 People have no soul because nothing is
UNDERSTANDING THE
SELF
THE PHILOSOPHY AND THE SELF
Reasoning
 the action of thinking about something in a
logical, sensible way.
Philosophy
 originated from the Greek work “Philosophia”
meaning the “love of wisdom”.
 It primarily aims to the study and seek answers
to fundamental questions about existence,
knowledge, values, reason, mind, logic and
language.
Who are you?
Know
 knowing is having or reflecting knowledge,
information, or intelligence.
Understanding
 understanding is the capacity to comprehend
fully and deeply a thing, concept or situation.
Definitions of the Self
 An individual’s character or behavior.
 The union of elements (such as body, emotions,
thoughts, and sensations) that constitute the
individuality and identity of a person.
 The unified being essentially integrated to our
consciousness or awareness.
EASTERN PHILOSOPHY OF THE SELF
Hinduism
 Brahman as the Creator
 Atman as the soul
 ATMAN is imperishable and
beyond times.
 Brahman lies within us.
 Our identity is on God.
Buddhism
 believes in “Anatta” or non-self.
permanent and everything changes.
 Although the Buddha accepted that we
exist as people, he also believed that
we can only come closer to enlightenment
when we accept that we are changing beings.
Five Skandhas
 Form (Physical Form)
 Sensation (Feelings and Emotions)
 Perception (cognition and reasoning)
 Mental Formation (habits, prejudice,
predispositions)
 Consciousness (awareness without
conceptualization)
Confucianism
 The search for what it is to be human does
not exist.
 Every person is born with four beginnings:
 Compassion (Jen)
 Righteousness (Yi)
 Propriety (Li)
 Wisdom (Chih)
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY OF THE SELF
Socrates
 “Know Thyself”
 The knowledge of oneself can only be
attained through the understanding
one’s nature and through practice of
one’s virtues.
 An unexamined life is not worth
living.
Aristotle
 Self is made of a soul that is not
separated from the body.
 The soul is the one that acts within
the body.
 Vegetative soul (growth)
 Sensitive soul (sensation)
 Rational soul (cognition)
Plato
 considered the psyche to be
The essence of a person, being that
which decides how people behave.
 In The Republic, Plato defines his idea
 that there is a tripartite soul.
Tripartite Soul
 Logistikon (reason)
the part of the soul that loves logic, thought, and
rational learning. Plato equated this part of the
soul with the
temperament associated with Athenians.
 Thymoeides (spirit)
this is usually thought of as the most spirited of
the three parts. It is this part of the soul that
causes people to experience strong emotions,
particularly
anger and temper.
Epithymetikon (appetite)
It is the part of the human soul that cannot resist
appetites, including those
for food, power, and sex. This part of the soul is
often conflated with the Freudian id.
Repression
Rene Descartes
 "I think therefore I am"
 Mind is a substance that makes us Reaction Formation
capable to think.
 Self is regarded as the one that
makes us aware to perceive the
external world.
David Hume
 Bundle theory of self-identity
 We are made of mental perceptions Displacement
available to our memory.
 Ideas and impressions
 Causations and resemblance.
Fixation
John Locke
 People are blank slates filled through
experiences: TABULARASA
 We form ourselves from the past
experiences we have.
 Memory is necessary in the formation
Regression
of one’s identity.
Sigmund Freud
 ID operates on Pleasure principle
 EGO operates on Reality principle
 SUPEREGO operates on Morality Principle
 Each of them interacts with one another.
DEFENSE MECHANISM
1. Denial
2. Repression
3. Regression
4. Projection
5. Displacement
6. Sublimation
7. Reaction Formation
8. Introjection
9. Fixation
 The help the ego against the pain of anxiety
 the more defensive we are, the less psychic
energy we have left to satisfy id impulses.
 This, of course, is precisely the ego’s purpose in
establishing defense mechanisms—to avoid
dealing directly with sexual and aggressive
implosives and to defend itself against the
anxiety that accompanies them
 It forces threatening feelings into the
unconscious.
 One of the ways in which a repressed impulse
may become conscious is through adopting a
disguise that is directly opposite its original
form.
 Reactive behavior can be identified by its
exaggerated character and by its obsessive and
compulsive form
 people can redirect their unacceptable urges
onto a variety of people or objects so that the
original impulse is disguised or concealed.
 When the prospect of taking the next step
becomes too anxiety provoking, the ego may
resort to the strategy of remaining at the
present, more comfortable psychological stage.
 Once the libido has passed a developmental
stage, it may, during times of stress and anxiety,
revert back to that earlier stage.
 Regressions, however, are usually temporary,
whereas fixations demand a more or less
permanent expenditure of psychic energy.
Projection
 defined as seeing in others unacceptable
feelings or tendencies that actually reside in
one’s own unconscious.
 An extreme type of projection is paranoia, a
mental disorder characterized by powerful
delusions of jealousy and persecution.
Introjection  In general, the body performs its functions least
 people incorporate positive qualities of another
during infancy and old age.
person into their own ego and gives the
 Physical development is slow during childhood
adolescent an inflated sense of self-worth and
keeps feelings of inferiority to a minimum. but relatively rapid during babyhood.
Sublimation
 is the repression of the genital aim of Eros by
substituting a cultural or social aim.
The sublimated aim is expressed most obviously in
creative cultural accomplishments such as art,
music, and literature, but more subtly, it is part of
all human relationships and all social pursuits.
 One of the most crucial stage of development is
SIKOLOHIYANG PILIPINO adolescence.
 One’s physical body is at optimal level during
early adulthood and declines at middle age.
Virgilio Enriquez  Puberty refers to the physical changes leading
 Self refers to unity of an individual to “others” to sexual maturity in a boy or a girl.
 Personhood can be centered on the core values
 Adolescence refers to the transition period
we call as “kapwa”
when psychological and social changes take
 Kapwa is a concept of how every filipino thinks,
place in a boy or girl.
behaves, and relate with others.
 Kapwa does not necessarily mean “others” but
the shared thoughts, and actions exhibited to
other people and to oneself. Physical Development Changes in Puberty
1. Primary Sex Characteristics
PHYSICAL SELF  Which are already present at birth refers to
 is the concrete dimension, the tangible aspect changes of the sexual organs that are
of the person that can be directly observed and directly concerned with reproduction.
examined.  Spermache for boys and menarche, first
menstrual cycle for girls are indicators of
Life Span readiness for reproduction.
 According to Elizabeth Hurlock, there are 10 2. Secondary Sex Characteristics
stages every person goes through in the process  Refers to visible changes and features that
of growth and development. appear during puberty which are not directly
 Growth is the physical changes of, the increase part of the reproductive system.
in size, height and weight.  The development of secondary sex
 Development is how children gain control over characteristics are usually earlier in girls than in
their physical actions to do complicated and boys.
difficult activities more skillfully and easily.
 3. Cognitive body image: how you think about
your body.
4. Behavioral body image: the way you behave as
a result of your perceptual, affective, and
cognitive body image (NEDC, 2017)

