CHAPTER I

DEFINING THE SELF: PERSONAL

AND DEVELOPMENTAL
PERSPECTIVES ON SELF AND
IDENTITY
Lesson 1: The Self from Various
Philosophical Perspectives
 At the end of this lesson, you
Lesson should be able to:
1. explain why it is essential to understand
Objectives the self;
2. describe and discuss the different
notions of the self from the points-of-view
of the various philosophers across time and
place;
3.compare and contrast how the self has
been represented in different
philosophical schools; and
4.examine one's self against the different
views of self that were disscussed in class.
INTRODUCTION
How do you
define
"self"?
A name is not the person
itself no matter how
intimately bound it is with
the bearer.

IT IS ONLY A
SIGNIFIER
 Socrates

an ancient Greek philosopher, one of the

three greatest figures of the ancient
period of western philosophy
Born: c. 470 BCE, Athens [Greece]
Died: 399 BCE, Athens
 The first philosopher to question about the self.
Took upon himself to serve as a “gadfly”.
To him, the worst that can happen is to live but die inside.
“every human is composed of body and soul”.
Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Athens
during the Classical period.
Born: Classical Athens
Died: Athen, Greece
 He is a student of Socrates
supports and adds to Socrates’ idea of
man
he emphasizes that justice in the
human person can only be attained if
all 3 parts of the soul work in harmony.
 In addition to Socrates’ idea
on man, Plato added that
there are 3 components of
the soul; the rational soul, the
spirited soul, and the
appetitive soul.
 Saint Augustine

born: November 13, 354, Tagaste, Numidia

died: August 28, 430, Hippo Regius
a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the
bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa.
 Following the views of Plato and
the doctrine of Christianity, he
agreed that man is of a bifurcated
nature; imperfect while the other
is capable of reaching immortality.
 with his concept, the goal of every
human person is to attain this
communion and bliss with the divine
by living his life on earth in virtue.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Born: 1225, Roccasecca, Italy

March 7, 1274 (age 49 years), Fossanova Abbey, Italy
a prominent proponent of natural theology and the father of a
school of thought known as Thomism.
 adapting some ideas from Aristotle,
he said that indeed, man is of 2 parts:
matter and form.
 Matter referring to “common stuff
that makes up everything in the
universe”. Form is “the essence of a
substance or a thing”.
Rene Descartes
 Father of modern philosophy
Born: March 31, 1596, Descartes,
France
Died: February 11, 1650 (age 53
years), Stockholm, Sweden
 Conceived of the human person as
having a body and a mind. He claims
that there is so much that we should
doubt since much of what we think
and believe are infallible, they may be
false.
 The only thing that one cannot doubt
is the existence of the self, for even if
one doubts oneself, that only proves
that there is a doubting self, a thing
that thinks and therefore, that cannot
be doubted.
“Cogito ergo sum”
I think, therefore I am
 The self is also a combination of 2
distinct entities, “cogito” which is the
mind and “extenza” which is the
extension of the mind, which is the
body.
The body is nothing else but a machine
that is attached to the mind. the human
person has it but it is not what makes
man a man, that is the mind
David Hume born May 7, 1711, Edinburgh,
Scotland—died August 25, 1776,
Edinburgh Scottish philosopher,
historian, economist, and essayist known
especially for his philosophical
empiricism and skepticism.
To David Hume, the self
is nothing else but a
bundle of impression.

A bundle or collection of
different perceptions, which
succeed each other with an
inconceivable rapidity, and are
in perpetual flux and movement.
IMMANUEL
KANT
Immanuel Kant (born April 22, 1724, Königsberg,
Prussia died February 12, 1804)German
philosopher whose comprehensive and
systematic work in epistemology ethics, and
aesthetics greatly influenced all subsequent
philosophy, especially the various schools of
Kantianism and idealism.
Thinking of the "self" as a
mere combination of
impressions was
problematic for Kant.

To Kant, there is
necessarily a mind that
organizes the impression
that men get from the
external world.
GILBERT RYLE
Gilbert Ryle (19 August 1900 –
October 1976) was a British
philosopher.[7] Today, he is
mostly known for his critique of
Cartesian dualism, which he
called "ghost in the machine."
For Ryle, what truly matters is the
behaviorthat a person manifests in
his day-to-day life.

