Lesson 1: From the Perspective of

lecture but instead asked questions and

engaged the person in a discussion.
Philosophy SOCRATES’ VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
- “The unexamined life is not worth
- Athens of Ancient Greece, approx. 600
living.”
BCE marked the birth of Philosophy
- His Socratic method allowed him to
(literally the love of wisdom).
question people’s beliefs and ideas,
- The Greek in search of knowledge
exposing their misconceptions and get
came up with answers that are both
them to touch their souls.
cognitive and scientific in nature. (Price,
- Socrates said that the true self is not
2000)
the body but the soul. Understanding
- Greek philosophers in Miletus chose to
comes from within the person. His
seek natural explanations to events and
method forces people to use their
phenomena instead of the supernatural.
innate reason by reaching inside
SOCRATES
themselves to their deepest nature.
- Mentor of Plato and Plato, the mentor
PLATO
of Aristotle.
- Real Name: Aristocles (428-348 BCE).
- Athens was the center of Western
- Born in Athens to one of Greece’s
thought. Athenians settled arguments
aristocratic families.
by discussions and debates and those
- Nickname Plato because of his physical
skilled in doing those were called
build which means wide/broad.
Sophists, the 1st teachers of the West.
- Established a school known as “The
- Their arguments are usually about
Academy.”
practical things and not metaphysical
- Plato’s metaphysics (philosophical
speculations.
study on the causes and nature of
- Then came Socrates (470-399 BCE).
things) is known as the “Theory of
Socrates wanted to discover the
Forms.”
essential nature of knowledge, justice,
- His Theory of Forms explained that
beauty, and goodness. (Moore & Bruder,
Forms refers to what’s real. They are
2002).
not objects that are encountered with
- A lot of his thoughts were only known
the senses but can only be grasped
through Plato’s writing “The Dialogues”.
intellectually.
It was through Plato where it was
- Forms are ageless therefore eternal,
learned that Socrates was a brilliant
unchanging therefore permanent,
debater and was idolized by many
unmoving and indivisible.
Athenians.
- Plato’s Dualism: The Realm of the
THE SOCRATIC METHOD
Shadows and The Realm of the Forms
- The method for discovering what is
PLATO’S VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE
essential in the world and in people is
- Made use of Socrates’ dialectic method
what is known as the Socratic/dialectic
and considered it an important tool in
method. It involves the search for the
discovering knowledge.
correct definition of a thing. He did not
 - Knowledge lies within the person’s
soul. Considered human beings as
microcosms of the universal
macrocosm.
- Even if the materials of the human body
and physical world are imperfect,
humans have the immortal, rational
soul which Plato believed is created in
the image of the Divine.
- 3 Components:
1. The Reason is rational and is the
motivation for goodness & truth.
2. The Spirited is non-rational and is the
will or the drive toward the action.
3. The Appetites are irrational and lean
towards the desire for pleasure of the
body.
PLATO’S THEORY OF LOVE & BECOMING
- “Allegory of the Cave”. People in the
cave will only see shadows of reality
which they believe are real things and
represent knowledge.
- Shadows are not real because
according to Plato, “only the Forms are
real.”
- Once out of the cave, they’ll see Forms
which is what real knowledge is.
- In knowing the truth, the person must
become the truth. “Theory of Being”
- Love - force that paves the way for all
beings to ascend to higher stages of
self-realization and perfection. It is the
way of knowing and realizing the truth.
ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
- Christianity influenced the Western
thought after the fall of the
Hellenistic-Roman eras.
- Christian philosophers and the medieval
era were also theologians. Their
concern was with God and man’s
relationship with God.
- They believed that man should rely on
God’s commands and his judgment of
what constitutes good & evil.
- Christianity sees man as sinners who
oppose God’s commands.
❖ Love of physical objects led to greed.
❖ Love for other people is not lasting and
excessive love for them leads to
jealousy.
❖ Love for the self leads to pride.
❖ Love for God is the supreme virtue and
only through loving God can man find
real happiness.
RENE DESCARTES (1595 - 1650)
- “Father of Modern Philosophy”
- COnsidered as one of the rationalist
philosophers of Europe. This group of
philosophers considered the truth as a
universal concept and reason is superior
to and independent of sensory
experience.
- Introduced the cartesian method and
invented analytic geometry.
DESCARTES’ SYSTEM
By math, he discovered that the human mind
has 2 powers:
1. Intuition - the ability to apprehend direction
of certain truths.
2. Deduction - the power to discover what is
known by progressing in an orderly way from
what is already known.
