for his theory of the social seld,
whichincludes the concepts of
“self, me, and I”
Meads Two sides of the self
“ME”
- Represents the expectations and attitudes
and others
- Composed of learned behaviors, attitudes,
and expectaions of others and of society.
- Also known as the “Generalized Others”
- Self as OBJECT
- Self that you can describe, such as your
physical characteristics, personalities,
social role, or relationships, thoughts,
feelings.
Preparatory Stage (birth- 3 years old)
- Children copy, or imitate, the behavior of
others around them without,
sophisticated understanding of what they
are imitating.
Play Stage (3-5 years old)
- Children start role- playing and taking on
the role of significant people in their lives.
- Children only take on one role at a time
Game Stage (5-9 years old)
- Children learn their role in relation to
others and how to take on the role of
everyone else in the game
The self is the part of an individual’s personality
that is composed of self-awareness and self-
image.
LOOKING-GLASS SELF
Charles Horton Cooley
Our sense of self is influenced by others’ views of
us………

“I” Looking- Glass Self

- The response to the “me”, or the person’s - Charles Horton Cooley
individuality - The idea that people learn about
- The self as the subject themselves by imagining how they appear
- Is the pure ego to others.
- It is the subjective self. It is the “self” that - Three components:
is aware of its action. 1. You imagine how to you appear to
others
According to Mead, ”Existence in a community 2. You imagine how others will judge
comes before individual consciousness” you
3. You develop on emotional response
The social self is based on the perspective that as a result of imagining how others
the self emerges from social interactions, such as: will judge you.

- Observing and interacting with others A person’s self grows out of society’s
- Internalizing external opinions and interpersonal interactions and the perception of
internal feelings about oneself others.
- Responding to others’ opinion about
oneself Labeling Bias

Mead’s 3 stages of Development of the Self

 - Occurs when we are labeled and other
view and expectations of us are affected
by that labeling

Self Labeling
- Happens when we adopt others’ labels
explicitly into our self-concept.

Internalized Prejudice
- Individuals turn prejudice directed
towards them by others onto themselves.

Social Comparison Theory:

Leon Festinger, 1954

- States that individual determine their own

social and personal worth based on how
they stack up against others.
- People sometimes compare themselves to
others as a way of fostering self-
improvement, self-motivation, and a
positive self-image

“ People Have an innate drive to evaluate

themselves, often in comparison to others”

How do social comparison works?

Upward social comparison

- When we compare ourselves with those
who believe are better than us.
- Focus on the desire to improve our
current level of ability.

Downward social comparison

- When we compare themselves to other
who are worse off than our selves.
- Often centered on making ourselves feel
better about our abilities