"Self" is not an entity one can

locate and analyze but simply the
convenient name that people use
to refer to all the behaviors that
people make.
Maurice
Merleau- Ponty
Merleau-Ponty (b. 1908–d.
1961) was a major 20th-
century French
philosopher and
contributor to
phenomenology.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty believed the
physical body to be an important part of
what makes up the subjective self. This
concept stands in contradiction to
rationalism and empiricism.

Rationalism asserts that reason and

mental perception, rather than physical
senses and experience, are the basis of
knowledge and self.
Lesson 2
The Self, Society
and Culture
 Lesson Objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Explain the relationship between and among the
self, society, and culture.
2. Describe and discuss the different ways by which
society and culture shape the self.
3. Compare and contrast how the self can be
influenced by the different institutions in the
society; and
4. Examine one's self against the different views of
self that were discussed in the class.
What is the self?

A question that has been debated

throughout history, however it shifted
to another arguably more important
topic which is the relationship
between the self and the external
world.
The self is defined by these
characteristics:
•Separate
•Self-Contained
•Independent
•Consistent
•Unitary
•Private
Separate

Self is distinct from other

selves.
It is always unique and has it's
own identity.
One cannot be another person
even if they are twins.
Self-Contained
The distinctness allows it
to be self contained with
it's own thoughts,
characteristics and
volition. It does not
require any other self for it
to exist.
Independent
Acts in accordance with his
or her private thoughts
and emotions rather than
in a manner that is
motivated by the thoughts
and emotions of others.
Consistent

It has a personality that is enduring

thus it lasts some time. It's
consistency allows it to be studied
described and measured. It's traits,
characteristics and tendencies are
more or less the same.
Unitary

Unitary the way it's the center of

all experience and thoughts that
run through a certain person. It
is the command post where all
processes, emotions and
thoughts converge.
 Private

Isolated from the outside world and

Lives within it's own. The part
of the self that is known
mainly to oneself, such as one's
inner feelings and self-concept.
 Social Constructionist
Perspective

•Merged view of the person and their social

context.
•Self is not static, but it is constant.
•Understanding the vibrant relationship between
the self and external reality.
The Self and Culture
 Marcel Mauss
According to french
sociologist Marcel Maus, The
self has two faces. Personne
and Moi.
 Moi

Refers to a person's sense of

who he is, his body and his
basic identity, his biological
givenness.
 Personne
Composed of the social concepts of what it
means to be what you are. Has much to do
with what it means to live in a particular
situation and how to behave given
expectations and influences from others.
The Self and the
Development of
the Social World
 Men and Women are born with particularities
that they can no longer change. Recent studies,
however, men and women growths and
development engage actively in the shaping of
the self.
Lev Vygotsky

The way that Human persons

develop is with the use of
language acquisition and
interaction with others.
Inner speech- developmental
process
George Herbert Mead

Concept of Self
One’s identity emerges out of
external social interactions
and internal feelings to
oneself
 Both Vygotsky and Mead
treat the human mind as
something that is made. through
language as experienced and
encountered in dialogs with
others.
A young child internalize
values, norms, practices,
and social beliefs and
more through exposure
to these dialogs
 Self in
Families
Apart from anthropological
and psychological basis for
the relationship between
the self and social world.

Most prominent unit is

family
While every child is born with certain givenness, disposition
coming from his parents’ genes and general condition in
life, the impact of one’s family is still deemed as a given in
understanding the self.
 Human Beings are born virtually helpless
Human Person learn the ways of living
Babies internalize ways and styles
Some behaviors and attitudes are indirectly
taught
Sexual Behavior or how to confront emotions
are learned through subtle means
Without a family,
biologically and
sociologically
person may not
even survive
Gender and the Self
 Gender is one of those loci of the
self that is subject to alteration,
change, and development.
Refers to the characteristics of
women, men, girls and boys that
are socially constructed

Sonia Tolstoy- wife of Leo Tolstoy

struggle for independence

Sonia Tolstoy
 “I am nothing but a miserable crushed
worm, whom no one wants, whom no one
love, a useless creature with morning
sickness, and a big belly, two rotten
teeth, and a bad temper, battered
sense of dignity, and a love
 which nobody wants and which nearly
drives me insane.”
“It makes me laugh to read over this
diary, it’s so full of contradictions, and
one would think that I was such an
unhappy woman, Yet is there a happier
woman than I?”
 Challenges the biological
assumption that women are
inherently predisposed toward
becoming a mother and
nurturing infants.

