Republic of the Philippines

CARCAR CITY COLLEGE

Luanluan Street, Poblacion I, Carcar City, Cebu
Tel # 487-0063/487-9077
carcarcitycollege.edu.ph
GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE
MIDTERM ABSTRACTION #1
AUGUST 23-24, 2023

Subject : UNDERSTANDING THE SELF LESSONS 1 & 2 :

Class : BSC 1 A 7:30 – 9:00 MW
Schedule BSC I B 2:30 – 4:00 TTh
BSC I C 10:30 – 12:00 TTh
BSC 1D 1:00 – 2:30 TTh
BSC 1E 10:30 - 12:00 MW
BSA 1 A 1:00 - 2:30 TTh
BSA 1 B 1:00 - 2:30 MW
BSA 1 C 2:30 – 4:00 MW
BSA 1 D 5:30 – 7:00 TTh
BSA 1 E 4:00 – 5:30 MW

Topics : The Self from Various Philosophical Perspectives

The Self, Society and Culture

Objectives : At the end of this weekly module, students must have

 Identified the meaning of self, its nature and importance
 analyzed the different points of views about the self from various philosophers
 described and discussed the relationship of self to society and culture

I. ACTIVITIES ( To be passed the following session)

A. Print/Paste a self-portrait on a short bond paper. Below the portrait, write
1. Full Name w/ middle name
2. School where you graduated from and its address
3. Three Physical Characteristics you inherited from your parents (mother/father)
4. Three Adjectives to describe yourself and the reasons why you chose those adjectives
B. Draw/Print an object that you think would represent your characteristics/behavior and state 3 reasons why
you chose that object in relation to family and society at present

II. ABSTRACTION #1

The term self is defined in many ways:

a. The “self” is a unified being and is a being essentially connected to consciousness, awareness, with the
faculty of rational choice.
b.The “self “ is exhibited and inferred in the conduct and discourse that emanate from the individual alone. c.“Self“ is
a dynamic, responsive process that structures neural pathways according to past environment.
d. “Self” is the condition of identity that makes one subject of experience distinct from all others.
The nature of self starts with the varied terminologies that can be considered synonymous with the “self.” It
can be as diverse as “self-awareness”, “self-conciousness”, “self-identity”, “self-esteem”, “self-concept”, “ego” and the
like. Yet all of these terms and concepts direct towards our “inner being” and our “soul.” It takes much intelligence
and awareness that there is a being inside of us who experiences every undertaking that we have.The “self” is a
thinking and feeling being, within us and within ourselves. The “self” is generally the distinct identity which is a
summation of the experiences of the individual.The “self” is related to the awareness and consciousness of a rational
being.
The history of philosophy is replete with men and women who inquired into the fundamental nature of the
self. Along with the question of the primary substratum that defines the multiplicity of things in the world, the inquiry
on the self has preoccupied the earliest thinkers in the history of philosophy: the Greeks. The Greeks were the ones
who seriously questioned myths and moved away from them in attempting to understand reality and respond to
perennial questions of curiosity, including the question of the self. The different perspectives and views on the self
can be best seen and understood by revisiting its prime movers and identify the most important conjectures made by
philosophers from the ancient times to the contemporary period
Pre- Socrates Period
• Arche- explains the multiplicity of things in the world
• More concerned about what the world is made up of, why the world is so, and explains the changes that
the Greeks had considered as they observed around them

• Locate an explanation about the nature of change, the seeming permanence despite change, and the unity
of the world amidst diversity
Socrates
•” The unexamined life is not worth living”
• Examining one’s life is the most important task one can undertake
•One’s true self is not to be identified with what we own, with our social status or reputation
or even with our body
• Our one true self is our soul
• The state of our own soul or our inner being determines the quality of our life
• First philosopher who engaged in systematic questioning about self
• The worst that could happen to anyone is to live but die inside
• Every human person is dualistic
• Every person is made of body and soul
A. Body- imperfect; impermanent
B. Soul- perfect; permanent
Plato
• The essence of knowledge is self-knowledge
• There are three components of the soul:
A. Rational soul- forged by reason and intellect; has to govern the affairs of the human person
B. Spirited soul- in charge of emotions; should be kept at bay
C. Appetitive soul-in charge of base desires like eating, drinking, sleeping and having sex; should
be controlled as well
• Justice in the human person can only be attained if three parts of the soul are working harmoniously with
one another
• When an ideal self is attained, the human person’s soul becomes just and virtuous
• Man’s obligation to himself is the liberation of his mind, and not the satisfaction of the senses
Augustine
• Man is of bifurcated nature
• As aspect of man dwells in the world and is imperfect and continuously yearn to be with the Divine and
other is capable of reaching immortality
•The body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss in
communion with God
• The body can only thrive in the imperfect physical reality that is the world
• The soul can stay after death in an eternal realm with the all-transcendent God
• The goal of every human person is to attain this communion and bliss with the Divine and living his life on
earth in virtue
• “ a soul which has a body does not make two persons but one human being”
Thomas Aquinas
• The most eminent 13th century scholar
• Man is made of two parts:
 A. Matter- hyle greek; refers to the common stuff that makes up everything in the universe
B. Form- morphe in Greek; refers to the essence of a substance or thing; It is what makes it
what it is
• The body of a human person is something that he shares even with animals
• What makes human different from an animal is his essence
• That soul is what animates the body; it is what makes us humans
• The soul is a spiritual entity and does not depend on matter and can exist separately from the body
• Human existence in its perfect form is in the dual nature of the human soul and body
Rene Descartes
• cogito ergo sum( I think therefore I am)
• Father of Modern Philosophy
• More concerned with understanding the thinking process we use
• The equity to reason constitutes the extraordinary instrument we have to achieve truth and knowledge
• Genuine knowledge needed to be based on independent rational inquiry and real-world experimentation
• we need to use our thinking abilities to investigate, and develop our own well-reasoned conclusions,
supported with compelling proof
• The only thing that one cannot doubt is the existence of self
• There are two distinctive entities
A. Cogito- the thing that thinks; free mind
B. Extenza- extension of mind
• What makes a man a man is his mind
• Physical body is secondary to personal identity
David Hume
• Empiricist Scottish Philosopher
• Man can only attain knowledge by experiencing life
• The self is nothing else but a bundle of impressions
•Two categories of experience:\
A. Impressions- basic object of our experience or sensation; form the core of our thoughts; vivid
because they are products of our impressions
B. Ideas- copies of impression; they are not as lively and vivid as our impressions
• self is simply a bundle or collection of different perceptions which succeed each other with an
inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movements
•A unified self is simply a combination of all experiences with a particular person
Immanuel Kant
• The things that men perceive around them are not just randomly infused into the human person without an
organizing principle that regulates the relationship of all these impressions
• There is necessarily a mind that organizes the impressions that men get from the external world
“ apparatuses of the mind” concept
• The self is an actively engaged intelligence that synthesizes all knowledge and experience
Gilbert Ryle
• Denies the concept of an internal, non physical self
• What truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his day- to- day life
• The “ self” is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient name that people make
Maurice Merleau- Ponty
• Phenomenologist
• asserts that the mind-body bifurcation is a futile endeavor and an invalid problem
• The mind and the body are so intertwined that they cannot be separated from one another
• All experiences are embodied
• One’s body is his opening toward his existence to the world
• The living body, his thoughts, emotions and experiences are all one