 - He believed that reasoning could
produce absolute truth about nature,
existence, morality and God.
- Priori - truth that can’t be discovered.
- Philosophy should progress from
simple ideas to complex ideas.
DESCARTES’ VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
- “I think therefore I am.”
- Deduced that a thinker is a thing that
doubts, understands, affirms, denies,
wills, refuses and that also imagines
and feels. (Prince 2000).
THE MIND BODY PROBLEM
- He considered the soul/mind (also the
self) as a substance separate from the
body.
- Body is like a machine that is controlled
by the will and aided by the mind.
JOHN LOCKE (1632 - 1704)
- Born in Wrington, England and son of a
Puritan lawyer.
- Interested in the workings of the human
mind, particularly the acquisition of
knowledge.
- Believed that knowledge results from
ideas that produce a posteriori or by
objects that were experienced.
- Ideas are not innate but rather the mind
at birth is a “tabula rasa” or blank state.
- “Nothing exists in the mind that was not
first in the senses.
LOCKE’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
Moral good depends on conformity or
nonconformity of a person’s behavior towards
some law. The 3 laws according to Locke are:
1. Law of Opinion - where actions that are
praiseworthy are called virtues and those that
are not are called vice.
2. Civil Law
3. Divine Law - set by God on the actions of
man.
DAVID HUME (1711-1776)
- Born in Edinburgh, Scotland
- Credited for giving empiricism its
clearest formulation.
THE HUMAN MIND
The mind receives materials from the senses
and calls it perceptions. There are 2 types of
perceptions: impressions & ideas.
1. Impressions are immediate sensations of
external reality. These are more vivid than the
ideas it produces.
2. Ideas are recollections of these impressions.
He formulated 3 principles on how ideas
relate to one another.
1. The Principle of Resemblance
2. The Principle of Contiguity
3. The Principle of Causation
THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE & EFFECT
The idea of cause and effect arises only when
people experience certain relation between
objects thus it cannot be a basis for knowledge.
HUME’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
- The Self
- He concluded that man does really have
an idea of the so-called self because
ideas rely on sense impressions and
people have no sense impression of a
self.
IMMANUEL KANT’S VIEW OF THE MIND
- Argued that the mind is not just a
passive receiver of sense experience but
rather actively participates in knowing
the objects it experiences.
- It is the external world that conforms to
the mind.
- He combined the philosophies of
Rationalism and Empiricism and defined
knowledge as a result of human
understanding applied to sense
experience.
KANT’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE & THE
SELF
- The bundles of sensory impressions
imply a unity of the self without which
there would be no knowledge of
experience.
- When the self sees an object, it tends
to remember its characteristics and
applies the forms of time and space.
- Transcendental Apperception -
experience of the self and its unity with
objects.
- Transcendental is used because people
don’t experience the self directly but as
a unity of all impressions organized by
the mind through perceptions.
- He stated that the kingdom of God is
within man.
SIGMUND FREUD (1856 -1939)
- Austrian neurologist.
- Repressed thought and memories
according to Freud have enough psychic
energy to impose its control on the
person’s consciousness, kept and
manifested as some form of
psychopathology. (hysteria)
- Made use of methods like free
association and dream analysis.
STRUCTURE OF THE MIND
- Freud’s psychodynamic theory would
tell that the workings of the mind or
one's mental life impacts strongly on
the body resulting in either emotional
stability or psychological dysfunctions.
- The tip of the iceberg represents
conscious awareness which
characterizes the person he deals with
in his external world.
- The person’s observable behavior is
further controlled by the workings of his
unconscious and subconscious mind.
- Subconscious serves as a repository of
past experiences, repressed memories,
fantasies and urges. The 3 levels of the
mind are structured by the following
components:
1. Id - structure that is primarily based
on the pleasure principle. Demands
immediate satisfaction and is not
hindered by societal expectations.
2. Ego - based on the reality principle.
3. Superego - primarily dependent on
learning the difference between right &
wrong. Morality of actions is largely
dependent on childhood upbringing
particularly on rewards and
punishments.
- In his 1920s book “Beyond the Pleasure
Principle”, it presented 2 kinds of
instincts.
- Eros - life instinct. The energy or eros is
called libido and includes urges
necessary for survival such as thirst,
hunger and sex.
- Thanatos - death instinct. There are
cases where man’s behavior is directed
towards destruction in the form of
aggression and violence which are
manifestations of thanatos.
GILBERT RYLE (1900 - 1976)
- English philosopher whose ideas
contradicted cartesian dualism.
