Philosophy of the Self PDF

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? SPIRITED SOUL PHILOSOPHY IS ABOUT All three parts must work harmoniously to attain justice and virtue Finding answers to serious questions about ourselves and the world we live in -What is...

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? SPIRITED SOUL PHILOSOPHY IS ABOUT All three parts must work harmoniously to attain justice and virtue Finding answers to serious questions about ourselves and the world we live in -What is a good life? ST. AUGUSTINE (354-430 CE) -Does God exist Duality of the self but the body is imperfect, and the soul yearns to be with -What is the mind the divine -What is right and wrong Death frees the soul from the body, but to attain heaven, the body must have lived a virtuous life. Philosophy came from two Greek words Philo- love RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650) Sophia - wisdom He claimed that the person is Philosophy- the study of the composed of cogito or mind and the fundamental nature of knowledge, extenza or body, which is the extension reality, and existence. of the mind. The mind makes a person PHILOSOPHERS AND THEIR "Cogito ergo sum" - I think therefore I PHILOSOPHY OF THE SELF am. SOCRATES (69-399 BCE) JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704) He believed that it is the duty of the He is an English philosopher, political philosopher to know oneself theorist, and physician. "Unexamined life is not worth living" "Tabula rasa" - a person's mind is a A person is dualistic: composed of blank slate at birth body and soul A personal identity or "self" is formed through experiences that this blank slate is filled. PLATO (428-347 BCE) Expounded on Socrates' idea of the soul: APPETITIVE SOUL RATIONAL SOUL DAVID HUME (1711-1776) MAURICE JEAN MERLEAU-PONTY (1908-1961) Believes that all concepts and knowledge come from senses and Mind and body should not be experiences. separated, and that the body is our connection to the world There is no self beyond what can be experienced These experiences are categorized to PAUL CHURCHLAND impressions and ideas We should focus on neuroscience and IMPRESSIONS - real or actual activities of the brain to learn about the experiences or sensations self. IDEAS - copies of impressions or representation of the world and sensations IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804) Most influencial philosophers in Western Philosophy Reason, not mere experience, is the foundation of knowledge The "self" organizes our experience into something meaningful. GILBERT RYLE (1900-1976) A British philosopher mainly associated with the Ordinary Language Philosophy Movement Focus on observable behavior on inferring about the self of a person. SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIUES a. Our sociocultural context affects who we are, even our choices OF THE SELF b. We need others to affirm/ reinforce who we are,"whether we admit it or not Society- Group of people sharing the c. What we deem as personally same culture and typically interacts in a important is affected by what is definite territory important in our culture. Culture- Way of life of a certain society CULTURE AND PERSONALITY Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead Material Culture- Tangible objects such The self is dependent on cultural as clothes and tools practices and socialization process of a Nonmaterial Culture -Intangible part of certain group culture such as norms, beliefs, values. Studying a person's personality can already provide us an idea of his or her cultural background and social NORMS are rules on what to do or what upbringing and vice versa (Dia et al. not to do in a certain situation. 2014). VALUES are ideal behaviors or principles that set the standard of what is acceptable and admirable from a person who is a part of the society. SYMBOLIC AND INTERPRETIUE SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS ANTHROPOLOGY Sets of ideas, norms, practices, or Clifford James Geertz (1926-2006) mechanisms organized and focused on addressing the needs of the community Symbols and meanings are made, (McIntyre, 2002) communicated, and negotiated by each person to make sense of their lives and interactions (Clifford Greetz: Work and THEORETICAL APPROACHES Legacy, n.d.) SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) Kinship/ Family The self is created, developed, and The most basic social institution of a changed through human interaction society (Hogg and Vaughan, 2010).  Can be based from blood-relations, by An organized set of practices, symbols, marriage, or social. and artifacts regarding the belief of the supernatural A family is almost a miniature society where you first learn to related to the Can also function to teach and outside world. reinforce norms, values, and morals in partnership with the family and the school. Economics/ Market This system aims to regulate the flow of resources and services. This should ensure that everyone gets a fair share of goods or that a person in need will get the service s/he needs in order to address a necessity. Politics or Government This is usually composed of various organizations ensuring peace and order by legitimizing the use of power of certain people or groups. In the Philippines, the government is divided into three equal branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary. Education or School Function of schools is to ensure that the knowledge of the past and the culture of the society gets transmitted from one generation to another. Aims to produce people who can live harmoniously as well as able to be productive citizens. Religion or Church PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES It suggests that the self is a construct OF THE SELF which encompasses all aspects of the person - both tangible and observable and even the internal and private DEFINING PSYCHOLOGY aspects of the self. Psychology came from two Greek words: WILLIAM JAMES (ME-SELF AND I- Psyche - spirit or soul SELF) Logia - study or research In 1890, William James defined