UTS Chapter 1

SOCRATES (AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING)

-self is synonymous of the soul.

-He believes that every human possesses an immortal soul that survives the physical body.

-He was the first to focus on the full power of reason on the human self: WHO WE ARE, WHO WE
SHOULD BE, AND WHO WE WILL BECOME.

-For him, unexamined life is not worth living.

-The essence of self-soul-is immortal entity.

TWO DIOCHOTOMOUS REALMS:

 Physical realm- changeable, transient, and imperfect.

-Body belongs to the physical realm.
 Ideal realm- Unchangeable, eternal, and immortal.
-Soul belongs to the ideal realm.

Introspection- The Socratic Method, a method of carefully examining one’s thoughts and emotions to
gain self-knowledge.

PLATO (THE SELF IS AN IMMORTAL SOUL)

-Greek Philosopher, He elaborates on Socrates concept of soul.

-He believes that the self is synonymous with the soul.

-His philosophy can be explained as a process of self-knowledge and purification of the soul.

He introduced the 3 idea of a three-part soul/ self:

 Reason- divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a true
understanding of eternal truths.
 Physical appetite- basic biological needs, such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire.
 Spirit or passion- includes basic emotions, such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness, and
empathy.
 These three elements of our selves are in a dynamic relationship with one another,
sometimes conflict. When conflict occurs, He believes that it is the responsibility of
reason to sort things out and exert control, thus, restoring a harmonious relationship
among 3 elements.
 He believes that genuine happiness can only achieved by people who consistently make
sure that their Reason is in control of their Spirit and Appetite.

He introduced the concept of 3 worlds:

 The world of forms (non-physical ideas)- real and permanent, soul.

 The world of sense (reality) –temporary and only a replica of the ideal world, physical body.
 ARISTOTLE (THE SOUL IS THE ESSENCE OF THE SELF)
- He believes that the soul is merely a set of defining features and does not consider the body
and soul separate entities.
- Anything with life has a soul.

3 Kinds of souls:

 Vegetative soul –includes the physical body that can grow.

 Sentiment soul-includes sensual desires, feelings, and emotions.
 Rational soul- what makes man human. It includes the intellect that allows man to
know and understand things.

ST. AUGUSTINE (THE SOUL IS SUPERIOR TO THE BODY)

- He is regarded as saint in the Catholic Church.

- St. Augustine of Hippo
- He integrates the ideas of Plato and teachings of Christianity.
- He believes that the physical body is radically different from and inferior to its inhabitant,
the immortal soul.
- “I am doubting, therefore I am”.

RENE DESCARTES (I THINK, THEREFORE I AM)

- Father of modern philosophy.

- He suggests that the act of thinking about the self or being self-conscious is the proof that
there is self.
- Latin phrase, Cognito, ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”)

Two Dimensions of the human self:

 Self-thinking entity
 Self as a physical body

JOHN LOCKE (THE SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS)

-The human mind at birth is tubula rasa or blank skate.

- He thinks that the self, or personal identity, is constructed primarily from sense experience or what
people see, smell, taste, and feel.

-He believes that conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys to
understanding the self.

-He believes that the essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself as a thinking, reasoning, and
reflecting identity.

-Knowledge is based on careful observation.

DAVID HUME (THERE IS NO SELF)

-He suggest that people carefully examine their sense experience through the process of introspection,
they will discover that there is no self.

-According to him, what people experience is just a bundle or collection of different perceptions.

- The idea of personal identity is a result of imagination.

IMMANUEL KANT (THE SELF TRANSCEND EXPERIENCE)

- The self-constructs its own reality, actively creating a world that is familiar and predictable.
- It is the self that makes experiencing and intangible world possible because it is the self that
is actively organizing and synthesizing all thoughts and perceptions.
- He believes that the self is an organizing principle that makes undefined and intelligible
experience possible.

SIGMUND FREUD (THE SELF IS MULTILAYERED)

-He is not a philosopher.

- His views in nature of the self-have a far-reaching impact on philosophical thinking, as well as other
discipline, such as psychological and sociology.

Self-Consist of 3 layers:

 Conscious self – governed by the “reality principle”. To preserve the equilibrium (balance) of
the entire psychodynamic system of the self.
 Unconscious self- self contains the basic instinctual drives, including sexuality,
aggressiveness, and self- destruction. Most primitive level of human motivation and human
functioning that is governed by the “pleasure principle”.
 Preconscious self – material that is not threatening and is easily brought to mind. Located
between the conscious and unconscious parts of the self.

GILBERT RYLE (THE SELF IS THE WAY PEOPLE BEHAVE)

- “ I act, therefore I am.”

- Mind and body and body to be intrinsically linked in complex and intimate ways.
- He concludes that the mind is the totality of human depositions which is known through the
way people behave.