RYLE’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE &
KNOWLEDGE
- He thought that freewill was invented
to answer the question of whether an
action deserves praise or blame.
- He agrees with Kant that freewill
involves a moral responsibility which
further assumes that man’s actions
must be moral for it to be free.
PATRICIA & PAUL CHURHCLAND
- Paul, a Canadian philosopher born on
Oct. 21, 1942 was dissatisfied with the
particular approach of philosophers and
instead sought to guide scientific
theorizing with philosophy and guide
philosophy with scientific inquiry.
- Patricia Churchland born on July 16,
1943 is a Canadian-American
philosopher known for her claims that
man’s brain is responsible for the
identity known as the self. The
biochemical properties of the brain
according to the philosophy of
neuroscience is really responsible for
man’s thoughts, feelings and behavior.
CHURCHLAND’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
- It seems that what and who the person
is, how he makes decisions, controls
impulses and how he sees himself is
largely determined by his neurons,
hormones and overall genetic make-up.
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY (1908-1961)
- French phenomenological philosopher.
At the center of his philosophy is the
emphasis placed on the human body as
the primary site of knowing the world.
MERLEAU-PONTY’S VIEW OF NATURE AND
THE SELF
- Developed the concept of body subject
and contended that perceptions occur
existentially.
- The consciousness ,the world and the
human body are all interconnected as
they mutually perceive the world.
- All knowledge is perceived through the
body with all its sensory functions
which take place in the here and now.
- “The Phenomenology of Perception”
(1945) describes the nature of man’s
perceptual contact with the world.
Consciousness is a process that
includes sensing as well as
interpreting/reasoning.
Lesson 2: From the Perspective of
Sociology
Sociology - is one of the social sciences which
aims to discover the ways by which the social
surrounding/environment influences people’s
thoughts, feelings and behavior.
George Herbert Mead was born February
1863 in Massachusetts
Mead’s Social Self
- Social behaviorism is the approach
George Mead used to describe the
power of the environment in shaping
human behavior.
- He described the self as ‘dimension of
personality that is made-up of the
individual’s self-awareness and
self-image’,
- The self cannot be separated from the
society.
THE PREPARATORY STAGE
- Self did not exist at birth but instead
developed over time.
- Its development is dependent on social
interaction and social experience.
- Children’s behavior is primarily based
on imitation. They imitate behaviors of
those around them.
- As they grow, they become more
familiar with symbols non verbal or
verbal that people use to interact.
THE PLAY STAGE
- Skills at knowing and understanding
the symbols of communication is
important for this constitutes the basis
for socialization.
- Children begin to roleplay and pretend
to be other people.
- It's a stage where a child widens their
perspective and realizes that they are
not alone and there are other presences
he has to consider.
THE GAME STAGE
- The child is about 8-9 yrs. Old.
- Children begin to consider several tasks
and various types of relationships
simultaneously.
- Start to see the others’ perspective and
have the ability to respond to several
members of his social environment.
MEAD’S THEORY OF THE SELF
- The self is not present at birth but
begins as a central character in a child’s
world. They see themselves as the
center of their ‘universe’.
- They begin to see other people and are
now concerned about people’s reaction.
- People around him especially the family
plays a major role in the formation of
the self.
THE I AND ME
- The person’s capacity to see the self
through others implies that the self is
composed of 2 parts:
1. I self - when the person initiates or
performs a social action, the self
functions as a subject. This subjective
element of the self is the I.
2. Me self - when the person takes the
role of the other, the self functions as
an object. The objective element of the
self is Me .
OTHER SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
Charles Horton Cooley (1864 - 1929) - an
American sociologist who made use of the socio
psychological approach to understanding how
societies work. “Human Nature and the Social
Order” (1902) discussed the formation of the
self through interaction,
- In his 3 phases, he made use of the
word imagine. It may mean that there is
a possibility that people develop
self-identities based on the wrong
perception of how others see them.
I am not what I think I am
I am not what YOU think I am
I am what YOU think I am.
Erving Goffman (1922 - 1982) -
Canadian-American sociologist known for his
roles in the development of “Modern American
Sociology” “The Presentation of the Self in
Everyday Life”. He wrote that people in their
social interactions learned to slant their
presentation of themselves in order to create
preferred appearances and satisfy others.
- Impression Management - the process
of altering how the person presents
himself to others.
- Sees similarities of real social
interaction to a theatrical presentation
which is the reason for his
“dramaturgical approach” to his view.