OUR BODY IMAGE IS CONCERNED ABOUT: APPERANCE

OUR BODY IMAGE CAN AFFECT OUR: SELF-ESTEEM

- Refers to how you see your value as a person.

Factors Affecting Physical Growth and Causes of Poor Body Image

Development  Emphasis on the perfect body figure.
 Bullying and Peer Pressure
Heredity
 Media
 The biological transmission of traits from
parents to offspring. Effects of Poor Body Image
 The sex and physical traits are determined by  Body dissatisfaction
the combination of one’s chromosomes and  Depression
genes.  Low esteem
 Chromosomes carry the genes.  Eating disorder
 Genes carry the hereditary traits. - Bulimia
 22 pairs- autosomes or trait chromosomes - Anorexia
 1 pair- sex chromosome  Body modification
 DOMINANT OR RECESSIVE

Environment
Features of Physical Attractiveness Across
 Refers to the factors to which the individual was
Culture
exposed to from the moment of conception up
to death which includes both learning and
experience.
 Factors such as one’s diet, nutrition, diseases,
play an important role in physical development.
 NATURE- Heredity
 NURTURE- Environment

Body Image
 Is the perception that a person has of their
physical self and the thoughts and feelings that
result from that perception.

4 Aspects of Body Image

1. Perceptual body image: how you see your body.
2. Affective body image: how you feel about your
body.