I-self (the self as knower) psychology as "the science of mental ✓ Also called pure ego life, both of its phenomena and their ✓ The processor of information or conditions." the thinker,which allows one to be Unlike sociology and anthropology that aware of the environment and studies structure of society as a whole one's existence within that and the culture of a large group, environment psychology mainly focuses on the individual. Me-self (the self as known) ✓ Also called empirical self DEFINING PSYCHOLOGY ✓ Further divided into three Psychology is the scientific study of constituents behavior or mental processes. A.) Material Self: includes all those Psychology have contributed to a lot of possessions that we call "ours" or perspectives about the self using "mine" and those which bring about experimental and clinical observations intense emotional feeling since we and other scientific techniques. consider them as an extension of ourselves (e.g. body, clothes, family, home, etc.) WILLIAM JAMES (ME-SELF AND I- SELF) B.) Social Self: includes how we think and what other people think about us. William James (1842-1910), an American philosopher and psychologist, C.) Spiritual Self: includes our the self is "the sum total of all that he psychological faculties & dispositions, as call his, not only his body and his well as thoughts, beliefs, and feelings psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children, his landsand horses, as yash antian adworns, his DR. MURRAY BOWEN (THE May find it difficult to think logically in DIFFERENTIATED SELF) emotionally intense situations and may make impulsive decisions Dr. Murray Bowen was one of the pioneers of family therapy. One of his concepts is the differentiation of selves. CARL ROGERS (REAL SELF AND Differentiation of selves refers to the IDEAL SELF) degree to which one is able to balance Carl Rogers was one of the (a) emotional and intellectual forerunners of humanism. functioning, and (b) intimacy and autonomy in relationship. One of the central features of his theory is self-concept. It involves the ability to make clear boundaries between our thoughts and Self-concept - includes all those feelings, and to choose which of the two aspects of the self that are perceived in will guide our behavior awareness by the individual. Once we have established our self- concept, we may find it difficult to HIGHLY DIFFERENTIATED change. INDIVIDUALS Rogers suggested to important Able to balance autonomy and aspects of the self: real self and ideal intimacy in their relationships self. Able to establish connection with others without losing one's self in the process Flexible and are better able to CARL ROGERS (REAL SELF AND adapt to stressful situations IDEAL SELF) REAL SELF POORLY DIFFERENTIATED How we see ourselves INDIVIDUALS It's the self that feels most true to what May engage in fusion in their and who we really are. relationships. It may not be perfect, but it's possess They become very attached to roles the part of us that feels more real they play in a relationship They have few firmly held beliefs IDEAL SELF More likely to be compliant One's view of the self as one wishes to More likely to seek approval from be. others before making major decisions Contains attributes, usually positive, that people aspire to possess DONALD WOODS WINNICOTT (TRUE ALBERT BANDURA (THE SELF AS AND FALSE) PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC) Donald Woods Winnicott (1896 - 1971) Bandura is a psychologist known for was an English psychoanalyst who his social cognitive theory. conceptualized the idea of the true and This theory asserts that human false selves. behavior can be learned not only Winnicott's concept is somehow similar through one's experiences but also to Rogers' concept of the self through the experiences of other people. We observe and learn from our models. TRUE SELF Based on our authentic experiences as a person ALBERT BANDURA (THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC) The feeling of being alive, doing the things you want to do, and just being Self-efficacy: one's belief that we can yourself. take on a task successfully; how well we think we can do something May have its own share of blemishes and weaknesses that sometimes lowers This concept brings out the self as our self-esteem proactive and agentic. Continually suppressing our true Agentic self: one who does not live selves may inhibit us from truly life passively but one who acknowledges expressing who we are, which may his or her capacity to shape one's life. negatively impact our well-being Proactive self: the person has the capacity to acknowledge and grab opportunities that may help one's self FALSE SELF and life in general. Also called fake self or superficial self Ang agentic and proactive self is not Our defense against the vulnerabilities easily discouraged when faced with or imperfections of our real self. challenges. We try to cover up our flaws and act "as if' we do not have them. SIGMUND FREUD May start to surface as early as infancy (PSYCHOANALYSIS) the false self to take over a certain Psychoanalysis - theories and situation techniques that deal in part with the unconscious mind. (e.g. need to follow norms of conduct in a certain setting) Freud conceptualized the processes, construct, and behavior of the "self" as the results of the interaction between the Id, the ego, and the superego. LEVELS OF MENTAL LIFE Unconscious - contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are buried deep in ourselves. Preconscious - contains information that is just below the surface of awareness. It can be retrieved with relative ease and usually can be thought of as memory or recollection. Conscious - consists of what someone is aware of at any particular point in time. PROVINCES OF THE MIND Id - the "pleasure principle"; completely unconscious; sole function is to seek pleasure. Ego — the "reality principle"; becomes the decision-making or executive branch of personality. Superego - the "moralistic and idealistic principles"; represents the moral and ideal aspects of personality.