Lesson 3: The Self from the
Perspective of Anthropology
Anthropology - a field of the social sciences
that focuses on the study of man and the
totality of what it means to be human. The field
looks into the physical/biological characteristics,
social relationships and influences of his culture
from the dawn of civilization up to present.
4 Subfields of Anthropology:
1. Archeology
2. Biological Anthropology
3. Linguistics
4. Cultural Anthropology
These suggest that human beings are similar
yet different at the same time. These similarities
and diversities are what makes life so
interesting. They’ll know the information that
makes him similar and the different
characteristics that sets him apart.
THE FIELDS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
1. Archaeology - a scientist who studies
artifacts in order to discover how these
people lived. Archaeologists focus is the
past and how it may have contributed
to the present ways of how people
conduct their daily lives.
- Homo sapiens didn’t go extinct and
instead adapted and gained dominance
over all of earth’s creatures.
2. Biological Anthropology - focuses
primarily on how the human body
adapts to different earth environments.
They look at probable causes of
diseases, mutation and death.
- They do comparative studies on human
beings both dead & living and other
primates.
3. Linguistic Anthropology - focuses on
using language as a means to discover
a group's manner of social interaction
and their worldview. They want to
discover how language is used to create
and share meanings, form ideas and
concepts to promote social change.
- They also study how language and
modes of communication change over
time. From the story, “Tower of Babel”
which provided an alternate view on
how language originated, it can be
attested that through the centuries,
man had been searching for ways in
order for people to understand one
another.
4. Cultural Anthropology - interested in
knowing what makes one group's
manner of living particular to that group
and forms an essential identity.
- An individual is a product of culture.
- Theory of Cultural Determinism - the
contention that culture has a strong
impact on how the individual views
himself. Human nature is determined by
the ideas, meanings, beliefs, and values
learned as a member of society.
- On the positive side, the theory
suggests that humans can be shaped to
have the kind of life they prefer but, it
 can also mean that they have no control
over what they learn.
Values - considered to be the core of every
culture. They are unconscious and can neither
be discussed nor be directly observed but can
only be inferred from the way people act and
react to situations.
- Involves human tendencies/preferences
towards good or bad, right or wrong.
- behavior usually result from the different social
ME self as the empirical ME and the I self as the
Pure Ego/thinking self. The ME self is further
divided into 3 components namely:
1. Material Self - consists of the things or
objects that belong to the person or entities
that a person belongs to. Ex. their own body,
books, money, family etc.
2. The Social Self - refers to who the person is
in a particular social situation. Changes in

Lesson 4: The Self from the

situations the person finds himself in .
3. Spiritual Self - refers to the self that is more
Perspective of Psychology concrete or permanent when compared to the
material and social selves This self is the most
Psychology - field of the social sciences that
subjective and intimate part of the self. It
deals with the description, explanation,
always engages in the process of
prediction and control of behavior. It assumed
“introspection” (self-observation) which is a
the existence of the states of consciousness in
method that includes reflecting or looking
humans. It further believes that the world of
inward to study and understand the how and
material things including people, exist
why of the self.
independently of the perceiving human mind.
Nature-Nurture Controversy - experts in the
The “I” self or Pure Ego - is similar to the
field have sought for ways to best explain the
person’s soul or mind. It is considered to be
causes of human behavior only to discover that
on-substance, the “I” self cannot be studied
both nature and nurture influence behavior,
objectively. It takes into account the past, the
each one to a greater lesser degree.
present and future selves of the individual.
WILLIAM JAMES (THE ME AND THE I)
He concluded that human thoughts have 5
GLOBAL & DIFFERENTIATED SELF MODELS
characteristics:
- Represents the overall value that a
1. All human thoughts are owned by some
person places upon himself. The global
personal self.
self is the product of all experiences
2. All thoughts are constantly changing or are
that he had in the society which
never static.
accounts for the kind of person he really
3. There is a continuity of thoughts as its focus
is.
shifts from one object to another.
Murray Bowen (1913 - 1990) - an American
4. Thoughts deal with objects that are different
Psychiatrist and Professor was among those
from and independent of consciousness itself.
who developed the “Family Therapy” and
5. Consciousness can focus on particular objects
“Systematic Therapy.”
and not others.
Differentiated Self - in this theory, he observed
that there are 2 forces affecting the person;
togetherness and individuality.
- A different self has the ability to
separate feelings & thoughts.
REAL & IDEAL SELF-CONCEPTS
Carl Rogers (1902 - 1987) - an American
psychologist proposed the personality theory
known as the “Person-Centered Theory.” He
stated that “self-concept” is used to refer to
how a person thinks of themselves. There are 2
types of self-concept; real self-concept and
ideal self-concept.