PAUL CHURCHLAND (THE SELF IS THE BRAIN)

- Advocates the idea of eliminative materialism or the idea that the self is inseparable from
the brain and physiology of the body.
- If the brain is gone, there is no self.
- The mind does not really exist because it cannot be experienced by the senses.

MAURICE MARLEAU- PONTY (THE SELF IS EMBOIDED SUBJECTIVITY)

- All knowledge about the self is based on the “phenomena” of experience.

 - The “I” is a single integrated core identity, a combination of the mental, physical, and
emotional structures around a core identity of the self.
- Consciousness is a dynamic from responsible for actively structuring conscious ideas and
physical behavior.
- His book, the Phenomenology of Perception, everything that people are aware of its
contained within the consciousness.

CHAPTER 2

JEAN BAUDRILLARD
- In postmodern society, the self is found in the prestige symbols of good consumed by people.

- Postmodern individuals achieve self-identity through the prestige symbols that they
consume.

CHARLES HORTON COOLEY

- He introduced the looking-glass self.

LOOKING-GLASS SELF
- People whom a person interacts with become a mirror in which he or she views himself or
herself.

GOERGE HERBERT MEAD

- The view that a person develops a sense of self through social interaction, not biological
preconditions of that interaction.

THE THEORY OF THE SOCIAL SELF

- The self has 2 divisions:
 “I” – subjective element and the active side of the self. It represents the spontaneous
and unique traits of an individual.
 “me”- objective element of the self that represent the internalized attitude and demands.
 The full development of the self is attained when the “I” and “me” are united.

3 stage process:

1. Preparatory Stage (0-3 years old)- family members with whom they have daily interactions.
They copy behavior without understanding, underlying intentions. No sense of self.
2. Play Stage (3-5 years old)- communicate through language and other symbols. Self is
developing.
3. Game Stage (begins in the early school years)- children understand not only their own social
position but also those of others around them. Self is now present.

GERRY LANUZA

- “The Constitution of the Self”

- In modern societies, the attainment and stability of self- identity are freely chosen.
 CHAPTER 3

EDWARD TAYLOR

- Defines 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."
- Culture (being diverse), self, and identity may have different meanings in different cultures.

There are 2 ways in which the concept of self is viewed in different societies:
 Egocentric- the self is seen as an autonomous and distinct individual. Each person is
defined as a replica of all humanity but is 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 enduring qualities.

CHRISTIE KIEFER

- the Japanese possess a sociocentric view of the self, in which the membership of a person in
a particular social group defines the boundaries of the self. The interdependence between
the person and the group is more valued than independence.

IDENTITY TOOLBOX- refers to the features of a person's identity that he or she chooses to emphasize in
constructing a social self. Some characteristics, such as kinship, gender, and age, are almost universally
used to differentiate people. Other characteristics, such as ethnicity, personal appearance, and
socioeconomic status, are not always used in every society. Family membership can be the most
significant feature to determine a person's social identity.

ARNOLD VAN GENNEP

Three-phased rite of passage:

 Separation - people detach from their former identity to another.
 Liminality - a person transitions from one identity to another.
 Incorporation- he change in one's status is officially incorporated.
 Rites of passage help a person adjust from one social dimension of his or her life to
another stage of life or identity.

ANOTHONY WALLACE AND RAYMOND FOGELSON

- Coined the term “identity struggles” to characterize interaction in which there is a

discrepancy between the identity a person claims to possess and the identity attributed to
that person by others.

KATHERINE EWING’S

- "Illusion of Wholeness" exhibits how individual selves throughout the world continuously
reconstitute themselves into new selves in response to internal and external stimuli.

CLIFFORD GEERTZ
 - an American anthropologist, offers a reformulation of the concept of culture that favors a
symbolic interpretative model of it. 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 towards life.
2 important ideas:
1. culture should not be perceived only as "complexes of concrete behavior
patterns — customs, usages, traditions, and habit clusters —as has, by and
large, been the case up to now, but as a set of control mechanisms-plans,
recipes, rules, and instructions-for the governing behavior.
2. man is precisely the animal most desperately dependent upon such
extragenetic, outside-the-skin control mechanisms, such as cultural
programs, for ordering his behavior"
 Geertz also emphasizes that human nature is interdependent with culture: "Without
men, no culture, certainly; but equally, and more significantly, without culture, no
men".

CHAPTER 4

WILLIAM JAMES (CONCEPT OF SELF: THE ME SELF AND THE I-SELF)

The self is divided into two categories:

 I-Self- refers to the self that knows who he or she is, which is also called the thinking self. The I-
Self reflects the soul of a person or the mind, which is also called the pure ego.
 Me-Self- s the empirical self, which refers to a person's personal experiences and is further
divided into sub-categories: the material self, social self, and spiritual self.