ABSTRACTION #2
o What is the self?
The self, in contemporary literature and even common sense, is commonly defined by the following
characteristics: “ separate, self contained, independent, consistent , unitary and private”
 1. Separate- it is meant that the self is distinct from other self; always unique and has its own
identity
2. Self-contained – the self has its own thoughts, characteristics and volition
3. Independent- the self can exist on its own
4. Consistent- the self has a personality that is enduring and can be expected to persist for quite
some time
5. Unitary- the self is the center of all experiences and thoughts that runs through a certain person
; where all processes, emotions and thoughts converge
6. Private- each person sort out information, feelings and emotions and thought processes within
the self; the process is never accessible to anyone but the self
Social Constructionist/ Constructivist Perspective
• explains the vibrant relationship between the self and external reality
• social constructionist argue for a merged view of “ the person:” and “their social context” where
the boundaries of one cannot easily be separated from boundaries of the other
• the self should not be seen as a static entity, rather, the self has to be seen in a constant struggle
with external reality and is malleable in its dealings with society
• the self is always in participation with social life
• the self is truly multifaceted
The Self and Culture
Remaining the same person and turning chameleon by adapting to one’s context seems
paradoxical. However, the French Anthropologist Marcel Mauss has an explanation for this phenomenon.
Self has two faces:
A. Personne- is composed of social concepts of what it means to be who he is, this has much to do
with what it means to live in a particular institution, a family, religion nationality and how to behave given
expectations and influences from others.
B. Moi- refers to person’s sense of who he is, his body, and his basic identity, his biological
givenness.
Language is another interesting aspect of this social constructivism. Language as both a publicly shared
and privately utilized symbol system is the site where the individual and the society make and remake each other.
For Mead and Vygotsky, the way that humans develop is with the use of language acquisition and interaction with
others. The way that we process information is normally a form of an internal dialogue in our head.
Those who deliberate about moral dilemma undergo the internal dialogue,”Should I do it or not?” or “If I do
this, what would my family and friends say about me?”
The Filipino language is incredibly interesting to talk about. The way by which we articulate our love denoted
by the phrase, Mahal Kita. This , of course, is the Filipino translation of “ I Love You”’ Interestingly too is the word
“mahal” which means both “love” and “expensive.” Among Filipinos, love is intimately bound with value, with being
expensive, being precious. Something expensive is valuable. Someone whom we love is valuable to us.
Both Mead and Vygotsky treated the human mind as something that is made constituted through language
as experienced in the external world and as encountered in dialogue with others. While every child is born with
certain givenness, disposition coming from his parents’ genes, and general condition of life, the impact of one’s family
are still deemed as a given in understanding the self. The kind of family that we are born in, the resources available
to us (human, spiritual,economic), and the kind of development that we have will certainly affect us as we go through
life. Learning therefore is critical in our capacity to actualize our potential of becoming humans, in trying to achieve
the goal in becoming a fully realized human, a child enters a system of relationships, most imoortant of which is the
family.Without a family, biologically or sociologically, a person may not even survive or become a human person.
Anoither important aspect of the self is the gender. Gender is one of those loci of the self that is subject to
alteration, change and development. In the past years, many fought hard for the rights to express, validate, and
assert their gender expression. Gender partly determines how people see themselves in the world. Oftentimes,
society forces a particular identity unto us depending on our sex/gender.
The gendered self is then shaped within a particular context of time and space. In finding one’s self, self-
determination and self-growth, gender has to be personally discovered and asserted, not dictated by culture and
society.
Note: Assessment ans Application #1 will be announced later.