Nancy Chodorow
American Sociologist

Nancy Chodorow
MEN
Men are taught early on how to
behave like a man.
Holding in one’s emotion
Young boys had to go
circumcisions
Being tough
Not to worry about danger
Lesson 3: The Self as
Cognitive Construct
Lesson Objectives:

identify the different ideas in psychology

about the self
create your own definition of the “self” based
on the definitions from psychology; and
analyze the effects of various factors
identified in pyschology in the formation of
the self.
 Introduction

Psychology may focus on the individual and the

cognitive functions, but it does not discount the
context and other possible factors that affect the
individual.
Simply put "self" is "the sense of
personal identity and of who we are as
individuals” (Jhangiani and Tarry
2014).
William James (1890) was one of the
earliest psychologist to study the self
and conceptualized the self as having
two aspects— the “I” and the “me”.
 IDENTITY and SELF-CONCEPT
Identity Self-Concept
Compose of personal Is what basically
characteristics, social comes to your mind
roles, and when you are asked
responsibilities as well about who you are.
as affiliations that
define who one is.
(Oyserman, Elmore,
and Smith 2012)
Carl Rogers captured this
idea in his concept of self-
schema or our organized
system or collection of
knowledge about who we
are.
 ies Rel
b i

Hob

gi
on
SELF

it y
Fam

al
il y o n
Na t i
Theories generally see
the self and identity as
mental constructs,
created and recreated
in memory.
(Oyserman, Elmore,
and Smith 2012)
Several psychologists, especially during
the field's earlier development, followed
this trend of thought, looking deeper into
the mind of a person to theorize about the
self, identity, self-concept, and in turn
one's personality.
Under the theory symbolic
interactionisim, G.H. Mead (1934) argued
that the self is created and developed
through human interaction.
WE DO NOT CREATE
OURSELVES OUT OF
NOTHING
 WE NEED OTHERS TO
AFFIRM AND REINFORCE
WHO WE THINK WE ARE.
WHAT WE THINK IS IMPORTANT
TO US MAY ALSO HAVE BEEN
INFLUENCED BY WHAT IS
IMPORTANT IN OUR SOCIAL OR
HISTORICAL CONTEXT.
According to Michael Hogg and Graham
Vaughan, there are times when we
are aware of our self-concepts;
this is called self-awareness. There
are two types of self that
we can be aware of:
 The private self or your internal
standards and private thoughts and feelings
The public self or your public
image commonly geared toward having a
good presentation of yourself to others
Self-awareness also presents us with
at least three other self-schema
The "actual" self is who you
are at the moment
The "ideal" self is who you
like to be
The "ought" self is who you
think you should be
 Too much that we are concerned
about being observed and criticized by
others, is also known as self-consciousness
Social Comparison Theory
According to Leon Festinger, in the
social comparison theory, we learn about
ourselves, the appropriateness of our
behaviors, as well as our social
status by comparing aspects of ourselves
with other people
The Downward Social Comparison is we
create a positive self-concept by
comparing ourselves with those who are
worse off than us.
The upward social comparison which is
comparing ourselves with those who are
better off than us.
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory
According to Abraham Tesser, we can
feel threatened when someone
outperforms us, especially when that
person is close to us. In this case, we
usually react in three ways;
 1st
We distance ourselves from that person
or redefine our relationship with them.
 2nd
We may also reconsider the importance
of the aspect or skill in
which you were outperformed.
 3rd
We may also strengthen our resolve
to improve that certain aspect of
ourselves.
 Because of the attempt to increase
or maintain self-esteem, some people
become narcissistic.
 Narcissism is a "trait characterized by
overly high self esteem, self-admiration,
and self-centeredness"
In conclusion, self awareness is an
important topic for us to evaluate
and know ourselves better.
Lesson 4: The Self in
Western and Eastern
 The self in Western and Eastern
Though

It conduct scientific investigation to understand the

self and develop theories among them

They do not utilize the scientific

techniques of investigation
 DIFFERENT EASTERN
THOUGH
1. CONFUCIANISM

A philosophy and belief system from ancient China

2. TAOISM

Believes that the self is an extension of cosmos not of

social relationship and describe the self as one of the
limitless form of tao
3. BUDDHISM

Comes from root word "budh" meaning awake.

Siddhartha Gautama known as "Buddha"

Every person have a seed of enlightenment .

 The Western culture is what we
would call an individualistic culture
since their focus is on the person.
Asian culture, on the other hand, is
called a collectivistic culture as the
group and social relations that is
given more importance than
individual needs and wants
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