The Me-Self, is the empirical self, which refers to a person’s personal experiences and its further
divided into sub- categories:

 Material Self- attributed to an individual’s physical attributes and material possessions that
contribute to one’s self-image.
 Social Self- refers to who a person is and how he or she act in social situations.
 Spiritual Self- refers to the most intimate and important part of the self, which includes the
person’s purpose, core values, conscience, and moral behavior. Spiritual self requires
introspection.

CARL ROGERS’ (SELF THEORY: THE REAL AND IDEAL SELF)

- He defines the self as a flexible and changing perception of personal identity.

- The self is the center of experience.
- Self develops from interactions with significant people and awareness of one's own
characteristics and level of functioning.

Self-Concept- refers to the image of oneself.

2 components of self- concept:

  Real self- consists of all the ideas, including the awareness of what one is and what one can
do.
 Ideal self- the person's conception of what one should be or what one aspires to be, which
includes one's goals and ambitions in life.
 In Rogers' view, the closer the ideal self to the real self, the more fulfilled and
happier the individual becomes. When the ideal self is far from the real self, the
person becomes unhappy and dissatisfied.

WINNICOTT (MULTIPLE VERSUS UNIFIEF SELF, TRUE VERSUS FALSE SELF)

Self is composed of true self and false self:

-false self is to hide and protect the true self. Researchers have found that
adolescents' perceptions of themselves can change depending on the situation. For
instance, adolescents are more likely to show their false self during dating situations
and are likely to show their true self when they are with their family and close
friends. In other words, adolescents display a false self to impress others.
Adolescents develop different selves in various relational contexts.

ALBERT BANDURA (THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC)

- 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 exercised, rather than reside as
a discrete entity.

The main features of human agency:

 Intentionality- done intentionally. Intentions center on plans of action with the anticipation of
possible outcomes.
 Forethought- person to person to anticipate the likely consequences of prospective actions.
Through the exercise of forethought, people are guided in their actions in the anticipation of
future events.
 Self- Reactiveness- making choices and choosing appropriate courses of action, as well as
motivating and regulating them.
 Self- Reflectiveness- gives the person the ability to reflect upon, and the adequacy of, his or her
thoughts and actions.

CARL JUNG’S (THE SELF AS THE CENTRAL ARCHETYPE)

- Theory of the self is the concept of archetypes.

Archetype- universal models after which roles are patterned. Represents the hidden
potentialities of the psyche or total personality.

Four major archetypes:

 Persona- social roles that individuals present to others.

  Shadow – repressed thoughts that are socially unacceptable. Dark side of psyche.
 Anima- feminine side of male psyche, whereas the animus is the masculine side of the
female psyche.
 Self- central archetype that unites all parts of the psyche. The ego is the individuals’
conscious perception of the self.

SIGMUND FREUD’S (CONSTRUCTION OF SELF AND PERSONALITY)

- According to him the dynamic forces within the self are many and inevitable conflict.
The mind is compose of 3 structures through which personality is formed:
 Id- the component of the personality characterized by its need to satisfy basic urges
and desires.
 Ego- refers to the I and operates on the reality principle and controls the id.
 Superego - refers to the "conscience" and "moral judge" of one's conduct.

Psychosexual stages of development:

 Oral stage- first stage, lasts from birth up to the first year of life. Babies derives
pleasure from oral activities, such as sucking or biting.
 Anal stage- second stage, child derives pleasure from the elimination of the
body waste.
 Phallic stage- third stage, ages 3-6. Children during this stage derive pleasure
from examining, touching, fondling, or displaying their genitals. These behaviors
are likely motivated by curiosity about the differences between the anatomy of
men and women. Sex curiosity.
 Latency stage – Fourth stage, 7-12 years of age. At this stage, sexual energy is
repressed because children become occupied with school.
 Genital stage- adolescence to adulthood.

ERIK ERIKNSON’S (THE ROLE OF ERIKERIKSON’S THEORY IN UNDERSTANDING THE SELF)

- Adolescence is a period is a period of identity development.

8 psychological stages of development:

 Trust vs. Mistrust- child will develop trust if he or she is properly cared for.
 Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt – independence of thought and confidence to think and act for
oneself.
 Initiative vs. Guilt – sense of responsibility among children leads to the development of an
initiative.
 Industry vs Inferiority- developing knowledge and skills usually taught in schools.
 Identity formation vs. Identity confusion – adolescents face the task of finding out who they
are, what they are, and what they want in life.
 Intimacy vs. Isolation – early adulthood people explore personal relationship.
 Generativity vs. Stagnation- person’s desire to contribute to the world by teaching, leading, and
guiding the next generation and doing activities that will benefit the community.
 Integrity vs. Despair- individuals reflect on the important events of their lives.