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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF Mr. John Castro PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF Mr. John Castro PHILOSOPHY Employs the inquisitive mind to discover the ultimate causes, reasons, and principles of everything. It goes beyond scientific investigation by exploring all areas of kno...
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF Mr. John Castro PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF Mr. John Castro PHILOSOPHY Employs the inquisitive mind to discover the ultimate causes, reasons, and principles of everything. It goes beyond scientific investigation by exploring all areas of knowledge such as religion, psychology, politics, physics, and even medicine. It means “love of wisdom” Desire for truth by formulating never ending questions to provided answers to every inquiry about the nature of human existence. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Socrates “Know thyself” The self is synonymous to “soul”. Dichotomous realms: physical and ideal realms. Physical Realm – changeable, transient, and imperfect. Ideal Realm – unchanging, eternal, and immortal. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Socrates PHYSICAL REALM: IDEAL REALM: BODY SOUL Socrates The self – the soul – immortal entity. Soul drives for wisdom and perfection and reasons is the soul’s tool to achieve the exalted state. The quest for wisdom in physical realm is inhibited by the imperfections. Man must live an examined life and a life of purpose and value. An unexamined life is not worth living. The individual person can have a meaningful and happy life only if he becomes virtuous and knows the value of himself that can be achieved. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. THE SOCRATIC METHOD The method of carefully examining one’s thoughts and emotions – to gain self-knowledge. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Plato The concept of soul. He also believes that the self is synonymous with the “soul”. The idea of a three-part self or soul: 1. Reason – divine essence enable us to think deeply, make wise choices and achieve true understanding of eternal truths. 2. Physical Appetite – biological needs such as hunger, thirst and sexual desire. 3. Spirit/ Passion – basic emotions like love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness and empathy. If man lives in accordance to his nature, then he is giving justice to his existence. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. THE THEORY OF FORMS There are two worlds: 1. World of Forms – non-physical ideas. 2. World of Sense – the reality. The sensible world is dependent to the ideal world where the concept of the soul belongs. Soul is permanent, therefore, a man should give importance to it than the physical body which resides in the world of sense. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Aristotle Soul is merely a set of defining features and does not consider the body and soul as separate entities. Every life has a soul. Soul is the essence of living things. Hence, soul is the essence of self. Humans have a rational thinking that makes it different to other living things. Three kinds of soul: 1. Vegetative soul – physical body that can grow. 2. Sentient soul – sensual desires, feelings and emotions. 3. Rational soul – what makes man human. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Aristotle Rational nature of the self is to lead a good, flourishing and fulfilling life or self- actualization. The pursuit of happiness is a search for a good life that includes doing virtuous actions. Soul is characterized by moral virtues(justice and courage) Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. St. Augustine The self has an immortal soul. African philosopher and regarded as saint by Catholic church. Idea of Plato and teaching of Christianity. The body is united with the soul. Humankind is created in the likeness of God. Everything created by God and who is all good is good. Self is known only through knowing God. Self seeks united with God through faith and reason. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Rene Descartes French philosopher. Father of Modern Philosophy. “Cogito Ergo Sum” or “I think therefore I am”. The act of thinking with self-conscious is a proof itself that there is self. Human self- a thinking entity that doubts, understands, analyzes, questions and reasons. Two dimensions of human self” the self as thinking entity and the idea of the thinking self(soul). Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. John Locke The human mind in birth is “tabula rasa” or “blank slate”. Self is constructed from sense experiences – see, hear, smell, taste and feel. Conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys to understanding the self. Self- consciousness is necessary to have a coherent personal(self) identity or knowledge of the self as a person. Reason is helping to figure out sense experience and to reach intelligent conclusions. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. David Hume Scottish philosopher. If people will carefully examines their sense experience through process of introspection, there is no self. What people experiences is just a bundle of difference perceptions. Impressions and ideas only. Impressions – basic sensations of people’s experience such as hate, love, joy, grief, pain, cold and heat. Ideas – thoughts and images from impressions they are less lively and vivid. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Immanuel Kant German philosopher. Self that makes experiencing and intelligible world possible because it is the self that is actively organizing and synthesizing all of our thoughts and perceptions. Transcendental deductions of categories, to construct an orderly and objective world that is stable and can be investigated scientifically. Categories in our mind to filter, order, relate, organize and synthesize sensations into a unified whole. Mine. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Sigmund Freud Austrian psychoanalyst The nature of the self have a far- reaching impact on philosophical thinking such as psychology and other disciplines. The conscious self is governed by reality principles. The unconscious self is part of the self contains the basic instinctual drives including sexuality, aggressiveness and self destruction. Id, ego and superego. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Gilbert Ryle British philosopher. He believes that the self is best understood as a patter of behavior, the tendency or disposition of a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances. “I act therefore, I am”. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Paul Churchland Canadian philosopher. The self is inseparable from the brainand the physiology of the body. All person has a brain, if there is no brain, therefore no self. Advocates eliminative materialism. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. Maurice Merleau-Ponty French philosopher. All knowledge about self is based on “phenomena” of experience. The “I” is a single integrated core identity, a combination of mental, physical and emotional structures around a core of identity of the self. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF Mr. John Castro SOCIOLOGY It is the study of social groups and human relationships generate new insights into the interconnectedness between the self and other people. Sociological Perspective is based on the assumption that human behavior is influenced by group life. Through the interactions of the people Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. JEAN BAUDRILLARD He posits that in the postmodern society, the self is found in the prestige symbols of goods and consumed by people. The postmodern person has become an insatiable consumer. If people desired to be satisfied with things in life, they should be persuaded by the postmodern culture of advertisement and mass media which suggest false needs. Social Self – It is how a person views himself or herself as he or she interacts social environment that includes family, school, peer groups and mass media. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. LOOKING GLASS SELF To highlight that the person interacts with become a mirror in which he or she views himself/herself. This was introduced by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902. Since this perception is subjective, a person might have a wrong interpretations of how other people evaluate him or her unfavorable because he could develop a negative image. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. THE THEORY OF SOCIAL SELF The “I” and the “me”. The “I” is the subjective element and the active side of the self. The “me” is the objective element of the self that represents internalized attitudes and demands of other people and individual’s awareness of those demands. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. THREE-STAGE PROCESS Preparatory Stage (0-3 years old) – The children imitates the people around them, especially family members with whom they have daily interaction. Imitating behavior without understanding underlying intentions and no sense of self yet. Play Stage (3 to 5 years old) – Children starts to view themselves in relation to others as they learn to communicate through language and other symbols. Game Stage (8-9 years old) – Children understand not only their own social position but also those of others around them. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF Mr. John Castro ANTHROPOLOGY It is concerned with how cultural and biological processes interact with human experience. Anthropology possesses a holistic and integrated approach in examining human nature. Anthropology encroaches on the territory of the sciences as well as the humanities and transcends the conventional boundaries of both while addressing questions from the distant past and the pressing present – perhaps with implications for the future – James L. Peacock(1986) Contributed indirectly to the understanding of the nature of self through ethnographic investigation(sampling method, sentences completion, interview) which discusses cultural variations may affect one’s mental state, language and behavior. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. THE CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF SELF AND IDENTITY Edward Tylor – culture as that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Anthropology is not only a behavior but the shared understandings that guide behavior and expressed in behavior. Martin Sokefeld – believes that the concept of self is a necessary supplement to the concept of culture in anthropology and should be regarded as human universal. Social Anthropology – the concept of identity was used mostly in the context of “ethnic identity” pointing on the sameness of the self with others to a consciousness of sharing certain characteristics within a group. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. THE CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF SELF AND IDENTITY Egocentric – the self is seen as an autonomous and distinct individual. Each person is defined as a replica of all humanity but capable of acting independently from others. Sociocentric – the self is contingent on a situation or social setting. This is a view of the self that is context-dependent which emphasizes that there is no intrinsic self that can possess enduing qualities. Japanese – social interaction is characterized by restraints. Chinese – prioritize kin ties and cooperation. Americans – assertive and independent. Identity toolbox – refers to the features of a person’s identity that he or she chooses to emphasize in constructing a social self. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. THREE-PHASED RITE OF PASSAGE Separation phase– People detach from their former identity to another. Limitation phase– a person transitions from one identity to another. Incorporation phase– the change in one’s status is officially incorporated. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. SELF AS EMBEDDED IN CULTURE Clifford Geertz – An American anthropologist, offers a reformulation of the concept of culture which favors a symbolic interpretative model of culture. He defines culture as a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which people communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF Mr. John Castro PSYCHOLOGY The scientific study of the mind and behavior. Psychology attempts to understand how the mind creates emotions and motivates behavior. William James – suggests that the self is divided into two categories which is the I-Self and Me-Self I-Self – reflects the soul of a person or the mind which called the pure ego. Me-Self – is the empirical self that is about person’s personal experiences: material self, social self and spiritual self. Carl Roger – The self is flexible and changing perception of personal identity. He suggests that the self develops from interactions with significant people and awareness of one’s own characteristics and level of functioning. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. PSYCHOLOGY Real Self – awareness of what one is and what one can do. Ideal Self – is the person’s perceptions of what one should be or what one aspires to be which includes one’s goals and ambitions in life. If the Ideal Self and Real Self are closer, the more the individual is fulfilled and happy. Albert Bandura – posits that humans, through their agency are perceived as proactive agents of experiences. Agency – embodies the endowments, belief systems, self-regulatory capabilities and distributed structures and functions through which personal influence is execised, rather than reside as discrete entity. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC Agency – embodies the endowments, belief systems, self-regulatory capabilities and distributed structures and functions through which personal influence is execise rather than reside as discrete entity. Intentionality – acts done intentionally. Intentions center on plans of action with the anticipation of possible outcomes. Forethought – the person can anticipate the likely consequences of prospective actions. People are guided in their actions with the anticipation of possible outcomes. Reactiveness- making choices and choosing appropriate courses of action. Reflectiveness – ability to reflect upon and the adequacy of his or her thoughts and actions. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. THE SELF AS THE CENTRAL ARCHETYPE Carl Jung’s theory of the self. Archetypes – the universal models after which roles are patterned. 1. Persona – social roles of individual to others. 2. Shadow – repressed thoughts that are socially unacceptable. 3. Animus/Anima – feminine side of the male psyche/masculine side of the female psyche 4. Self – united all parts of psyche. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. THE WESTERN AND EASTERN CONCEPTS OF SELF Mr. John Castro TABLE OF SOMETHING WESTERN SELF AS WESTERN SELF AS WESTERN SELF AS WESTERN SELF AS ANALYTIC MONOTHEISTIC INDIVIDUALISTIC MATERIALISTIC AND RATIONALISTIC It is an analytic- It is a belief in Exhibits the Focused on deduction with one Supreme coexistence of material “things” emphasis on the Being coexisting favorable and and favors a casual links(part with the universe unfavorable rational- to whole condenses the conditions empirical relationships) supernatural and inherent in approach over human personal magical and capabilities into freedom. superstitious bipolarity of both explanations of qualities of immaterial existence. “things” Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. David Ho - Western self is as an individualistic self that is deeply aware of itself, its uniqueness, sense of direction, purpose and volition. Self belongs to the individual and no other. Frank Johnson – traces the earliest historical roots of the Western concept of the self to works on philosophy, almost half a million years ago. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. HINDUISM Vedanta – major school of Indian thought based on Upanishads. Brahman – absolute reality. Atman – the true knowledge of self. Vedanta – human suffering as the result of failure to realize the distinction between true self and non-true self. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. BUDDHISM Siddharta Gautama – Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. Four Noble Truths: 1. Life is suffering. 2. Suffering caused by attachment to desires. 3. Suffering can be eliminated. 4. Elimination of suffering. Eightfold Path – to reach Nirvana. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. CONFUCIANISM Confucius Analects (conversations of Confucius) Golden Rule: “Do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you.” Five Cardinal Relationships: 1. Ruler to Minister 2. Father and son. 3. Husband and wife. 4. Between brothers 5. Between friends. Relational self. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018. TAOISM Lao Tzu Chinese counterculture. Self is an extension of the cosmos not in social relationships. Tao- nature that is the foundation of all that exists. The perfect man has no self. Source: Ramirez, Normaliza C., et al.Understanding the Self. Quezon City. C & E Publishing, Inc.2018.