Real Self-Concept - refers to all information
and perception the person has about himself.
“Who am I?” This idealized view was born out
of his experiences, standards and demands of
society and the heroes and models which he
chooses to imitate.
Ideal Self-Concept - what the person aims for
himself to be. “Who do I want to be?”
- There should be “congruence”
(sameness) between the real and ideal
self in order to be happy and satisfied
with life.
- If the real self is very different from the
ideal self then the person will
experience dissatisfaction and will see
himself as a loser.
Self-Discrepancy Theory of Higgins 1987 -
people used internalized standards to which
they compare themselves. These are called
“self-guides” which provide directions for how
the person should present himself. It may cause
emotional discomfort to the individual and can
be manifested as guilt or indifference.
MULTIPLE & UNIFIED SELVES
Multiple Selves Theory - there exists in the
individual different aspects of the self. The self
is a whole made up of different parts. These
parts of the self may manifest themselves when
the situation calls for it.
TRUE & FALSE SELVES
D.W. Winnicott (1896 - 1971) - an English
pediatrician and psychoanalyst studied child
development.
True Self - is the individual who knows their
strengths and limitations, enjoys winning and
success and learns from mistakes and failures.
False Self - can be manifested as a form of
defense. Lacks spontaneity, is dead and empty.
It is a mask that hides the true person’s fear of
pain and rejection and failure.
THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC
Albert Bnadura (1925 - present) - the
proponent of the personality theory;
The Social Cognitive Theory - it is where the
person is seen as proactive and agentic which
means that he has the capacity to exercise
control over his life.
Triadic Reciprocal Causation Paradigm -
explains further how human beings are affected
by the interaction among environmental events,
behavior and personal factors.
- The basic principle involved in human
learning is learning through
observation. Human nature is plastic
and flexible.
- The Social Cognitive Theory suggested
that human beings are proactive,
self-regulating, self-reflective, and
self-organizing.
FEATURES OF HUMAN AGENCY
1. Intentionality - refers to the actions
performed by the person intentionally or with
full awareness of his behavior.
2. Forethought - a person’s anticipation of likely
outcomes of his behavior.
3. Self-reactiveness - the process in which the
person is motivated and regulates his behavior
as he observes progress in achieving his goals.
4. Self-reflectiveness - how the person looks Ren - can be understood as human goodness. It
inward and evaluating his motivations, values, is what makes humans different from beasts. It
life goals and other people’s effect on him. involves feelings and thinking which serves as

Lesson 5: The Self in Western &

the foundation of all human relationships.
Li (Propriety) - in order to guide human actions,
Eastern Thought rules of propriety should be followed. Such
rules involve adherence to the rituals of the
Individualistic Self - through the process of
community. These are the customs, ceremonies
introspection and reflection, man begins to
and traditions that form the basis of “li” which
search for clues as to the probable purpose of
persisted and was strengthened by human
existence and the role he plays.
practice through generations.
- The development of an individualistic
“To master oneself and return to propriety is
self begins after birth and is observed in
humanity”
the child-rearing practices of parents in
Xiao (Filiality) - the virtue of reverence and
the West.
respect for family. Parents should be revered for
- Offsprings reaching 18 years of age are
the life they have given. Reverence for parents
expected to move out and explore their
is further shown by bringing honor to the family,
individual freedom.
making something of himself to earn the
Collective Self - in the cultures of the East, the
respect of others.
development of a collective self is ingrained into
Yi (Rightness) - the right way of behaving. It is
an individual and is lost and does not exist
unconditional and absolute. Right is right and
except as a part of the group. The family and
what is not right is wrong. Obedience to
the society control how the group members
parents, for instance, is expected of children
should think, act.
because it is morally right and obligatory to do
THE SELF IN WESTERN THOUGHT
so.
Recently, the West introduced the “ecological
“Do not do to others what you want them to do
self” which sees the self as a process that is
to you.”
undergoing development. Human biological and
environmental characteristics like race, gender,
social status, education, and culture are factors
that influence self-development.
THE SELF IN CONFUCIAN THOUGHT
Confucius was the name for which Kong
Zhongni of China was known in the West, born
in the Zhou Dynasty in 551 BCE in the small
state of Lu. He came to be known as “Master
Kong” and as a “Great Sage and Teacher.”

The philosophical concept of Confucianism is

centered on the “ren” which can be manifested
through the “li” (propriety), “xiao” (filiality) and
“yi” (rightness).